Descriptive Flora 



121 



lobed ovary. Fruits small, 3-lobed, 3-seeded pods bearing a six- 

 lobed stigma at its tip and covered with star-shaped hairs. Pre- 

 fers ledges of limestone bluffs. 



Croton texensis (Klotzch) Muell. Arg. 



Slender annuals, 1 to 2' tall, with the stems and branches 

 2 or 3 forked. Leaf-blades linear or lanceolate, 2 to 6" long, 

 entire, blunt at the apex. Petioles shorter than the blades. 

 Flowers either staminate or pistillate on separate plants. Petals 

 wanting. Staminate flowers have 8 to 12 stamens. Fruits 

 rounded, 3 or 4-lobed, about 14" across, conspicuously covered 

 with tufts of branched hairs. In sandy soil to the south and 

 east of San Antonio. 



Bitaxis mercurialina (Nutt.) Coulter 

 (ArgytTiamnia mercwrialina Muell.) 



Plant with a "musky" odor and erect, channelled, hairy 

 stems branching from a thick perennial root, deep green 3-nerved 

 leaves, and slender ascending axillary racemes of inconspicuous 

 green flowers. Leaves simple, alternate. Blades sessile, oblong- 

 ovate to lanceolate, entire, ascending, 1 to 3" long. Flowers 

 green, inconspicuous, slender-peduncled, in axillary ascending 

 racemes longer than the subtending leaves. Pistillate flowers 

 consist of 5 lanceolate sepals. Petals none. Staminate blossoms 

 have 5 sepals and 5 wedge-shaped petals equalling the sepals. 

 Pod 3-lobed, depressed, about V2" across, bearing the 3-cleft, 

 2-lobed styles at the summit. April to July. Rocky hillsides. 



AoalypJia radians Torr. Three-seeded Mercury. 



Cardinal Feather. 



Conspicuously hairy plants with ascending or spreading 

 stems, simple rounded leaf -blades, % to %" across, and short, 

 slender spikes of tiny, often red feathery flowers or longer com- 

 pact ones. Margins of leaves conspicuously lobed with 7 to 15 

 long, blunt, flaring teeth. Petals none. Pistillate flowers short, 

 on oblong spikes, the 3-lobed ovary tipped by a feathery red 



