9. WALDSTEINIA. Willd. act. nat. cur. Berol. 2. p. 103 ; Tratt. Eos.
Waldsteinia & Comaropsis, DC. (excl. spec.)
Tube of the calyx turbinate or obconic; the limb 5-cleft, with 5 alternate
sometimes minute and deciduous bracteoles, which are occasionally wanting.
Petals 5, sessile, deciduous. Stamens numerous, inserted into the throat of the
calyx above the glandular and somewhat crenated border of the disk which
lines the calyx-tube: filaments filiform, rather persistent. Achenia few
(2-6), dry or somewhat fleshy, minutely pubescent or hairy, inserted on a
short (glabrous or villous) receptacle : styles terminal, filiform, deciduous
from the carpel by an articulation : stigma simple. Seed erect. Radicle
inferior.—Low perennial herbs, with a prostrate or creeping rhizoma, and
mostly radical roundish 3—5-lobed or divided leaves. Scapes bracteate,
several-flowered. Petals yellow.
The calyx of Dalibarda fragarioides, Michx., is (perhaps always) bracteolate ;
but the bracteoles are minute and deciduous. This plant, .and the nearly allied
Siberian species (which we have only seen in the Royal Herbarium at Berlin),
with D, lobata, Ell., do not differ from Waldsteinia geoides of Hungary in any important
character, except that the receptacle is villous in the former, and glabrous
in the latter species, which also has a somewhat leafy scape. The genus Comaropsis,
therefore, will form at most only a section of Waldsteinia.
1. W. fragarimdes (Tratt. 1. c .) : somewhat hairy ; rhizoma rather thick;
leaves trifoliolate, with the leaflets broadly cuneiform arid petiolulate (or
rarely somewhat united), erenate-toothed and ineised ; scapes .erect, bracteate,
several-flowered'; segments of the calyx shorter than theobovate petals ;
carpels 4-6, minutely hairy.—Dalibarda fragarioides, Michx.! ft. 2. p. 300,
t. 28 ; Pursh, ft. 1. p. 351; Bot. mag- 1. 1567 ,• Tear. ! ft. l. p. 491. Comaropsis
fragarioides, DC .! prodr. 2. p. 555 ,• Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. v.
177. C. Doniana, DC. 1. c. ' ‘ ......
Shady woods and hill-sides, Canada ! and Northern States ! -and on the
Alleghany Mountains to Georgia (ex Elliott). May-June.—Leaves and
scapes 4-8 inches high. Leaflets rarely 5. Bracts rather small, foliaceous.
The C. Doniana is certainly only a state of this plant with smaller petals.
—Barren Strawberry.
2. IV. lobata: hirsute ; stems somewhat flagelliform; leaves nearly orbicular,
cordate with a narrow sinus, incisely crenate, mostly 3r-5-lobed ; scapes
filiform, ascending, somewhat cymosely 4-8-flowered, bracteate ; tube of the
calyx narrow; the segments rather longer than the oval petals; carpels
mostly 2, canescent.—Dalibarda lobata, Baldw. ! in Ell. sk. 1. p. 571 •
Hook. l ie. pi. t. 76. ’
Hills near Flint River, Georgia, Baldwin! Near Augusta, Dr. Wray! and
near Columbus in the same State, Dr. Boykin ! April-Jun'e.—Rhizoma
slender. Leaves and scapes 4-8' inches high.' Leaves hirsute on the veins,
clothed with a soft pubescence beneath. Bracts small, foliaceous.
Subtribe 2. C e r c o c a r p e®.—Calyx tubular, sometimes imbricate in
aestivation. Stamens numerous. Carpel solitary, dry: style terminal.
Seed erect. Radicle inferior.— Shrubs or small trees. Flowers perfect.
10. CERCOCARPUS. H. B. K. new. gen. 6, p. 223, t. 559.
Tube of the calyx cylindrical, very long and pedicelliform, more or less
persistent; the limb hemispherical-campanulate, 5-lobed, deciduous : aestivation
valvate ? Petals none. Stamens 15-25, inserted in 2-3 series on
the limb of the calyx : filaments short: anthers oval or roundish, deeply
emarginate or cleft at each end, often pubescent. Ovary solitary, free, with
a single erect ovule : style terminal, filiform, villous : stigma obtuse. Ache-
nium linear-oblong, coriaceous (membranaceous, Kunth.), caudate with the
long persistent plumose style, which is more or less included in the slender
persistent tube of the calyx. Seed linear, with a membranous testa, destitute
of albumen. Cotyledons long and linear.—Shrubs or small trees.
Leaves alternate, straight-veined, coriaceous, serrate or entire, on short petioles.
Stipules wholly adnate to the base of the petiole. Flowers axillary
or terminating short leafy branches, sessile, or on short pedicels, mostly
fascicled.
1. C. parvifolius (Nutt.! mss.) : leaves cuneiform-obovale, silky-pubescent
or at length nearly glabrous above, tomentose-canescent beneath, coarsely
toothed towards the apex; flowers .solitary or in pairs, on short pedicels,
recurved ; tail of the fruit very long, densely plumose.—Hook. Sr A m .! bot.
Beechey, suppl. p. 337 ; Hook. ! ic. pi. (ined.) t: 323. C. fothergOloides,
Torr. ! in ann. lyc. New York, 2. p. 198, not of if . B. <$- K. !
Rocky Mountains, in bushy ravines near the sources of the Platte, Dr.
James! Nuttall! California, Douglas! June.—A low shrub. Leaves
scarcely an inch in length, much smaller and less coriaceous than the C.
fothergilloides, which has numerous erect sessile flowers, fascicled in die
axils, &c.
2. C. betuloides (Nutt. ! mss.): “ somewhat glabrous ; leaves broadly obo-
vate, shining and nearly glabrous above, pubescent on the (not very prominent)
veins beneath, serrate-toothed towards the apex; flowers 2-6 m a fascicle,
on short pedicels, recurved; fruit unknown.”—Hook. ! ic. pi. t. 323.
(ined.)
“ Mountains'^of St. Barbara, California! April.— “ A shrub, with the
leaves about twice as large as-the preceding, to which it is allied, resembling
those of Alnus serrulata, but smaller.” Nuttall.—We much doubt if this be
sufficiently distinct from the foregoing species, of which our specimen in
fruit, from Douglas’s collection, has the leaves almost as large and nearly as
3. C. ledifolius (Nutt.! mss.): leaves lanceolate, entire, veinless, revolute,
at length nearly glabrous above, tomentose beneath, much crowded on the
short flowering branches ; flowers erect, sessile, 2-3 in a fascicle ; tail of the
fruit very long and tortuous.—Hook.! ic.pl. t. 324. (ined.)
“ Rocky Mountains, in alpine situations on the summits of the hills of Bear
River of Timpanagos, near the celebrated “ Beer Springs,” which abound
with carbonic acid. A shrub, or small tree, 6-10 feet high, with white
tough wood; the branches gray, terete, covered with circular cicatrizations.
Leaves resembling those of Ledum latifolium, very coriaceous, on very short
petioles. Stamens and inner surface of the flowers smooth. The achenium
which with its tortuose and plumose tail almost exactly resembles the fruit
of some species of Stipa, is coriaceous, and 2-seeded. Testa of the seed