APPENDIX D. — BOTANY. 395 



bifid at the summit. The spikes are cylindrical and are not 

 jointed; the flowers being alternate, and immersed in deep exca- 

 vations of the rachis. The calyx is quadrangular, and consists 

 of four cohering sepals, which are cucullate, spongy at the summit, 

 and at length separate from each other. There is but a solitary 

 stamen. The seed is loose in the utricle, oblong, and the embryo 

 forms about half of an ellipse. 



Obione canescens, Moq. Chenop. p. 74, and 0. occidentalism 

 Moq. in D. C. Prodr. 11, p. 112. Pterochiton occidentals, Torr. and 

 Frem., in Frdm. second Rep. p. 318. Obione tetraptera, Benth. 

 Bot. Voy. Sulph. p. 48. — On Green River. Fr. September 10. 

 This is a variable species, especially in the characters of the 

 mature fructiferous calyx. Sometimes it is furnished with short, 

 irregular-toothed wings, and at other times the wings are very 

 broad and nearly entire. 



0. CONFERTIFLOEA, Torr. and Fr^m. 1. c. — With the preceding. 



Abronia mellifera, Doug. Miss. Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 2, p. 

 125, Bot. Mag. 1. 2879.— Strong's Knob, Salt Lake. Fl. June 10. 

 Easily distinguished from A. umbellata by its broad involucral 

 leaves and green flowers. A. micranthus, Torr. in Fremont's first 

 Report, p. 96, and in Emory's Report, p. 149, seems to be a 

 particular state of the plant, in which it bears very small but 

 perfect flowers. In those works I noticed the peculiarity of the 

 embryo ; the inner cotyledon being constantly abortive. The same 

 character exists in all the species of this genus: but I have not 

 observed it in any other nyctagineous plant. 



Shepherdia argentea, Nutt. Gen. Amer. PI. 2. — Black's 

 Fork of the Green River. Fr. September 12. 



Ephedra Americana, Willd. Spec. PL 4, p. 860 ? Endl. Synops. 

 Conif. p. 254. — Shore of the Salt Lake. A leafless shrub with 

 very numerous branches, growing about four feet high. It is very 

 doubtful whether it be the same as Willdenow's plant, which is a 

 native of Quito. Although it is not uncommon in the interior of 

 California and in New Mexico, I have never received the female 

 flower or the fruit. All my specimens are males. .£/. americana 

 is described as monoecious. The Ephedra noticed in Emory's 

 Report under the name of E. occidentalism (a mistake for E. ameri- 

 cana), differs from this species in its three-parted sheaths vath long 

 subulate points. 



