AND GENERA OF PLANTS. 445 



* ERYTHREMIA. 



Capitulum about ten-flowered. Involucrum subcylindric, caliculate; sepals 

 about eight, in a single series. Receptacle naked. Achenium short, sub- 

 cylindric, erostrate, ten?-striate or ten-ribbed. Pappus exceedingly copious 

 and long, barbellate towards the base, nearly simple, and more slender above. 

 Style and branches of the stigma exserted beyond the anthers, very hirsute, 

 the stigmas acuminate, sublanceolate or clavellate. — Perennials, with low, 

 few-flowered stems, naked or foliaceous towards the base, with long, linear, 

 fleshy, entire leaves, almost all radical. Capituli with rose-red flowers. Al- 

 lied to Lygodesmia, but with a different achenium and pappus, and a more 

 compound capitulum ; also to Nabalus, but with a widely different habit and 

 different achenium. — (The name is derived from Epv$pyi(^a, redness; in allu- 

 sion to the colour of the flowers.) 



Erythremia * grandijlora; leaves long and linear, acuminate; stem scarcely 

 exserted beyond the leaves, forked, with two or three capituli. 



Hab. In the Rocky Mountain range, on the borders of the Platte. Eoot large, tuberous or tap- 

 shaped and descending; very milky and bitter. Leaves chiefly radical, or at the base of the stem, 

 linear, entire and acuminate, glaucous or pale green, two to four inches long, half a line to a line 

 wide, usually curved or spreading, of a thick and fleshy consistence. Stem three or four from the 

 root crown, forked, having two or three capituli. Stem three to seven inches high: a large leaf 

 at the first division, on the upper part of the stem shorter, or mere bractes as they approach the 

 flower. Caliculum of about five, very short, ovate, lacerately ciliate leaflets, Involucrum of eight 

 equal, linear-oblong, flat leaves, pubescent at the summits, somewhat obtuse, membranous on the 

 margin, with a single faint nerve in the centre. Florets about ten, fine rose-red, and exserted 

 beyond the involucrum, about its length, flat and five-toothed at the extremity. Style and stigmas 

 very much exserted, and very hirsute; no awns or obscure ones at the base of the anthers. Pappus 

 yellowish-white, in a crowded and numerous series, twice or three times the length of the achenium, 

 the rays thicker and more serrated or barbellated towards the base, Eeceptacle punctate. The 

 ripe fruit is unknown, but it appears to have about double the number of ribs there are in Lygo- 

 desmia. In Lygodesmia juncea, the stigmas only are exserted and slenderly filiform, and the 

 pappus appears almost perfectly simple, or without any serratures. In both these genera, as well 

 as in Nabalus, the anthers are bisetose at base. 



VII, — 5 M 



