Plants Collected in Paraguay. 203 



PLANTAGINE^. 

 Plaiita^o tomentosa, Lam., Encyc, v, 377. 



Asuncion (160); Pilcomayo Kiver (880). November-January. 

 = Balansa 3185. 



Common in the waste grounds of Asuncion, where it rises 15-20 

 cm. high, but on the borders of the Pilcomayo I found leaves some- 

 times 30 cm. long, and scapes from 60 to 70 cm. high, the spike 

 alone being from 30 to 35 cm. in length. Leaves ovate or oblanceo- 

 late ; both they and the scapes from the same roots very numerous. 

 Seeds in my specimens 3 and 4 in a pod. 



NYCTAGINEJE. 

 Mirabilis Jalapa, L., Sp. PL, 177. 



Asuncion (622). February-April. 



Commonly cultivated in gardens at Asuncion, but not unfre- 

 quently running wild. The color of the flowers varies from deep 

 red to purple, purple blotched and nearly white. 



BoerhaaTia decumtoens, VahL, Enum., i, 64. 



Asuncion (93). November-December. 



This occurs abundantly in the streets of Asuncion, on the edges 

 of the sidewalks and in w^aste places. Indeed, I never found it 

 outside of the city. A straggling, much-branched plant. Leaves 

 broad ovate, acute at apex, rounded, truncate or semicordate at 

 base, on a petiole about as long as the leaf, in pairs, one of them 

 larger than the other, glabrous, lepidote, the larger 2-3 cm. long 

 and the smaller l-lj cm. Flowers in naked, terminal panicles, the 

 pedicels capillary. Flowers minute, greenish beloAv, bright red 

 above, 5-lobed, each lobe with a mucro rising from the centre of a 

 notch. Fruit an obconic, 5-angled, 1-celled, 1-seeded capsule, 3 mm. 

 long, lined with viscid appressed hairs. It w^as long before I 

 could make out the character of these flowers, they are so minute, 

 and they drop off the stems so easily, but the bright red speck was 

 sufficiently conspicuous. 



BougainTillea glall>ra, Chois. in D.C., Prod., xiii, pt. 2, 437. 



Asuncion (367). 



A fine shrub 2|-4 dm. high Stem and branches armed at 

 irregular intervals with slightly curved spines. Leaves simple. 



