392 PLANT AGIN ACEM. 



# Leaves comparatively broad, short-petioled or Subsessile: stamens 4: ovules and seeds 1 or 2 in 

 each cell. 



P. Virginica, L. Small winter-annual or fibrous-rooted' biennial, soft-pubescent or more 

 villous with spreading articulated hairs : leaves spatulate or obovate-oblong, entire or 

 repand-denticulate, thin, obsurely ay^-nerved : scapes 2_to J5 inches high, slender : spike 

 fiiostly dense, and an inch- or two long : bracts equalling or snorter than the calyx : sepals 

 ovate or oblong, more or less hairy on the back : corolla-lobes subcordate-ovate : substerile 

 flowers widely open, with capillary filaments, style long-exserted (the style commonly ear- 

 lier), and large oval anthers : flowers of the fully fertile spikes with corolla, remaining 

 closed, small anthers on short filaments, and short style not protruded. — Spec. i. 1 13 

 f&ronov. Virg. 16 ; Moris. Hist. iii. 259', sect. 8, t. 15, fig. 8)7 Michx. PI. i. 94 ; Gray in 

 Pacif. B. Rep. iv. 117. P. Caroliniana, Walt. Car. 84. P. purpurascens, Nutt. in Trans. 

 Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. ; the staminate and substerile plant. — - Sandy fields, &c, S. New Eng- 

 land and S. Illinois to Florida and Arizona. A depauperate form (perpusilla) has a filiform 

 Scape an inch high, from an annual root, much exceeding the leaves, and 2-5-flowered : 

 Florida, Chapman. 



Var. longif olia. Coarser : leaves oblong-spatulate, tapering into a margined petiole, 

 often with strong salient teeth : scapes with the spike 5 to 12 inches long: flowers larger. — 

 P. purpurascens, Nutt. 1. c. P. occidentalis, Decaisne in DC. 1. c. — Arkansas to S. Arizona. 

 (Adjacent Mex.) 



P. hirtella, HBK. Root perennial, thick : leaves oblong-ovate or oblong-spatulate, glar 

 brate, rather fleshy, entire or sparsely denticulate, 5-7-nerved, 4-10 inches long : scape and 

 long dense spike a foot or two high, stout, hirsute : flowers longer than in the preceding 

 (i3 lines long), with corolla-lobes ovate, acute ; those of the fertile closed form with apex of 

 slender style commonly protruding and the anthers perhaps sterile. (Staminate and open- 

 flowered form, not yet seen from California.) — Nov. Gen. & Spec. ii. 229, t. 127 ; Decaisne, 

 in DC. 1. c. 723. P. Hartwegi, Decaisne, 1. c. 724. P. Uroillei, Delile, Cat. Hort. Monsp. ? 

 & P. Candollei, Rapin ? P. Durvillei, var. Californica, Fisch. & Meyer, Ind. Sem. Petrop. 

 P. Kamtschatica, Hook. & Am. Hot. Beech. 156? P. Virginica, var. maxima, Gray, 

 Bot. Calif, i. 611. — Coast of California, from San Francisco Bay southward. CMex., 

 Chili.) 



* * Leaves linear or filiform: flowers very small: stamens only 2: small and slender annuals, 

 minutely pubescent or nearly glabrous: the individuals having exserted stamens and style and 

 open corolla not rarely fully fruitful. 



•+- Spike short, thick, and dense, in fruit an inch long : mature capsule 2 lines long. 



P. Bigelovii, Gray. Mostly glabrous and green : leaves \\ to 4 inches long, rather 

 fleshy, obtuse, entire, shorter than the scapes : mature caipsule ovoid-oblong, half longer 

 tfhan the calyx, 4-seedcd : only form known fully fertile, with style conspicuously and the 

 two stamens slightly exserted from the open corolla. — Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 117, & Bot. Calif. 

 i. 612. — Saline marshes, W. California and Brit. Columbia, first coll. by Bigelow. 



.!_ -|_ Spike filiform or slender, at length sparse-flowered, and half-inch to three inches long: 

 capsule about a line long: leaves occasionally with a few d'enficulations or divergent lobes. 



P. pusilla, Nutt. Somewhat cinereous-puberulent: leaves about an inch long and half- 

 line wide : capsule short-ovoid, little exceeding the bract and calyx, 4-Seeded : seeds elon- 

 gated-oblong. — Gen. i. 110, & Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 1. c. (excl. syn.) ; Torr. Fl. 184, & Fl. 

 N. Y. ii. 16. P. elongata, Pursh, Fl. ii. 729, proves to be this, a bad name. P.linearifolia, 

 Mnhl. Cat. 15 ? P. hybrida, Bart. Fl. Philad. & Fl. Am. Sept. ffi. t. 98, fig. 1. P. Bigelovii, 

 Watson, Bot. King, 212, not Gray, a rather larger-flowered form. — Sandy or gravelly soil, 

 S. New York to Virginia, Utah, and Oregon. 



P. heteroph^lla, Nutt. Greener or nearly glabrous, often taller, and with spikes 2 to 5 

 inches long : leaves sometimes 4 inches long and 1 or 2 lines wide : capsule conoidal-oblong 

 and at length considerably surpassing the bract and calyx, 10-28-seeded : seeds oblong, 

 usually angled by mutual pressure, obscurely rugose-pitted. — Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. n. 

 ser. v. 177 (char, imperfect) ; Gray, Man. 1. c. ; Chapm. Fl. 278. P. Caroliniana, Pursh, Fl. 

 i. 98 ? not Walt. 'P. perpusilla, Decaisne, in DC. 1. c. 697. P. Califomka, Gteette, Bull. 

 Calif. Acad. i. 123. — Low sandy ground, Penn. to Florida, Texas, and California. 



