6 Ammobroma^ a New Genus of Plants. 
gathered and cooked, w^s very luscious, and resembled in taste 
the sweet potato (batatas), only far more delicate. It is very 
abundant in the hills ; the whole plant, except the top, buried 
in the sand, apparently attached to some other root or sub- 
stance.’^ 
There is not much probability that the Ammobroma can be 
cultivated, as it seems to be a true parasite ; yet it is possible 
that it may be propagated by transplanting it along with the 
living roots to which it is attached. 
The only known genera to which the Ammobroma is nearly 
allied are Corallophyllum of H. B. and Kth.* (or rather Lennoa 
of Llave and Lexarzaf ), and Pholisma of ISTuttall. The former 
has been found only near the City of Mexico, and no botanist 
appears to have noticed it since the original descriptions of the 
plant were published, about forty years ago. It differs from 
the other two related genera in having a corymbosely branch- 
ing cespitose stem, with the fleshy leaves (or rather scales) 
deeply and irregularly laciniate, and the stamens in a double 
series. The principal figure in the Nov. Gen. et Spec. Plant. 
does not clearly show the mode of inflorescence, but the flowers 
are described as being bracteate. 
PholismaJ oflSfuttallis as little known as the preceding genus, 
not having been found since that sagacious botanist discovered 
it near San Diego and Monterey in California, in the year 1835. 
It is very closely related to ^Ammobroma, but differs in its 
calyx being 6- (not 10-) parted, and in having its flowei's in a 
dense oblong spike instead of lining a cyathiform receptacle. 
As to the affinities of these plants there has been much 
uncertainty, owing to their great rarity and the incompleteness 
of our knowledge concerning them ; the two longest known 
having been examined only by the botanists who first described 
them, and the character of the mature fruit and seed being still 
* Nov. Gen. et Spec. Plant. 'T, p. 276, t. 660 bis (1825). 
f Nov. Veg. Mex. Desc. fasc. 1, p. 7 (1824), fidePritz. Thesaur. 
t Nutt, in Hook Icon. t. 626. 
