278 STEECTJLIACEAE. 



anthers witli parallel sacs. Ovary 1-celled, sessile; style simple, not central; 

 stigma club-shaped or brush-like. Ovules 2 in a cavity. Follicles 1-celled, 2- 

 valved lengthwise. Seed solitary, ascending. Endosperm fleshy. Embryo 

 straight, axile. [In honor of A. P. Walther, Professor in Leipzig.]. About 

 35 American species, mostly tropical. Type species: Waltheria amiericana L. 



Pubescence densely tomentose. 1. W. americana. 



Finely stellate-pubescent. 2. V. bahamensis. 



1. Waltheria americana L. Sp. PI. 673. 1753. 



Poliage tomentose. Stems 6-12 dm. tall, stifiE; leaves ovate to oblong, 1-5 

 cm. long, serrate, rounded or cordate at the base, stout-petioled ; flowers in 

 dense sessile or peduneled axillary clusters; sepals subulate, about 5 mm. 

 long, villous-hirsute, simUar to the bractlets ; petals yellow, slightly longer than 

 the sepals; follicles 2.5-3 mm. long, pubescent at the top. 



Rocky scrub-lands, fields and cultivated soil, Abaco and Great Bahama to South 

 Bimini, Andres, the Crooked Island group and to North and East Caicos : — Florida ; 

 Bermuda ; the West Indies and tropical continental America ; Old World tropics ; 

 Oceaniea. Comjion Waltheeia. 



2. Waltheria bahamensis Britton, Torreya 3: 105. 1903. 



Branched from the base, stellate-puberulent the branches 6 dm. long or less. 

 Leaves oblong to ovate-oblong, 1-2 cm. long, sharply dentate, strongly veined, 

 dark-green above, pale green beneath, stellate-pubescent on both surfaces, 

 obtuse at both ends, or the base subeordate, the slender petioles half as long as 

 the blades or less; flower-clusters sessile or nearly so in the axils, dense, less 

 than 1 em. broad; bractlets sharply toothed; petals thin, spatulate, 3-5 mm. 

 long, obtuse or slightly notched; filaments united into a tube. 



Sandy and rocky fields, scrub-lands andi pine-lands, Abaco, Great Bahama, 

 Great Harbor Cay, Little Harbor Cay, Andres, New Providence, Bleuthera, Cat 

 Island, Bum Cay and Great Guana Cay. Endemic. Bahama Waltheria. 



5. AYENIA Loefl. Iter. 257. 1758. 



Shrubs, some species subherbaeeous, with serrate petioled leaves, and 

 axillary, mostly clustered, pedicelled flowers. Calyx 5-parted. Petals 5, con- 

 cave or hooded, long-clawed, the tip inflexed, adnate to the stamen-cup. Fila- 

 ments united into a short cup, the anthers solitary in its sinuses, its truncate 

 or rounded lobes alternate with the petals; anthers 3-eelled. Ovary 5-celled, its 

 cavities 2-ovuled; style short; stigma capitate or somewhat 5-lobed. Capsule 

 subglobose, muricate, splitting into 5 carpels, each 2-valved. Seeds rugose; 

 endosperm none; cotyledones spirally convolute. [In honor of the French 

 botanist Ayen.] About 10 species, natives of tropical America. Type species: 

 Ayenia sidaeformis Loefl. 



1. Ayenia pusllla L. Syst. ed. 10, 1247. 1759. 



A low shrub or suffrutescent perennial herb, usually much-branched at the 

 base, the slender branches ascending, erect or prostrate, 1-4 dm. long, puberu- 

 lent. Leaves lanceolate, ovate, oval or suborbicular, 0.8-3 cm. long, puberulent 

 or glabrate, sharply serrate, acute or obtuse at the apex, rounded or cordate 

 at the base, the petioles 1-5 mm. long; pedicels longer than the petioles, some- 

 times 10 mm. long; calyx about 2 mm. long, its lobes lanceolate; claw of the 

 petal much longer than the hooded limb; lobes of the stamen-cup longer than 

 the anthers; capsule depressed-globose, densely muricate, 4^6 mm. in diameter. 



