TheiwestiAmericaniScientist. 



No. 2605 Broadway, San Diego, California 



VOLUME XVIII. WHOLE NO. 138, 

 JANUARY, 1914 



o 



Established 1884. 



THE WEST AMERICAN SCIENTIST. 



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Single copy, 10 cents. 



Charles Russell Orcutt, Editor and 

 Publisher. 



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FLORA OF BAJA CALIFORNIA. 



(Continued from last issue.) 



tessellated, with a terete curved appen- 

 dage (radicle?) scarcely lg'er than diam 

 of globular portion; albumen apparently 

 O, Ubi, SEnrique, SMaria. This very 

 remarkable sp grows on Veatchia dis- 

 color, & in the interior, where the tree 

 is taller, frequently covers the whole top 

 with a mass of y. As the parasite was 

 oft 6-8 ft from the ground, with no 

 intermediate growth, it did not seem 

 that it had germinated in the usual way 

 on the earth. Perhaps the very unusual 

 formation of the sd may be intended to 

 furnish support to the infant plant in 

 beginning its growth in a crotch of the 

 tree or a fold of the cracking bark. The 

 specimens were just coming into fl, & 

 the description of sd is drawn from such 

 as could be obtained from a dried & 

 persisting tangle of the previous year's 

 growth."— Br 2:189. 



STEMODIA POLYSTACHYA Br 2:191. 



"Suffrutescent, minutely & sparsely 

 glandular-pubescent, dividing near base 

 into num slender, angled sts about 1 ft 

 hi, & branching above: lvs opp, trian- 

 gular-ovate in outline, pinnately parted 

 or incised in the manner of Conobea 

 multifida, & decurrent into petioles of 

 about the same length: fls 1-2 in axils, 

 on slender pedicels of about their own 

 length; cx-lobes acuminate, nearly equal, 

 bracts 0; cor p, with y'ish throat 8-10 

 mm lg; upper lip emarginate, lobes of 

 the lower denticulate; tube hairy below 

 insertion of sta: anth-cells disjointed & 

 pedicellate; rudiment of the posterior sta 

 somewhat capitate: ova ovate-acumin- 

 ate, a little exceeding cx-lobes, septi- 

 cidal: valves entire; placental column 2- 

 cleft: sds spiral striate. SGregorio, 



Comondu. This plant & Conobea inter- 

 media, in which the rudiment of the 5th 

 sta is also present, tho very minute, 

 appear to break down all distinctions be- 

 tween the two genera." — Br. 2:191. 

 HERPESTIA EXILIS Br 2:191. 



"Mercadonia, Ann, glab, erect, 3-6 in 

 hi, seldom branching: lvs penninerved, 

 ovate or oblg-lanceolate, 10-15 mm lg, 

 serrate above the middle & tapering at 

 base into a margined petiole of less 

 than its own length: fis axy on slender 

 pedicels 2-4 times as lg as lvs: cx 5 mm 

 lg, the posterior oblg-lanceolate sep of 

 same form & but little lg'er than the 2 

 anterior: cor y, twice as lg as cx, upper 

 lip entire, pubescent in throat with 

 glandular hairs: anth-cells divergent, 

 the rudiment of posterior one oft pres- 

 ent as a minute capitate appendage to 

 tube: sty dilated, barely 2-lobed at 

 apex: cap- valves sh'ly 2-cleft; sds oblg 

 with a minutely reticulated coat. S 

 Jorge."— Br 2:191. 

 BELOPERONE HIANS Br 2:194. 



"Suffrutescent, woody at base, with 

 num slender branches, pubescent or gla- 

 bra te: lvs ovate, oval or oblg, acute or 

 obtuse, sh'ly petiolate: fls solitary & ses- 

 sile in axils: bracts & braceoles linear, 

 acute, sh'er than cx, which is deeply 

 5-parted, 7 mm lg, the linear lobes 

 acute: cor r, 23-35 mm lg; tube funnel- 

 form not appendaged, much sh'er than 

 the deeply bilabiate limb; upper lip bare- 

 ly emarginate, the lower cleft for more 

 than a third its length into oblg, widely 

 spreading lobes: fil adnate to the whole 

 length of tube; upper cell of anth a third 

 the larger, both very minutely calcarate 

 & widely spreading at base: sty fili- 

 form; stig not enlarged; ova 4-ovuled: 

 cap clavate-oblg, about 15 mm lg, the 

 sterile base no lg'er than upper part & 

 exceeded by cx-lobes: sds flattened, 

 glab, coarsely rugose; cotyledons reni- 

 form with the sh radicle incurved to- 

 wards sinus. Comondu. This sp might 

 as well & perhaps better be put into 

 Justicia, but it so strongly resembles 

 Beloperone Californica as to be taken 

 for a slight variation of it in the first 

 hasty examination of this collection. 

 From the character of its sds it may 

 even be that a fr'g fragment of it fur- 

 nished Dr. Gray with the description 

 which was alluded to under B: Calif or- 



