LOASA FAMILY. 151 



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

 spatulate leaves, tapering to the base, and a very short style. (£i 



A. latifblia. 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.) Leaves chiefly opposite : fl. all summer. 



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

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

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

 petals on short claws. ® 



C. silenoides. 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 i' in diameter. (T) 



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

 ders, flowering 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 vermilion 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. y. 



48. LOASACE^, LOASA FAMILY. 



Herbs with rough pubescence, and some with stinging bristles, no 

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

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

 placentae, in fruit a pod, few -many-seeded : per.-iistent calyx-lobes 

 and true petals mostly 6, 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 spreading, not twining: leaves alternate: petals fiat. 



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



Ions; and slender, or some of the outermost broadened or petal-like: anthers 

 shol-t and small. Pod top-shaped, club-shaped, or cylindrical, straight. Herb- 

 age rough with short stiff pubescence, or binstly, but not stinging. 

 » « Twining herbs: leaves opposite, pelioled: petals Iwod-shaped or slipper-shaped. 



2. BLUMENBACHIA. Petals 5, spreading, and as many scale-like small ones nr 



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

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

 pendage. Ovary and many-seeded pod 10-ribbed, when old spirally twisied 

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

 1 beset with sharp ' bristles, commonly stinging like nettles. Flowers on long 



-axillary peduncles. 



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

 Fl. summer or autumn. ® @ Includes the Bakt6nia of Nuttall and 

 Edcnidk. 



'§1. Pod 3- 9-seeded: flowers small, yellow, opening in sunshine. ® ® 

 M. oligosp6rma. Open dry ground, from Illinois S. W. : a rough and 

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

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

 pointed petals, and about 20 slender filaments. 



§ 2. Bart6nia of Nuttall, &c., not of Muhlenberg. Pod mostli/ long, contain- 

 ing many or at least 20 cubical or flat seeds : flowers la-rge and showy : 

 petals 1 ' - 2' long ; herbage rough. 



