Ammobroma^ a New Genus of Plants. 5 
the length of the calyx, purple and plicate towards the summit; the 
border 6-lobed,, with the lobes erect and slightly emarginate. Stamens 
6-10 (mostly about 8), inserted near the upper third of the corolla; 
the filaments very short, triangular-lanceolate, blue; anthers obtuse at 
each end. Pollen simple, obtusely, but distinctly triangular. Ovary 
orbicular and somewhat flattened, mostly about 20-celled, the cells mar- 
ginal and surrounding a thick fleshy central axis. Style cylindrical, 
about two-thirds the length of the corolla ; stigma capitate, somewhat 
lobed or crenulate. Ovules suspended on a short funiculus. Mature 
front not seen. 
In a business Eeport of Col. Gray to the Texas Western Rail- 
road Company, published at Cincinnati in 1856, is the following 
notice of the plant : West of Tucson and Tubac, towards the 
Gulf of California, the country presents more the appearance of 
a barren waste or desert than any district I have seen. It is the 
country of the Papigo Indians, a peaceful and friendly tribe, 
extending down the Gulf coast, where they are mixed up some- 
what with the Cocopas of the Colorado. From Sonoita I 
explored the Gulf shore near the mouth of Adair Bay. This bay 
is completely encircled by a range of sand-hills, reaching 
north-west to the Colorado river, and southward as far as the 
eye could discover. The “sables” are probably eighty or ninety 
miles in extent by five to ten broad. Notwithstanding it ap- 
pears to be the most desolate and forlorn-looking spot for eighty 
miles around the head of the Gnlf, the sand-hills looking like a 
terrible desert, nature seems even here, where no rain had fallen 
for eight months, to have provided for the sustenance of man 
one of the most nutritious and palatable vegetables. In this 
naked spot I found a band of Indians (Papigos) almost in a state 
of nudity, living on fish and crabs caught in the salt creeks and 
lagoons of the Gulf ; and a sort of root, which was eaten after 
roasting upon hot coals or dried in the sun, and ground on a 
metate (curved stone) with mesquit beans, forming “ Pinole.” 
In the latter state it was not so palatable as ours made of 
parched wheat or corn ; but the vegetable itself; when first 
