On Ammobeoma, a Nev) Genus of Plants^ allied to Cored- 
lophyllum and Pholisma, 
Bt John Torret. 
Eeprinted from the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History, New York, VoL viii., June, 1864, 
This singular plant was discovered in tlie year 1854 by the 
late Col. Andrew B. Gray, in his survey and explorations for 
ascertaining the practicability of constructing a southern rail- 
way to the Pacific. It was found in abundance on a range of 
sandhills near the head of the Gulf of California, and is not 
known to occur elsewhere. 
A brief notice, of the plant was given in a memoir by Prof. A. 
Gray, entitled PlantcB PfovcB Thurberiance^ which was pub- 
lished in the fifth volume of the Memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, in the year 1854. A full de- 
scription was reserved for Col. Gray’s complete narrative of his 
expedition. Yarious causes have hindered the publication of 
this work, and as it is now doubtful whether it will ever make 
its appearance, owing to the recent death of that gentleman, it 
seems proper that one of the most interesting of the scientific 
results of his. labors should no fenger be withheld. 
The following are the characters of the new genus, taken 
from dried specimens presented to me by Mr. Gray, and from a 
drawing made from the living plant by Mr. C. Schuchard, who 
accompanied the expedition as draughtsman. 
AMMOBKOMA*, Toee. 
Calyx deeply 10-parted ; tke divisions setaceous, plumose. Corolla 
monopetalous, tubular-funnelform, somewhat plicate ; the border 6-lobed ; 
* From a|U/io?, sand, and food ; in allusion to its place of growth, and the 
use made of the plant by a tribe of Indians. 
