LVTHRACEAE. 271 



3. E. watsonii Cogn. Stems slender, not succulent, 4 to 8 ft. long; herb- 

 age nearly glabrous, glaucous; leaves orbicular-cordate with nearly closed sinus 

 or broadly reniform, 2 to 4 in. broad, rather broader than long, deeply 5-lobed, 

 the lobes broader above and sinuately toothed or lobed; staminate panicle 

 slender, often few-flowered, the flowers small (about 1% to 2y 2 lines in 

 diameter), white; pistillate flowers 3 to 5 lines broad, without abortive stamens, 

 on slender pedicels 1 to 2 in. long; ovary smooth or somewhat muricate; fruit 

 nearly globose, 1 to 1*4 in. in diameter, somewhat naked toward the summit 

 or covered all over with weak and very slender spines about l 1 /* lines long, 

 2-celled, 2-seeded; seed not flattened, 7 to 9 lines long, 6 lines thick. 



Vaca Alts., otherwise unknown in the Bay region. Sierra Nevada. 



"RBiTA L. Gourd. Stems prostrate, vine-like, scabrous; flowers large, 

 yellow, solitary; filaments distinct; fruit a smooth globose gourd. C. foeti- 

 DISSIMA H.B.K. Calabazilla. Stems many feet long; leaves triangular-cor- 

 date or sub-cordate. 4 to 8 in. long; calyx-tube % in. long; corolla 3 to 4 in. 

 long; gourd 3 to 4 in. in diameter. — Southern California to San Joaquin Co. 

 C. palmata Wats. Mock Orange. Leaves palmately 5-cleft; calyx-tube 1 in. 

 long; gourd 3 in. in diameter. — Southern California to San Joaquin Co. 



LYTHRACEAE. Loose-Strife Family. 



Herbs with opposite or alternate entire simple leaves. Flowers perfect, 

 axillary or whorled. Calyx tubular, free from but enclosing the ovary, 4 to 

 6-toothed, sometimes with accessory teeth in the sinuses. Petals 4 to 6, in- 

 serted with the stamens on the calyx. Stamens in ours 4 to 8. Ovary and 

 capsule in ours 2 to 4-celled ; style 1; stigma capitate (in ours). — Punica 

 granatum L. (Pomegranate) is in cultivation. 



Flowers subsessile or pediceled, solitary in the axils; calyx cylindrical; leaves alternate.. 



1. Lythrum. 

 Flowers sessile in the axils, 2 to 4 in a whorl; calyx in fruit globose; leaves opposite.... 



2. AlCMANNIA, 



1. LYTHRUM L. Loosestrife. 

 Slender herbs, with 4 or 5-angled stems. Leaves sessile, in ours alternate. 

 Flowers solitary in the axils, purple or whitish. Calyx cylindric or subcypn- 

 dric. 8 to 12-ribbed, its 4 to 6 teeth thin, erect, smaller than the greenish 

 accessory ones which are at first spreading and later erect. Petals 5 or 6, 

 the stamens in ours as many. Capsule oblong or cylindrical, 2-celled. (Greek 

 luthron, blood, applied either on account of the color of the flowers or the 

 styptic properties of certain species.) 



Flowers distinctly pediceled; corolla 2 or 3 lines long; bright purple; perennial 



1. L. calif ornicum. 

 Flowers subsessile; corolla 1 line long or less, pale purple or almost white. 



Perennial, stoloniferous 2. L. adsurgens. 



Annual, not stoloniferous 3. L. hyssopifolia. 



1. L. calif ornicum T. & G. Common Loose-strife. Stoloniferous peren- 

 nial; stems erect, paniculately branching above, 2 or 3 or even 6 ft. high; 

 leaves broadly or narrowly linear, the upper varying to lanceolate, the lower 

 to ovatish-oblong, all more or less auricled, % to 2 in. long; flowers distinctly 

 pediceled; calyx narrowly vase-shaped or in fruit clavate, 2V> to 3K lines long, 

 its accessory teeth sharply acute; petals round-obovate, 2 to 3 lines long, bright 

 purple. 



Common in low valley and marshy lands and about springs in the moun- 

 tains: Milpitas, Dr. E. J. Smith; Newark; Suisun. June-Sept. 



