106 LOASACE^E. 



Fruit (very small) coriaceous, ovate, convex externally, flattish within, about 

 8-ribbed. — A tall perennial herb, with virgate branches: linear-lanceolate, 

 sessile, entire leaves, gradually reduced to bracts : flowers white, sessile, 

 crowded in long and strict virgate spikes. 



1. S. virgatUS, Spach. Spikes in fruit sometimes nearly one foot long: 

 bracts subulate, longer than the ovary : calyx pubescent, 4 to 5 lines long : 

 petals rather large in proportion : ovary tomentose-pubescent. — From Colo- 

 rado to Arkansas and Texas. 



7. GAURA, L. 



Calyx-tube prolonged beyond the obconic or clavate ovary. Petals with 

 claws. Style hairy below. Fruit obtusely 4-angled and ridged upon the 

 sides. — Leaves sessile: flowers in spikes or racemes, white or rose-colored, 

 turning to red. 



1. G. biennis, L. Soft-hairy or downy, 3 to 8 feet high: leaves oblong- 

 lanceolate, denticulate : fruit oval or oblong, ribbed, downy. — Idaho and east- 

 ward to the Atlantic. 



2. G. parviflora, Dougl. Clothed, besides the long soft-villous hairs, 

 with a minute slightly glandular pubescence, 2 to 5 feet high : leaves ovate-lanceo- 

 late, repand-denticulate, clothed on both sides with a soft velvety pubescence : spikes 

 virgate, dense: fruit oblong-cla vate, 4-nerved, obtusely angled above. — From 

 Washington to Texas. 



3. G. COCCinea, Nutt. Canescent, puberulent or glabrate, 6 to 12 inches 

 high, very leafy : leaves lanceolate, linear-oblong or linear, repand-denticulate or 

 entire : flowers in simple spikes, rose-color turning to scarlet : fruit elliptical, 

 terete, 4-sided above. — Colorado to Montana and eastward to Arkansas and 

 the Saskatchewan. 



8. C I II C iE A, L. Enchanter's Nightshade. 



Calyx-tube slightly prolonged above the ovoid ovary, the base nearly filled 

 by a cup-shaped disk. Petals obcordate. Fruit pear-shaped, covered with 

 hooked bristles. — Low slender erect herbs: leaves thin, petiolate : flowers 

 small, white, in terminal and lateral racemes : fruit on slender spreading or 

 deflexed pedicels. 



1. C Paeifica, Ascherson & Magnus. Mostly glabrous : leaves ovate, 

 rounded or cordate at base, repandly denticulate : calyx white, with a very 

 small tube: fruit a line long. — The C.alpina of Fl. Colorado. From Colo- 

 rado to the Saskatchewan and westward to California and Washington. 



Order 32. LOASACE^J. 



Herbaceous plants with either stinging or jointed and rough -barbed 

 hairs, no stipules, calyx-tube adnate to a one-colled ovary, parietal pla- 

 centae, and a single style. Stamens usually very numerous, some of 

 the outer occasionally petaloid. Flowers perfect, often showy. 



