Part 67 (1/2)

16. . serrulata, Nutt. Slender (3--15' high), simple or branched, canescent or glabrous; leaves linear to lanceolate (1--3' long), _irregularly and sharply denticulate; calyx-tube broadly funnnelform (2--4' long)_, strongly nerved; petals broadly obovate (3--4” long), crenulate; capsule 9--15” long.--Wisc. and Minn. to Mo., Tex., and N. Mex.

5. GAuRA, L.

Calyx-tube much prolonged beyond the ovary, deciduous; the lobes 4 (rarely 3), reflexed. Petals clawed, unequal or turned to the upper side. Stamens mostly 8, often turned down, as is also the long style. A small scale-like appendage before the base of each filament. Stigma 4-lobed, surrounded by a ring or cup-like border. Fruit hard and nut-like, 3--4-ribbed or angled, indehiscent or nearly so, usually becoming 1-celled and 1--4-seeded. Seeds naked.--Leaves alternate, sessile. Flowers rose-color or white, changing to reddish in fading, in spikes or racemes, in our species quite small (so that the name, from ?a????, _superb_, does not seem appropriate).

[*] _Fruit sessile or nearly so._

1. G. biennis, L. _Soft-hairy or downy_ (3--8 high); _leaves oblong-lanceolate_, denticulate; _spikes wand-like; fruit oval or oblong_, acute at both ends; 2--3” long, ribbed, downy.--Dry banks, N. Y. to Minn., and southward. Aug.

2. G. parviflra, Dougl. Soft-villous and p.u.b.erulent, 2--5 high; _leaves ovate-lanceolate_, repand-denticulate, _soft-p.u.b.escent; spikes dense; fruit oblong-clavate_, narrowed to both ends, _4-nerved_, obtusely angled above, 3--4” long.--Mo. to La. and westward.

3. G. coccinea, Nutt. _Canescent, p.u.b.erulent or glabrate_ (6--12' high), very leafy; _leaves lanceolate, linear-oblong or linear_, repand-denticulate or entire; flowers in simple spikes, rose-color turning to scarlet; _fruit terete below, 4-sided and broader above_, 2--3” long.--Minn. to Kan., and westward.

[*][*] _Fruit slender-pedicelled._

4. G. filipes, s.p.a.ch. Nearly smooth; stem slender (2--4 high); leaves linear, mostly toothed, tapering at base; branches of the panicle very slender, naked; fruit obovate-club-shaped, 4-angled at the summit.--Open places, Va. to Fla., west to Ill., Kan., and Ark.

6. STENoSIPHON, s.p.a.ch.

Calyx prolonged beyond the ovary into a filiform tube. Filaments (8) not appendaged at base. Fruit 1-celled, 1-seeded. Otherwise as Gaura, which it also resembles in habit. (From ste???, _narrow_, and s?f??, _a tube_.)

1. S. virgatus, s.p.a.ch. Slender, 2--4 high, glabrous, leafy, leaves narrowly lanceolate to linear, pointed, entire, much reduced above; flowers numerous in an elongated spike, white, ' long; fruit p.u.b.escent, oblong-ovate, 8-ribbed, small.--E. Kan. to Col. and Tex.

7. CIRCae'A, Tourn. ENCHANTER'S NIGHTSHADE.

Calyx-tube slightly prolonged, the end filled by a cup-shaped disk, deciduous; lobes 2, reflexed. Petals 2, inversely heart-shaped. Stamens 2. Fruit indehiscent, small and bur-like, bristly with hooked hairs, 1--2-celled; cells 1-seeded.--Low and inconspicuous perennials, in cool or damp woods, with opposite thin leaves on slender petioles, and small whitish flowers in racemes, produced in summer. (Named from _Circe_, the enchantress.)

1. C. Lutetiana, L. Taller (1--2 high); _leaves ovate_, slightly toothed; _bracts none_; hairs of the _roundish 2-celled fruit bristly_.--Very common. (Eu.)

2. C. alpna, L. _Low_ (3--8' high), _smooth and weak; leaves heart-shaped, thin, s.h.i.+ning, coa.r.s.ely toothed; bracts minute_; hairs of the obovate-oblong _1-celled fruit_ soft and slender.--Deep woods, N. Eng. to Ga., Ind., and Minn. (Eu.)

ORDER 43. LOASaCEae. (LOASA FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with a rough or stinging p.u.b.escence, no stipules, the calyx-tube adherent to a 1-celled ovary with 2 or 3 parietal placentae_;--represented here only by the genus

1. MENTZeLIA, Plumier.

Calyx-tube cylindrical or club-shaped; the limb 5-parted, persistent.

Petals 5 or 10, regular, spreading, flat, convolute in the bud, deciduous. Stamens indefinite, rarely few, inserted with the petals on the throat of the calyx. Styles 3, more or less united into one; stigmas terminal, minute. Capsule at length dry and opening by valves or irregularly at the summit, few--many-seeded. Seeds flat, anatropous, with little alb.u.men.--Stems erect. Leaves alternate, very adhesive by the barbed p.u.b.escence. Flowers terminal, solitary or cymose-cl.u.s.tered.

(Dedicated to _C. Mentzel_, an early German botanist.)

[*] _Seeds few, oblong, not winged; petals 5, not large; filaments all filiform._

1. M. oligosperma, Nutt. Rough and adhesive (1--3 high), much branched, the brittle branches spreading; leaves ovate and oblong, cut-toothed or angled, often petioled; flowers yellow (7--10” broad), opening in suns.h.i.+ne; petals wedge-oblong, pointed; stamens 20 or more; capsule small, about 9-seeded.--Prairies and plains, Ill. to Kan. and Col., south to Tex.

[*][*] _Seeds numerous, rounded and wing-margined; petals 10, large and showy; outer filaments petaloid in n. 3; capsule large, oblong; leaves sessile._