eee el 
FOUR-O’CLOCK FAMILY. Nyctaginaceae. 
i tie eticae Pretty at a distance, but rather coarse 
Verbena close by, a straggling plant, with long, 
Abronia latifolia thick, rubbery stems, lying on the ground, 
Yellow thickish leaves, and small yellow flowers, 
Spring, summer, ; : 
esas slightly fragrant and forming pretty 
Wash., Oreg., clusters about an inch and a half across, 
Cal. with five bracts. This is common along 
the seashore, blooming more or less all through the year. 
It has a long, thick root, which is eaten by the Indians. 
There are a good many kinds of Allionia, one Asiatic, 
the rest American. The bell-shaped flowers have unequal 
stamens, usually three, on the receptacle. The peculiar, 
five-lobed involucre, which becomes large and papery 
after flowering, contains from three to five flowers. The 
fruit is ribbed and often hairy. The shape of the involucre 
probably suggested the common name Umbrella-wort. 
Re iedeee Me A pretty plant, one to four feet tall, 
Umbrella-wort With a slender stem and long, narrow, 
Allionia linearis bluish-green leaves, with somewhat wavy 
Purple, pink, margins, and almost no leaf-stalks. The 
owe flowers are fragile and pretty, of various 
Summer : : 
Utah, Ariz., etc, Shades of pink, the shape of small Morning- 
glories, half an inch across, the stamens 
and style protruding. There are from three to five in a 
cluster, in a purple and green involucre. This involucre 
is curious, for before the flowers come out it is closed 
around a bunch of buds, looking as if it were itself a pretty 
five-angled bud, and one would not suspect that there were 
other little buds inside it. When the flowers bloom and 
drop, which they do very soon, this involucre unfolds and 
expands until it becomes an exceedingly thin, papery, 
five-lobed disk, three-quarters of an inch across, veined 
with purple, very pretty and delicate, looking like an odd 
little flower without a heart. The smooth stem forks 
towards the top and the branches, which are slightly hairy, 
bear numerous clusters of involucres with flowers inside 
them. This grows in dry soil, is widely distributed and 
found as far east as Illinois. 
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