POLYPETALOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 281 



RIBES, L. Currant; Gooseberry. 



Character of genus same as order. 



E. AUREUM. Plant smooth ; leaves 3-lobed, lobes divari- 

 cate, entire or with a few large teeth ; petioles longer than 

 the leaves; bracts linear, as long as the pedicels; racemes 

 lax, with many bright-yellow flowers ; calyx tubular, longer 

 than the pedicels, segments oblong, obtuse; petals linear; 

 fruit smooth, oblong or globous, yellow, finally brown. — 

 A beautiful shrub, 6-10 feet high; flowers numerous, very 

 fragrant. Red 'Ri\er.—Marci/. 



61. LOASA FAMILY. Order, Loasace^e. 



Herbs, commonly armed with bristly barbed and stinging 

 hairs; leaves alternate, exstipulate; flowers solitary or 

 clustered ; calyx-tuhe adherent to the 1-celled ovary, the 

 limb 5-parted and persistent ; petals 5 or 10, inserted on 

 the throat of the calyx ; stamens mostly indefinite, in 

 several parcels, inserted with the petals; styles united; 

 capsule irregularly dehiscent; seeds few or many, borne on 

 3-5 parietal placentae, commonly with scanty albumen. 



MENTZELIA, Plum. 



Calyx-tnhe cylindrical or club-shaped ; petals convolute 

 in the bud; stamens commonly 30 or more, the exterior 

 ones often dilated and sterile ; styles 3, united to the mid- 

 dle; capsule 3-valved at the summit, with 3 parietal pla- 

 centae; cotyledo7is hroa^d SLud ^at. ^S'^em^ branching ; leaves 

 toothed or sinuate-pinnatifid ; floivers yellow. 



M. oligosperma, Nutt. Floiuers deep golden-yellow, 

 8"-10" in diameter, expanding in sunshine, evanescent; 

 leaves lanceolate-ovate, often acuminate, oH very short 

 petioles, cuneate at the base, incisely toothed or somewhat 



