242 
DATISCACK.fi. 
Megarrhiza. 
Angels Camp, Calaveras County (Rich, Bigelow ) ; near Placerville, Kellogg, Bolctnder. Speci¬ 
mens collected by Fremont, Hulse, and others, in the same region (from the Mokelumne River to 
the Upper Sacramento), may belong here though with the ovary 3- or 4-celled, and in some other 
minor respects different^ 
5. M. Guadalupensis, WatSon, 1. c. Nearly glabrous, the inflorescence some¬ 
what pubescent: leaves thin, 3 to 8 inches broad, 3-5-lobed to the middle, the 
lower lobes quadrangular, the upper acuminate, with few short teeth: racemes 
nearly simple, 4 to 6 inches long : calyx-teeth filiform : corolla 6 to 8 lines broad: 
fertile flowers without abortive stamens : ovary on a slender pedicel an inch long, 
ovoid, densely covered with short soft spines, 2-celled; ovules 1 or 2 in each cell, 
ascending: fruit ovoid, 1J to 2 inches long, acute above, somewhat pubescent and 
with short scattered stiff spines, usually 2-seeded : seeds subglobose, an inch in 
diameter, attached to the inner side of the cell, the margin smooth. 
Guadalupe Island, on high rocks near the centre of the island, Palmer , 1875. 
Order XLII. DATISCACEiE. 
A very small and peculiar order, chiefly represented by the following genus of 
only two species. 
DATISCA, Linn. 
Flowers dioecious, sometimes perfect. Calyx of sterile flowers very short, with 4 
to 9 unequal lobes: stamens 10 to 25; filaments short: rudimentary ovary none. 
Pistillate flowers with calyx-tube ovoid, somewhat 3-angled, 3-toothed : stamens 
three, when present, alternate with the teeth : styles 3/bifid, opposite the teeth, the 
linear lobes stigmatic on the inner side. Capsule oblong, coriaceous, 1-celled, open¬ 
ing at the apex between the styles. Seeds very numerous and small, in two to 
several rows upon the 3 parietal placentae : embryo cylindrical, in the axis of small 
albumen. — Smooth stout perennial herbs; leaves unequally pinnatifid, with coarsely 
toothed lanceolate segments, the upper scarcely lobed; flowers axillary, fascicled, 
nearly sessile. 
Only two species known, one native of W. Asia, the other of California. 
1. D. glomerata, Benth. & Hook. Erect, 2 or 3 feet high or more, branching : 
leaves ovate to lanceolate in outline, acuminate, 6 inches long, the numerous floral 
ones shorter and more narrowly lanceolate : flowers 4 to 7 in each axil of the elon¬ 
gated leafy raceme, the fertile mostly perfect: anthers nearly sessile, 2 lines long : 
styles longer than the ovary : capsule oblong-ovate, 3 or 4 lines long, slightly nar¬ 
rowed toward the truncate' triangular 3-toothed summit..— Gen. PI. i. 845. Tri- 
cerastes glomerata, Presl, Eel. Hsenk. ii. 88, t. 64; Lindl. Veg. Kingd. 316, fig. 
On stream-banks from Napa County to San Bernardino, and in the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada 
from Amador to Tuolumne County. 
Order XLIIL CACTACEiE. By Dr. George Engelmann. 
Green fleshy and thickened persistent mostly leafless plants, of peculiar aspect: 
globular or columnar, tuberculated or ribbed, or jointed and often flattened, usually 
armed with bundles of spines from the “ areolae ,” which constitute the axils of the 
(mostly absent) leaves. Flowers with numerous sepals, petals, and stamens, usually 
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