DATISCACEAE. 269 



ters of 2 or 3 at the ends of the branches, 3 or 4 in. broad, light yellow; calyx- 

 segments lanceolate, 1 to 1% in. long; petals 5, broadly oblanceolate, 1% to 

 2% in. long, the numerous stamens almost as long; 5 stamens with petaloid 

 filaments; capsule oblong, 1*4 in. long, 3 to 4 lines in diameter; seeds flat, 

 winged. 



Dry gravelly stream beds throughout the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada 

 foothills. July-Sept. Flowers open all day. 



DATISCACEAE. Datisca Family. 



Perennial herbs with alternate and in ours divided leaves. Flowers dioecious 

 or in ours the pistillate commonly with a few stamens. Calyx synsepalous. 

 Corolla none. Stamens indefinite. Ovary inferior, 1-celled, with 3 # parietal 

 placentae; styles 3, bifid. Fruit a capsule, opening at the top between the 

 styles. 



1. DATISCA L. 



Stout glabrous herb. Leaves divided and more or less incised and sharply 

 serrate. Flowers in clusters in the axils of the leafy branches. Calyx of 

 staminate flower very short, with 4 to 9 unequal lobes; stamens in ours 8 to 

 12, mostly 10; filaments short. Calyx of pistillate flowers with ovoid tube, 

 somewhat 3-angled, 3-toothed; stamens (when present) 2 to 4, alternate with 

 the teeth. Seeds numerous, small, in 2 to several rows on the placentae. 

 (Derivation unknown.) 



1. D. glomerata (Presl.) Brew. & Wats. Durango Root. Stems com- 

 monly clustered, stoutish and somewhat fistulous, erect, branching above, 2% 

 to 4 ft. high; lower leaves 5 or 6 in. long, nearly as broad, ternately divided, 

 incised and serrate, the middle division largest and 3-lobed, the lateral un- 

 equally 2-lobed or incised ; upper leaves shorter, with 3 lanceolate lobes, the 

 lateral very small; staminate flowers in clusters of 3, on pedicels about 2 lines 

 long, their calyces less than 1 line long; anthers 2% lines long, nearly sessile; 

 pistillate flowers sessile or subsessile, 4 to 7 in a cluster, or somewhat scat- 

 tered along short axillary branchlets, their calyces 4 or 5 times as long as 

 those of the staminate flowers; styles longer than the ovary. 



Dry stream beds of the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada to Southern 

 California: Klamath River; Round Valley; Vaea Mts., TV. L. J. no. 562; 

 lone; Tehipite Valley; Middle Tule River. May. 



CUCURBITACEAE. Gourd Family. 



Herbs, mostly tendril-bearing and succulent, with simple palmately lobed 

 leaves. Flowers unisexual, the petals united and blended with the calyx, 

 (alyx-tube in the pistillate flower adherent to the 1 to 6-celled ovary; stigmas 

 2 or 3; placentae parietal or projecting from the axis. Staminate flower with 

 .*! stamens, 2 of these with 2-celled anthers, the third one with a 1-celled anther. 

 Fruit gourd-like, or dry and dehiscent. Seeds large, anatropous, without 

 endosperm. — An order of characteristic aspect, well known on account of the 

 Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.), Cucumber (C. sativus L.), Pumpkin (Cucur- 

 bita pepo L.), Squash (C. maxima Duch.), Watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris 

 Sehrad.) and other esculent fruits of cultivation. 



1. ECHINOCYSTIS T. & G. Bid Root. 

 Trailing or climbing herbs with branched tendrils and ivy-like but thin Leaves. 

 Flowers small, greenish or white, monoecious, the staminate in axillary racemes 



