§ 1. Annual: sepals similar, dilated and fornicate at the apex within,
produced posteriorly into a divaricate horn or awn: flowers cymose.
—(C hetonychia, DC. ?)
1. P. Drummondii: minutely pubescent; stem erect, branching above
into numerous cymes; leaves (of the branches) linear-oblong, short, the
uppermost mucronate; calyx turbinate at the base, with a ring of hooked
hairs; sepals broadly scanous and dilated above, the back produced into a
short somewhat recurved horn; sterile setae very minute.
Texas, Drummond! (2nd Coll. no. 93)—Stem stout, 10 inches high.
Leaves of the stem wanting in the specimen; of the branches rigid, hispidly
canescent, J an inch long, attenuate at the base; the uppermost smaller and
bract-like. Stipules ovate, with a slender acumination, shorter than the
leaves. Ultimate bracts (bracts? and stipules of bracts) scarious. ciliate,
shorter than the flower. Sepals reddish-brown, the scarious margins and
horn white. Stamens much shorter than the sepals. Sterile setae perhaps
often wanting. Style very short.—This species manifestly belongs to the
section Chsetonychia, DC.
2. P. setacea: nearly glabrous: stem erect, branching into themany times
dichotomous diffuse cyme; leaves subulate-setaceous, erect; bracts similar,
cuspidate; sepals hairy at the base, minutely scarious on the margin, the
apex arched within, the back produced into a slender diverging awn; sterile
setae as long as the filaments.
Texas, Drummond •! (3rd Coll. no. 33.)—Slender, 3-5 inches high. Leaves
about the length of the internodes. Stipules shorter, lanceolate, attenuate
into a long point. Sepals (and also peduncles and leaves) brownish, oblong-
linear : awn straight, whitish, somewhat shorter than the sepals. Styles the
length of the utricle, distinct more than half-way down.
5 2. Perennial: sepals similar, cuspidate or awned, the apex somewhat
cucullate or concave within, hut not dilated : flowers in dichotomous
cymes or axillary glomerules, or sometimes nearly solitary.—
E unychia, DC.
The species with the flowers enveloped by scarious bracts may perhaps form a
separate section (Argyronychia): P. dichotoma (Plottzia, Am!) cannot be distinguished
as a genus.
3. P. sessiliflora (Nutt.): very densely csespitose, much branched and
crowded: leaves imbricated, linear-subulate ; the lowermost erect, obtuse; the
upper longer, recurved-spreading, acute or mucronate, rather longer than the
2- cleft stipules; flowers terminal, solitary, sessile ; sepals arched at the apex
within, with divergent setaceous awns rather shorter than the sepals ; sterile
set® as long as the filaments.—Nutt.! gen. 1. p. 160; DC. prodr. 3. p. 372;
Hook.!fl. Bor.-Am. I p . 226. t. 75.
Hills of the Missouri near Fort Mandan (Nuttall) to the Saskatchawan
;(lat. 53°), Drummond! June-Sept.—Root (caudex) ligneous, perpendicular.
Branches very dense, 2 inches high. Sepals oblong-linear, obscurely
3- nerved. Style as long as the sepals, 2-cleft at the apex.
4. P. Jamesii: minutely scabrous-pubescent, csespitose, much branched
from the base; leaves linear-subulate, obtuse (the uppermost mucronate);
cymes dichotomous, few-flowered, crowded, with a central subsessile flower
in each division; sepals minutely hairy at the base, linear-oblong, obscurely
3 -ribbed or even, with a very short cusp, arched at the summit within ; sterile
set® as long as the filaments.—P. dichotoma ? Torr.! in ann. lyc. New-
York, 2. p. 290.
0. depressa: dwarf, densely dichotomous; leaves and stipules imbricated
on the snort branches ; flowers nearly immersed in the leaves.—P. depressa,
N u tt.! mss.'
Rocky Mountains, lat. 41°, Dr. James! Nu tta ll! 0. “ On the barren
plains of the Rocky Mountains (lat. 41°), and on the plains of the Oregon.”
