20 SANTA BARBARA SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



low these plants are uncovered, but at the time of blooming 

 the tides are not very low in the daylight, and they can not be 

 seen, yet the water is not deep enough to enable one to collect 

 .by means of boats. The only way to obtain it is to search 

 carefully when it is washed ashore. 



The leaves are bright green, long, very slender, and one 

 nerved. The blossoms are dioecious, arranged in two vertical 

 rows on the face of a spadix, which is enclosed in the dilated 

 base of a leaf-like spathe. Within the margin, on each side 

 is a series of short, dilated foliaceous appendages. These 

 appendages cover the blossoms, and in the staminate plant 

 are reflexed at maturity; in fruit the base of the nutlets is 

 covered by the appendages. 



Imperfect specimens of this plant were collected here by 

 Dr. Torrey, and it was described under the name of Phyl- 

 lospadix Torreyi, but the staminate blossoms were unknown 

 until 1881, when I succeeded in finding both forms of the 

 plant, and from those specimens the generic characters of the 

 plant were established. The plant is washed ashore through- 

 out the year, frequently in large quantities; it blooms in July 

 and August, and the pistillate plant is sometimes abundant, 

 the staminate blossoms are rare, and require careful search 

 to obtain. 



Although I have obtained a good many specimens, I do not 

 know of any being found here by any one else, and I do not 

 think it has been found in bloom elsewhere on the coast, 

 although botanists have searched for it in many localities. 



There is another species, Phyllospadix Scouleri, that was 

 collected in imperfect specimens at Vancouver, and at the 

 mouth of Russian river, but had never been found south of 

 there, or indeed anywhere for several years, until this year, 

 my husband, who is my associate in all my collecting, and 

 without whose untiring assistance I could accomplish but 

 little in field work, has found a specimen with pistillate 

 blossoms. The leaves of this plant are broader than those of 

 P. Torreyi, ribbon-like and three-nerved; the penduncles are 

 short and with a single spathe. 



