LOASA FAMILY. 151 



A. htimilis, from Mass. to Michigan and S. ; has narrow oblanccolatc or 

 spatulate leaves, tapering to the base, and a very short style. ® 



A. Iatlf61ia. W. & S., taller, the lance-linear leaves with a broader and 

 auricled partly clasping base. ® 



6. CUPHEA. (Name from Greek, means gibbous or curved, from the shape 



of the calyx.) Loaves chiefly opposite : fl. aU summer. 



C. viBCOSissima, Clammy C. Sandy fields from Conn, to 111. and S. : 

 a rather homely herb, 1° - 2° high, branching, clammy-hairy, with lance-ovate 

 leaves, small flowers somewhat racemed along the branches, and ovate pink 

 petals on short claws. (T) 



C. Silenoldes. Cult, from Mexico : clammy-hairy, 1° high, with lance- 

 oblong or lanceolate leaves tapering at base into short petiole, and rather large 

 flowers somewhat racemed on the branches ; calyx purplish, almost 1' long, 

 ovoid at base and with a tapering neck ; petals blood-purple or crimson, rounded, 

 the 2 larger ^' in diameter. (T) 



C. platye6ntra. Cult, from Mexico, both in greenhouses and for bor- 

 ders, noweinng through the season : slightly woody at base, 8'- 12' high, form- 

 ing masses, thickly beset with the ovate or lance-ovate acute smooth and glossy 

 bright green leaves, contrasting with the bright vennilion flowers between each 

 pair, the calyx narrow and tubular, almost 1' long. With a short and very blunt 

 spur at base, the short border and teeth dark violet edged on the upper side 

 with white ; petals none. ^ 



48. LOASACE^, LOASA FAMILY. 



Herbs with rou^li pubeacence, and some with stinging bristles, no 

 stipules, a 1-celled ovary coherent with the tube of the calyx (which 

 is little if at all extended beyond it), and mostly with 3-5 parietal 

 placenta, in fruit a pod, few - many-seeded : persistent calyx-lobes 

 and true petals mostly 5, and often an additional inner set of pet- 

 als : stamens commonly numerous, often in 5 clusters : style single. 

 Natives of America, mostly S. & W. : several cult, for ornament. 

 * Erect or Reading, not twining: leaves allemate: petals flat. 

 1. MENTZELIA. Petals lanceolate, spatulate, or obovate, deciduous. Filaments 

 Ion"- and slender, or some of the outermost broadened or petal-like: aiithers 

 short and small. Pod top-sliaped, club-shaped, or cylindrical, straight. Herb- 

 age rough with short stiff pubescence, or bristly, but not stingnig. 

 * « Twining herbs: leaves opposite, petioled : petals hood-shaped or slipper-shaped. 

 a. BLUMENBACHIA. Petals 5, spreading, and as many scale-like small ones^ or 

 appendages alternate with them. Stamens in 5 sets, one before each petal, 

 with verv slender filaments; also 10 sterile filaments, a pair before each ap- 

 pendage." Ovarv and many-seeded pod 10-ribbed, when old spirally twisted 

 and splitting lengthwise. Peduncles axillary, mostly 1-flowered. Herbage 

 beset with sharp bristles, commonly stinging like nettles, ilowers on long 

 axillary peduncles. 



1 MENTZELIA. (Named for C. Mentzel, an early German botanist.) 

 'fI. summer or autumn. ® ® Includes the Bart6nia of Nuttall and 



EtJCNIDE. 



§ 1 . Pod 3 - 9-seeded ; Jlowers small, yellow, opening in sunshine. ® @ 

 M olieoST)6rma. Open dry ground, from Illinois S. "W. : a rough and 

 homely pknt, with spreading brittle branches, ovate and oblong angled or cut- 

 tootherieaves, and yellow flowers less than 1' broad, with 5 wedge oblong 

 pointed petals, and about 20 slender filaments. 



S 2 Babt6nia of Nuttall, &c., not of Muhlenberg. Pod mostly Umg,contain- 

 ' ing many or (it least 20 cubical or flat seeds ; flowers large and showy : 

 petals 1 ' - 2' long : herbage rough. 



