252 RUBIACEAE. Vor. III. 
3. Houstonia patens Ell. Small Bluets. Fig. 3914. 
Houstonia Linnaei var. minor Michx. Fl. Bor. 
Am, Pi 35. 180% 
Hi. patens Ell. Bot. S.C. & Ga. 1: 191. 1821. 
Houstonia minor Britton, Mem. Torr. Club 5: 
302. 1894. 
Annual, glabrous or nearly so, branched 
from the base, 1-6’ high. Lower and basal 
leaves oval or ovate, 5-6” long, narrowed 
into petioles often of their own length, the 
upper narrower and sessile; peduncles ax- 
illary and terminal, erect-divergent, 3-18” 
long, 1-flowered; corolla violet-blue or pur- 
ple, 3-4” broad, its tube about equalling 
the lobes or somewhat longer; capsule com- 
pressed, didymous, 23”-3” broad, its upper 
part free from the calyx and about equal- 
ling or exceeding the subulate lobes. 
In dry soil, Virginia to Florida, Illinois, 
Arkansas and Texas. March-April. Star- 
violet (Texas). 
4. Houstonia minima Beck. Least Bluets. 
Fig. 3915. 
Houstonia minima Beck, Am. Journ. Sci. 10: 262. 1826. 
Hedyotis minima T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2: 38. 1841. 
Oldenlandia minima A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 173. 1856. 
Annual, spreading or diffuse, 1-23’ high, roughish. Lower 
and basal leaves oval or ovate, with petioles shorter than or 
equalling the blade, the upper oblong, sessile; peduncles axil- 
lary and terminal, rather stout, 3-12” long; flowers 4’-5” 
broad; corolla violet or purple, the tube about as long as the 
lobes; capsule didymous, compressed, about 3” broad, its upper 
part free from the calyx and considerably exceeded by the 
lanceolate foliaceous lobes. 
In dry soil, Illinois to Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Texas. 
5. Houstonia lanceolata (Poir.) Britton. Calycose 
Houstonia. Fig. 3916. 
Hedyotis lanceolata Poir. in Lam. Encycl. Suppl. 3: 14. 1813. 
Houstonia purpurea calycosa A. Gray, Syn. Fl. 17: 26. 1878. 
Houstonia lanceolata Britton, Man. 861. 1901. 
Houstonia calycosa Mohr, Contr. Nat. Herb. 6: 739. 1901. 
Perennial, glabrous or pubescent, rather stout, 6’-16' high. 
Leaves lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, firm in texture, not cil- 
jate, sessile, or the lowest spatulate and narrowed into petioles; 
corolla-tube little exceeding the calyx; calyx-lobes lanceolate 
or lanceolate-subulate, 5” long or less, much exceeding the 
capsule; capsule ovoid-globose, about 2” thick. 
In dry soil, Illinois to North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee and 
Oklahoma. Recorded from Maine. May-June. 
