BOTANY. 
149 
Bracteal leaves 4-6, subulate-linear, connate at the base. Flowers apparently white. Sepals 
oblong, rather acute, and minutely sacculate at the lip, slightly united at the base, membranaceous 
on the margin, the midrib broad and thick. Stamens 6, equal; filaments inserted a little above 
the base of the sepals, not connected ; anthers oblong, 2-celled, inserted near the middle of the 
back. Ovary ovate, obtuse, 3-celled, with 10 anatropous ovules in each cell, in a double series. 
Style filiform, erect, slightly clavate upward ; stigma minutely 3-cleft. This little plant seems 
to have been hitherto overlooked. It differs from Hesperoscordium in the sepals being distinct 
nearly to the base, and in the slender filaments. 
Diciielostemma congesta, Kunth, Emm. 4, p. 470. Brodima congesta, Smith , in Linn. Trans. 
10, p. 3, t. 1 ; Hook. FI. Bor.-Amer. 2, p. 186. Cocomungo, March 8, and hill-sides, Mar¬ 
tinez, California ; April 20, (in fruit.) Our numerous specimens of this plant collected in 
various parts of California have the flowers all hexandrous, (as, indeed, they are shown in the 
early figure of Salisbury) ; nor do we find any hypogynous scales, except a slight callosity at 
the base of each adnate filament. 
Brodlea grandiflora, Smith, l. c.; Kunth, Enum. 4, p. 471. Var.? brachypoda : umbella 
multiflora, pedicellis floribus multo brevioribus ; staminibus sterilibus lato-lanceolatis integris. 
Plains of the Sacramento, May 26, (in flower and fruit.) The same plant was collected also by 
Colonel Fremont on Utah Lake, and by Dr. Stillman on the Sacramento. 
Var. macropoda : scapo foliis multo breviore ; umbella pauci-(3-6-) flora, pedicellis flores 
multoties excedentibus ; staminibus sterilibus lato-linearibus emarginatis. Swamps, Santa 
Eosa creek, and Laguna, California; May 1. Tuber the size of a marble. Scape only 2-3 
inches high. The longer pedicels 3-4 inches in length. Flowers bright purple, about three- 
fourths of an inch long. 
STROPHOLIRION.* Nov. Gen. 
Perianthium corollaceum campanulato-infundibuliforme, 6-fidum ; tubo subventricoso 6-sac- 
culato ; segmentis mqualibus ovatis obtusis uninerviis suberectis. Stamina fertilia 3, segmentis 
interioribus perianthii opposita ; filamenta tubo adnata, summo apice appendicibus 2 linearibus 
emarginatis, antheram linearem bilocularem utrinque fissam, admquantibus, aucta: sterilia 
linearia, uninervia, emarginata, glanduloso-ciliata fertilibus mquilonga. Ovarium oblongum, 
basi attenuatum (haud stipitatum), triloculare: ovula in loculis 4, biseriata anatropa, adscen- 
dentia: stylus ovario longior, triangularis, superne subfistulosus: stigma 3-lobum, lobis 
brevibus obtusis fimbriato-papillosis. Capsula ovata, sessilis, trilocularis, loculicida; loculis 
stepius abortu monospermis. Semina ovata, nigra, longitudinaliter striata. (Embryo igno- 
tus.) Herba Californica, glabra, foliis lato-linearibus breviusculis et scapo gracili nudo 2-4- 
pedali volubuli e cormo globoso exortis ; umbella terminali multiflora densa, bracteis concavis 
spathaceis coloratis involucrata; pedicellis cum flore articulatis ; floribus saturate roseis. 
Stropholirion Californicum. (Tab. XXIII.) In rocky places, Knight’s Ferry, Stanislaus 
Eiver, May, (in flower and fruit) ; also at Sonora, Mokelumne Hill; Valley of the Sacramento, 
Colonel Fremont, Mr. Rich , and Dr. Stillman. It is No. 1992 of Hartweg’s Californian collec¬ 
tion. A remarkable plant, of which we have had specimens for many years. It seems to be 
common in the Valley of the Sacramento. The tall slem, which is not larger than a crow-quill, 
and often more than 4 feet (Dr. Kellogg, of San Francisco, found it even 12 feet) in length, 
twines around other plants. In Dr. Bigelow’s specimens they were on Calliprora. Not un- 
frequently several stalks are twined together. The umbel is about 20-flowered, and much 
resembles that of some species of Allium, so that at first we took the plant for one of that genus. 
It most resembles Dichelostemma, but differs in having only three perfect stamens, and these 
furnished with appendages, while the abortive stamens are simple or undivided. There are 
also other characters, besides the habit, in which it differs from that genus. 
° From to turn or twist, (in allusion to the twining stalk,) and \ optov , lily. 
