CATALOGUE. 297 



rather dense, greenish ; bracts leafy, lanceolate, acute ; sepal narrow-lance- 

 olate, white-membranous ; utricle slightly rough, marked by three elevated 

 longitudinal lines, acutish, green or purplish ; seed J" long, compressed, ob- 

 scurely punctate, dark and shining. — California, (1930 Hartwegr) Near Car- 

 son and Empire Cities, Nevada, (90 Anderson and 457 Torrey.) 



NiTEOPHiLA^ occiDENTALis. {BanuUa, Moq. DC. Prodr. 13. 2. 279.) 

 Glabrous ; stems herbaceous from a perennial running root-stock, ascending 

 or decumbent, 3-8' long, diffusely branched, angular, jointed ; lowermost 

 leaves broadly ovate or oblong, amplexicaul, 2-3" long, the remainder linear, 

 6-12" long, semi-terete, acuminate-mucronate ; bracts shorter but similar, 

 mostly twice longer than the flowers ; flowers 1-3 in each axil, the lateral 

 ones frequently short-pedicelled, 2-3-bracted, the central one sessile and 

 often bractless ; sepals 1" long, white and petaloid, erect, exceeding the sta- 

 mens and style ; branches of the persistent style divergent ; utricle globose, 

 brown; seed J" in diameter, black and shining, the margin obtuse. — Col- 

 lected by Nuttall in Oregon, by Wilkes on the Lower Sacramento, by Cooper 

 in the Providence Mountains, Southern California, and by Stretch in South- 

 western Nevada. Near hot springs and in alkaline soils in the valleys of 

 Western Nevada ; June, in flower ; September, in fruit. (1,005.) 



Alternantheea ^ LANUGINOSA, Torr. Bat. Mex. Bound. 180. (^A. 

 lanuginosa, Moq., DC. Prodr. 13. 2. 359, in part.) Annual, prostrate, diffuse, 

 densely woolly when young with verticillate branched white hairs, becoming 

 nearly smooth ; stems 1° long, not jointed; leaves somewhat in threes, en- 

 tire, thick, obovate, rounded or rhomboidal, 3-10" long, exceeding the peti- 



' NITEOPHILA. {Banalia § Idiopsis, Moq.) Floweis perfect, mostly 2-lbracteate, 1-3 in each axil, 

 sessile or short-pedicelled. Sepals 5, (rarely 6 or 7,) distinct, oblong, carinate-concave, pointless, persist- 

 ent. Petals and staminodia none. Stamens as many as the sepals, united at base into a very short per- 

 igynous disk; anthers 2-celled, short-oblong, deeply cordate at base. Styles united to the middle. 

 Ovary 1-ovuled. Utricle included -within the counivent sepals, indehiscent, 1-seeded. Seed vertical, 

 pendulous from a slender erect funiculus, lenticular; testa crustaeeous. Embryo annular, slender, 

 nearly surrounding the copious mealy albumen ; radicle inferior. — A low perennial branching saline herb, 

 ■with fleshy opposite estipulate mostly semi-terete leaves, and axillary flowers. 



The single species upon which this genus is founded was referred by Moquin doujbtingly to his 

 Banalia, the two other species of which (from India and Brazil) are annuals with flat dilated alternate 

 leaves, the 3-bracted clustered flowers in panicles or spikes, the stamens united at base into a cup, the 

 stems jointless. It is much like a Scleranthus in habit, and seems to be most nearly allied to Polycnemum. 



»ALTEENANTHEEA, Maet. Flowers perfect or rarely dioecious, 3-bracted. Sepals 5. Stamens 

 5, connate at base into a short cup ; filaments filiform ; the intermediate staminodia very minute and 

 usually entire ; anthers l^oelled. Ovary l-celled, 1-ovuled. Style short ; stigma capitate or 21obed. 

 Utricle ovate. Seed vertical, sublenticular; the testa subcrustaoeous. Embryo annular, peripherical ; 

 radicle superior.— Herbs or rarely shrubs, often jointed, usually finely villous ; leaves opposite ; flow- 

 ers usually in terminal or axillary heads, at length deciduous. Two species occur in Florida. 



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