150 MR. NUTTALL'S DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW 



Though so different in habit yet closely allied to Antirrhinum ; the tubular corolla, 

 smooth palate, and entire stigma, being nearly all that distinguishes it from that 

 genus ; the seed may also prove different, but that is at present unknown. It is a 

 plant highly worthy of cultivation, and flowers very early in the spring. 



Hab, In the island of Santa Catalina on the coast of .California. Flowering in 

 the month of February. 



*CROSSOSOMA.t 



Calyx 5-leaved, imbricated, somewhat coriaceous and persistent, the leaves unequal and concave, vi^ith 

 colored margins. Corolla of five subsessile, oval petals. Stamina perigynous, about twenty-five, on a 

 fleshy disk ; anthers adnate. Ovaries two to five, united at base into a short stipe, 1-celled ; ovules 

 many, attached to the ventral suture in a single crowded series. Stigmas thick and sessile, recurved. 

 Capsules two to five, coriaceous and cylindric, opening longitudinally and inwards, many-seeded.. 

 Seed roundish-reniform, nearly surrounded by a deeply fringed arillus. Embryo not seen. — A 

 Californian shrub, with alternate, entire, crowded, exstipulate leaves, and 1-flowered, short, terminal 

 branchlets ; flowers white. 



C. CALIFORNICA. 



A tortuous shrub, about four feet high, with a hard whitish wood. The bark light 

 grey and very bitter, while the wood and leaves possess very little taste. Leaves 

 entire, cuneate-oblong, and small, somewhat coriaceous, smooth, apparently 

 evergreen, obtuse, or acutely terminated with a small cartilaginous point; the 

 nervures few and somewhat reticulated : one to one and a half inches long, by about 

 half an inch broad. Flower branchlets, resembling peduncles, about two inches 

 long, wnth two leaves towards the base. The flower, a white Piony in miniature, and 

 about the size of an apple blossom. The calyx of five concave, somewhat coriaceous, 

 persistent leaves, with white petaloid thin margins. Petals five, white, oval, with 

 short claws, seated as well as the stamens, on the thickened disk of the calyx. 

 Stamina about twenty-five, persistent nearly with the ripening capsules; filaments a 

 little longer than the linear, adnate anther, anthers, 2-celled, opening lengthways. 

 Carpels two, three, four, rarely five, coriaceous. Stigmas thick, sessile, and recurved. 

 Capsules recurved, coriaceous, turgid, united at the base, free above, and divaricate, 

 one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length. Seeds very numerous, pale testaceous, 

 roundish-reniform, smooth and somewhat compressed, so nearly covered with a 

 copious fringed arillus, as to appear almost packed in tow; the cavity of the testa 

 being curved, indicates probably the form of the embryo. 



After examining many of the seeds, I find the rigid coriaceous testa, in every 

 instance empty, so that the nature and character of the germ remains unknown, and 

 the real affinities of this curious plant are therefore uncertain. It is probably 

 Polygamous dioicus, as the stamens appear destitute of pollen. 



t From xpotfooj fringe, and aa^a a body ; in alhision to the fimbriate arillus. 



