254 DESCRIPTION OF NEW SPECIES 



Order * NEMACLADACEtE. Character the same as that of the genus. 



Allied to GooDENoviE^. 



* NEMACLADUS. 



Tube of the calyx turbinate, adnate to the ovary, the border five-cleft, nearly 

 equal; corolla ringent, gibbous, five-cleft, v^ithout tube, upper lip vaulted, 

 bifid, segments vi^holly membranaceous, with a nearly valvular aestivation; 

 stamina five, the filaments distinct but connivent, into a tube, with the hair 

 adnate to the corolla; anthers oval, free, or nearly connivent in a circle; 

 stigma annular, bi-lobed, without a proper indusium; capsule semi-superior, 

 many-seeded, below two-celled, the apex dehiscent by four valves; seeds 

 spherical, impressed, punctate and striate, albumen carnose and oily. — A 

 small, much-branched, lactescent, annual or biennial of Upper California; 

 leaves alternate, rarely toothed, above linear and entire; branches dichoto- 

 mous; flowers minute, white, axillary, on long, filiform peduncles. (The 

 name employed is given in allusion to its numerous and slender branches.) 



Nemacladus ^ramosissifmis. 



Hab. In sandy soils, near St. Diego, Upper California. Lower part of the stem and radical 

 leaves a little hirsute. Primary leaves spathulate, incisely toothed, the rest of the leaves linear, 

 entire and sessile, somewhat carnose and very smooth, about half a line wide; branches very 

 numerous, procumbent and rigid, dichotomous and terete. Peduncles axillary, solitary, filiform 

 and very slender, near half an inch in length. The whole plant spreading out about five or six 

 inches. Calyx with the turbinate base embracing the adnate ovarium; the border five-cleft, some- 

 what ringent, the segments linear. Corolla monopetalous, small, white, and membranaceous, gib- 

 bous, bilabiate, but without tube; upper lip formicate, bifid, the segments falcate and acuminate; 

 the lower lip three-toothed, very sliort; the dentures ovate, obtuse. Stamens five, with the fila- 

 ments connivent into a tube, connected at base to the corolla, filaments very slender; anthers free, 

 but connivent into a circle round the stigma, oval, acute, two-celled, white and short. Style one, 

 stigma glandular, hirsute, two-lobed, without any proper indusium, capsule two-celled below, semi- 

 superior, gibbous, the summit fragile, somewhat irregularly four-valved. Seeds numerous, brown 

 and spherical, punctate and rough as in most of the Lobelias, but with the punctures arranged in 

 rows or rib?. 



Obs. a plant apparently without any proper affinities, constituting a very 

 distinct order, probably between the true Lobeliace^ and Goodenovie^e pro- 

 per. It has the milky sap, resupinate corolla with membranaceous laminae, 



