100 ASCLEPIADACE^. ScUzonotuS. 



8. SCHIZ0N6TUS, Gray. {Zii^a, I cleave, varog, the back, the hoods 

 of the crown open posteriorly as if split down the back ; in which it diiFers from 

 Acerates.) — - Single species. 



S. purpurascens, Gray. Herb a span to a foot high, canesoently puberulent : leaves 

 opposite, cordate (an incli or more long), thicliiisli : umbels 2, terminal, densely many- 

 flowered on pediincles longer thaq the pedicels : corolla reddish purple outside, flesh-color 

 within ; the oUong lobes a line and a half long ; the pale hoods about the same length : 

 anther-wings lunate. — • Proc. Am. Acad. xii. 66. Gomphocarpns purpurascens, Gray, Proc. 

 Am. Acad. x. 73, & Dot. Calif, i. 477 (§ Schizonotus). — California, on an open mountain sum- 

 mit in Lake Co., Greene (Mr. Towle) : fl. June; 



9. G-OMPHOCARPUS, R. Br. (rdf^gjog, a peg or club, and xapreo?, fruit.) 

 — Old World and chiefly African genus, to which these two Californian species 

 are technically referred ; distinguished from Asclepias merely by the absence of 

 horn or crest to the hoods. — Benth. & Hook. 1. c, excl. Acerates & Anantherix. 



^Gr. cordifolius, Benth. Glabrous : stem 2 or 3 feet high : leaves ovate or ovate-lan- 

 ceolate with cordate clasping base, acute, opposite or rarely in threes, 2 to 5 inches long : 

 umbels 1 to 4, loosely many-flowered ; slender filiform pedicels equalling or shorter than 

 the peduncles : calyx villous-pubescent ; corolla dark red-purple ; the lobes oval or oblong, 

 3 or 4 lines long : hoods erect on the summit of the short column, purplish, thin, ventricose, 

 ■with dorsally truncate summit produced at the ventral margins into subulate slender ascend- 

 ing cusp, equalling the anthers, a narrow fissure down the ventral side : follicles ovate- 

 lanceolate, smooth and glabrous, arrect on the deflexed fruiting pedicels. — Gray, Bot. Calif, 

 i. 477. Acerates cordifoUa, Benth. PI. Hartw. .323. A. atropurpurea, Kellogg, Proc. Calif. 

 Acad. i. 65. Asclepias " ecornutum," Kellogg, 1. c. 55. — California, common in dry ground 

 through the great valley and foot-hills. 



• G. tomentosus, Gray, 1. c. Tomentose up to the calyx or outside of the corolla with 

 soft floccose matted wool, resembling Asclepias vestita : stem 2 or 3 feet high, angled : leaves 

 opposite (rarely somewhat scattered), ovate or oblong, acute or acuminate (2 to 4 inches 

 long), mostly rounded at base, short-petioled ; umbels terminal and lateral, sessile or nearly 

 so, loosely several-flowered : corolla greenish or dull purplish ; the lobes 4 lines long : hood 

 attached to the summit of the short distinct column, ventricose and rounded, sjireading, 

 reaching to near the middle of the anthers, pointless, open, and as if 2-valved across the 

 top and to the middle of the back. — Acerates tomentosa, Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 160, t. 44. 

 — Dry hills, California, from Monte Diablo to San Diego Co. 



Var. Xanti, Gray, 1. c, distinguished only by the hoods ; these somewhat oval, and 

 depending, so that the fissure becomes as if dorsal, and extends two-thirds down. — Fort 

 reJon» Xantus.y;^ja,i, Santa Baxjoara Co., Dr. Peckham. 



IQi^^^NSIjENIA, NuU. J^Aloysius Enslen, an Austrian botanist, who col- 

 lected in the Atlantic U. S. early in the century.) — Perennial twining herbs 

 (N. and S. American) ; with membranaceous and cordate opposite leaves, and 

 whitish flowers in small axillary pedunculate cymes. 



' E. albida, Nutt. Tall-climbing, glabrous, with some slight pubescence : leaves some- 

 what hastately cordate, slender-petioled, acuminate-tipped : cymes 15-30-flowered : appen- 

 dages of the crown 2-awned : anther-tips erect, longer than the body of the anther : 

 ligulate awn-like appendages of the crown geminate. — Gen. i. 164 ; Decaisne in DC. 

 1. c. 518 ; Deless. Ic. v. t. 63. — River banks, S. Pennsylvania and Virginia to Illinois, Mis- 

 souri and Texas : fl. summer. 



11. ROULfNIA, Decaisne. {Dr.Roulin,a, French naturalist.) — Twining 

 plants (Texas to Buenos Ayres), with the habit of Enslenia. — DC. Prodr. viii. 

 516; Deless. lev. t. 62. 



R. unifaria, Bngelm. Aspect arid growth of Enslenia alhida: leaves deeply cordate, 

 with rounded basal lobes of the larger ones Incurved, abruptly slender-acuminate : cymes 