Nu tta ll!—Stems 4-6 inches high. Leaves on the flowering branches about
half an inch long, slightly 2-sulcate, about the length of the internodes. Stipules
shorter than the leaves, ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, or setose ; the
point much shorter than in P. dichotoma; the flowers smaller, fewer, and
more crowded ; the cusp stouter and confluent with the arched inner portion.
Calyx obpyramidal at the base. Style 2-cleft 4 of its length. The
IS. depressa has the branches crowded with leaves to the summit; the stipules
are nearly the length of the leaves, and the flowers are scarcely cymose.
5. P. dichotoma (Nutt.) : glabrous, densely c®spitose and branching from
the thick procumbent ligneous base; leaves subulate, mucronate; cymes
many times dichotomous, without central flowers, diffuse, fastigiate; bracts
similar to the leaves ; sepals linear, 3-ribbed, cuspidate, slightly cucullate at
the apex within; sterile set® very short.—Nu tt.! gen. 1. p. 159; DC.prodr.
3. p. 372. Achyranthes dichotoma, Linn. mant. p. 51; Willd. sp. 1. p.
1196. Plottzia dichotoma, Am. in Lindl. nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 441.
On rocks around Harper’s Ferry, Virginia! N. Carolina, Schweinitz !
Arkansas, Nuttall! Dr. Leavenworth! Texas, Drummond! July-Nov.
—Flowering stems 6-12 inches high, nearly simple. Leaves an inch or
more in length (those of the flowering stems larger than the intemodes; of
the barren stems imbricated), erect, 2-sulcate beneath, about 4 a line wide.
Stipules lanceolate, piliferous; the adjacent ones more or less united. Sepals
yellowish, the base lined with a whitish disk. Style filiform, nearly as
long as the sepals, cleft usually about 4 its length.—Separated from Paronychia
by Arnott, who however did not observe the 2-cleft style and the minute
sterile set®, which indeed are not easily detected in dried specimens.
P. Jamesii connects it with other species of the genus. Nuttall’s synonym,
“ Illecebrum dichotomum, Willd.” is perhaps a mistake, as there is no
such species in Willdenow’s Species Plantarum.
6. P. argyrocoma (Nutt.): c®spitose, decumbent, minutely pubescent;
leaves linear, acute, veinless; cymes terminal, glomerate ; flowers enveloped
by the numerous scarious bracts; sepals hairy, setaceously cuspidate, the
inner portion bearded above ; style slender, 2-cleft at the summit, hairy at the
base; sterile set® very short (Nutt.) or none.—Nutt.! gen. 1. p. 160; DC.
prodr. 3. p. 372. Anychia argyrocoma, Michx.I fl. 1. p. 113; Pursh, fl. 1.
p. 176; Ell. sk. 1. p. 308, excl. syn.
On rocks, mountains of Virginia (Pursh) N. Carolina! Georgia! and
Tennessee !—Flowering stems ascending, 4-10 inches high. Leaves J-J of
an inch long, much crowded on the younger stems. Stipules lanceolate,
acuminate, nearly as long as the leaves. Bracts like the stipules. Sepals
linear, 1-nerved, with a whitish straight acumination.—The synonym and locality
“ Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.” in Elliott, l. c. belong to P. dichotoma.
7. P. herniarioides (Nutt.): depressed, diffusely branched, scabrous-
pubescent ; leaves oval or oblong, ciliate, mucronate; flowers sessile in the
axils of the leaves ; sepals subulate, mucronate; sterile set® very minute.—
Nutt.! gen. 1. p. 160. Anychia herniarioides, Michx. ! fl. l.p . 113; Ell.
sk. l. p. 308 ?
In dry sandy places, N. Carolina, M id ia v x ! S. Carolina (herb.
Schweinitz!), and Georgia, Baldwin!—A small depressed plant with somewhat
the aspect of Euphorbia polygonifolia. Leaves sessile, often slightly
falcate, 3-4 lines long, minutely hispid under a lens. Stipules shorter than