NYCTAGINACEJE. 



183 



2. S. Torreyana Wats. Thickly branched plant of bushy habit, 

 about 2 ft. high, the central stem erect, and the (6 to 14 in. long) 

 branches ascending or suberect, a woody base 5 to 12 in. high persist- 

 ing through the winter; leaves linear, subterete, narrow at base, 5 to 

 7 lines long, mostly acute, the floral similar; clusters several (mostly 

 7)-flowered; perianth rather deeply cleft, the lobes often somewhat 

 thickened at the apices and incurved or slightly cucullate, with 

 □arrow scarious margins; seed vertical, \ line broad, dark brown, 

 smooth and shining. 



Alkaline soil, Livermore Pass, Jepson, June, 1896; Byron Springs, 

 Hansen, Sept., 1899. Branches mostly flexuous, or somewhat crooked. 

 Main stems rarely depressed, with prostrate branches. Ovary and 

 styles similar to the foregoing. 



27. NYCTAGINACE^E. Fouk-o'clock Family. 



Ours succulent herbs with opposite entire petioled leaves and 

 swollen joints. Flowers perfect, delicate. Involucre of several 

 distinct bracts subtending a many-flowered head, or calyx-like and 

 containing 1 to many flowers. Petals none. Calyx tubular, colored 

 like a corolla, 4 to 5-lobed, its persistent base constricted over the 

 1-celled 1-seeded superior ovary, forming- a hardened pericarp-like 

 covering to the achene. Stamens 3 to 5, slender, hypogynous or 

 perigynous. Embryo coiled, with broad foliaceous cotyledons, the 

 endosperm in the center. 



1. ABRONIA Juss. 

 Ours perennial seaside herbs with viscid herbage. Peduncles axil- 

 lary or terminal, bearing a many-flowered head subtended by 5 to !•"> 

 distinct involucral bracts. Flowers showy. Calyx salver-form. Sta- 

 mens commonly f>, unequal, included in the tube and adnate to it. 

 Style included. Persistent base of calyx indurated, 3 to 5-winged, 

 more or less reticulate, enclosing a cylindrical achene. Embryo with 

 one cotyledon. (Greek abros, graceful.) 



Calyx rose-purple; wings thin but solid 1. A. umbcllata. 



Calyx yellow; wings thicker, the central cavity of the fruit extending through 

 them .' .2. A. latifolia. 



1. A. umbellata Lam. Common Sand- Verbena. Stems slender, 

 prostrate, viscid, 1 to 3 ft. long; leaves, nearly glabrous, roundish or 

 ovate to narrowly oblong, the margin often somewhat sinuate, 1 to \h 

 in. long, narrowed at base to a slender petiole; heads 10 to 15-flowered, 

 peduncles 2 to 6 in. long; involucral bracts narrowly lanceolate, 2 or 

 3 lines long; calyx rose-purple. 6' to 8 lines long; lobes 5, emarginate; 

 fruit rigid and hard, oblong, attenuate at each end, 4 to 5 lines long; 

 wings thin, broadest above and often truncate, narrowed to the base. 



Common on the whole California seacoast. June-< kit. 



2. A. latifolia Esch. Yellow Sand-Verbena. Very succulent; 

 stems stout, 1 to 2 ft. long, prostrate, only the leaves and flowering 

 peduncles ascending or erect; leaves broadly ovate to suborbieular 



