Onagrariece.~\ 



CALIFORNIA.— SUPPLEMENT. 



341 



tenuissimis sessilibus, petalis filamenta aequantibus stylo brevioribus, capsulis contortu- 

 plicatis striatis torulosis. — Hook. Ic. PL vol. IV. (ined.) 



This is one of the most remarkable species of the group with which we are acquainted. It has a slender 

 perpendicular branched root, from the summit of which arise several short ascending stems, from three to fm; 

 inches long, the central one, however, erect, and always apparently floriferous from the base to the summit, 

 the capsule at the base being almost mature, while the upper portion is only in flower. Lower leaves almost 

 equal in length to the stems, and sometimes nearly an inch broad, while the upper ones become bractese and 

 are shorter than the flowers. Flowers pale yellow, and retain their colour when dried, as in (En. dentata, Cav. ; 

 they are copious, racemose and secund, the upper portion of the raceme being recurved until the flowers 

 expand. Petals roundish, obovate, obtuse, and not at all emarginate. The whole habit is that of some 

 species of Alyssum, or rather, perhaps, of Vesicaria. The capsules are about an inch long, contortuplicate. 

 slender, not half a line thick, at the base, slightl}' attenuated at the extremity, somewhat terete, but striated, 

 torulose by the constrictions between the seeds. To this, (E. contorta, Dougl. in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am., 

 seems allied : but of that plant we possess only a very imperfect specimen, and it seems quite distinct. 



Hab. Pine Creek, Snake Country. Mr Tolmie. 



2. CE. (Holostigma) spiralis (Hook.) ; radice multicipite, caulibus adscendentibus 

 puberulis simplicibus, foliis oblongo-spatliulatis (inferioribus longe) in petiolum attenuatis 

 integerrimis canescentibus, floribus axillaribus, petalis stamina stylumque superantibus, 

 ovario piloso e basi crassiore attenuato, fructu acute tetragono acuminata incano spirali- 

 ter torto. — Hook. Flor. Bor. Am. I. p. 213. Hook, et Am. supra, p. 141. 



More perfect specimens, from California, than those we formerly possessed, have enabled us to draw up 

 the above character ; and we may observe, that the figure of CE. cheiranthifolia, Horn. Bot. Reg. t. 1040, 

 is so extremely similar to the present species, that were it not stated by its original describer to be a native 

 of Chili, we should have considered it the same. The flowers, as in all the following individuals of this sub- 

 genus, become green when dry. The stems are from four to eight inches high. 



3. CE. (Holostigma) micrantha. Horn. — H, hirta. Link. 



CE. heterophijlla, Nutt. ms., comes very near this, and is perhaps not really distinct ; but in the only 

 specimen we have seen, the capsule is thinly covered with short adpressed hairs, and not rough with spread- 

 ing hairs, as in Hornemann's plant. 



4. CE. (Holostigma) graciliflora ; acaulis pilosa, foliis anguste spathulato-linearibus 

 integerrimis vel apice denticulatis, floribus sessilibus, tubo elongato filiformi foliis paullo 

 breviore, petalis late obcordatis. — Hook. Ic. PI. vol. IV. {ined.) 



This is a small annual plant; the leaves are erect, and from an inch and a half to two inches long, and 

 scarcely a line broad near the apex, while they taper gradually downwards. We have not seen the fruit, 

 but the ovarium is oblong. The flowers are large in proportion to the size of the plant. It is very distinct 

 from any other species with which we are acquainted. 



(We may here remark, that (En. maritima, Nutt. ms., from St Diego, in California, is the same with 

 CE. viridescens, Hook. Flor. Bor. Am. 1. p. 214; and (En. (Gyranthus) lithospermoides, Nutt. ms., is 

 (En. Boothii, Dougl. in Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. ; while the CE. pygmcea of the same botanist, I. c, is probably 

 also not distinct from it. Douglas, in the Flor. Bor. Am., says of CE. Boothii, that the style is much ex- 

 serted ; but in his own as well as in Nuttall's specimens, it is scarcely the length of the petals.) 



5. CE. (Godetia) purpurea. Willd. — Godetia Willdenowiana. Spach. 



