■wuh the habit of Fedia; the stem simple or sparingly branched. Leaves
entire, oblong or obovate-spatulate, sessile. Flowers rose-color, aggregated
m vemcillate glomerules, or capitate. Bracts subulate, verticillate and in-
Volucellate, united at the base.
n J fS ,fl,uner.S.I1'®’iWe ^elieve> a11 perfect and similar; De Candolle. the bracts are not multifid, but crowded annodt mveorntioceiclliaotues., as stated b^v
1. P. congesta (DC. ): corolla manifestly bilabiate; the spur (or rather its
free portion) small, much shorter than the tube; flowers in an oval or oblong
head, or often in verticillate (approximate or rather distant) glomerules—
JJC. L c , Hook. ! ft. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 291. P. congesta & P. canitata.
Nutt. mss. Valenanella congesta, Lin d l.! hot. reg. t. 1095. V. parvi-
liora, Dougl. med. (var. with smaller flowers and narrower leaves, Hook.)
of stieams and moist rocks, along the Oregon, from the sea-shore to
the Wahlamet Douglas! Dr. Scouler! Nuttall, Mr. Tolmie ! May-June.
Plant from 4 inches to 2 feet high. Corolla usually 3 or 4 lines long.
Ovary pubescent with short thick hairs, but mostly glabrous when mature,
except along the face where it is shielded by the incurved wings.
?' P \ maf roc&ra ■' limb of the corolla almost regular, small; the spur (or
rather its free portion) thick, longer than the tube; stem slender; flowers
capitate—P. congesta /?. Hook. SfArn.! lot. Beechey, suppl. p. 349, excl.
California, Douglas /—Upper leaves sometimes denticulate. Heads and*
especially the flowers, smaller than in the preceding; the lobes of the: corolla
much shorter. Ovary and fruit nearly or quite glabrous—In P. congesta.
the gibbous portion of the corolla, which we should prefer to call an adnate
spur, is coherent with the proper (very slender) tube quite to the base of the
latter, whence it is produced into a rather slender, but short horn. In the
T c?ntrary. the spur is free from at least the lower
half of the filiform tube; but is nearly similar in form, except that the termination
is more obtuse.
3- FEDIA< Mcench ; Grertn. fr . t. 86 (excl. spec.); J. Woods, in Linn,
trans. 17. p. 421, t. 21.
Fedia & Yalerianella, Mcench, DC. dfc.
Limb of the calyx toothed and persistent, or obsolete. Tube of the corolla
(sometimes gibbous) not spurred; the limb 5-lobed, regular, or slightly irregular.
Stamens 2 or 3. Stigma entire, or 2-3-lobed. Fruit 3-celled ; two of
the cells empty (sometimes confluent into one), the other 1-seeded—Annual
nearly glabrous herb"more or less dichotomous above. Leaves oblong or
linear, sessile, entire, or often toothed or incised near the base. Flowers in
glomerate or crowded cymules, white, rose-color, or purple. Bracts opposite,
or somewhat involucellate.—Corn-Salad.
Our first section is almost exactly intermediate between Fedia and Yalerianella of
Mcench and De Candolle j having the corolla of the former, with the fruit, stamens
and stigmas of the latter. ’ ’
§ 1. Tube of the corolla long and slender ; the limb slightly irregular: stamens
3 •• stigma 3-cleft: fru it flattened fare and aft, with a somewhat crescent
shaped transverse section; the empty cells membranaceous, inflated,
separated and diverging, larger than {he fertile cell S iph onella.
F edia. VALERIANACEjE. 51
1 . F. longiflbra: tube of the corolla filiform, many times longer than the
limb or the ovary; fruit with a nearly orbicular outline, nearly glabrous,
minutely 3-toothed at the summit; the teeth which crown the empty cells
obscure and incurved; flowers in glomerate cymules; bracts lanceolate,
glandularly fimbriate-serrulate; lower leaves oblong-spatulate; the upper
linear-oblong, entire— Plectritis longiflora, Nutt. ! mss..
Plains of Arkansas, Nuttall!—Plant glabrous, 6-12 inches high; the stem
several times dichotomous above. Leaves about an inch long. Corolla
about half an inch long; the (purplish) filiform tube not at all gibbous,
abruptly dilated at the summit into a very small slightly ringent (white)
limb. Stamens and style exserted. Empty cells of the fruit separate from
top to bottom, almost lateral, much larger than the somewhat cartilaginous
fertile cell.
• {'■ Nuttallii: tube of the corolla slender, twice or thrice the length of
,e l*mb> furnished with a small callous gibbosity above the middle ; fruit
with a nearly orbicular outline, very glabrous, minutely 3-toothed at the
summit; flowers in capitate cymules; bracts ovate-lanceolate, glandularly
serrulate ; leaves entire, short, obovate-spatulate ; the uppermost oblong.—
Plectritis spathulata, Nutt. ! mss.
Plains of Arkansas, with the preceding, (which it resembles,) Nuttall !—
Tube of the (white) corolla shorter, and the limb larger in proportion. Fruit
very similar to the preceding, immature in the specimen, flattened, concavo-
convex or lunulate.
5 2. Corolla with a short tube and a regular limb : stamens 3 : stigma 3-cleft
or entire: empty cells of the fruit membranaceous and inflated, or sometimes
nerviform.— V alerianedla, Mcench, DC.
* Fruit with a gibbous corky or spongy mass at the back of the fertile cell; the empty
cells large, sometimes confluent.—Locust*, DC.
3. 1'. plitoria (Vahl.): fruit compressed, oblique, at length broader than
long, glabrous; the calyx teeth obscure or none; the partition between the
empty cells often imperfect; radical leaves petioled; flowers pale blue.—
Vahl, enum. 1 . p. 19 ; J. Woods, in Linn, trans. 17. p. 430, t. 24,/. 1. (fr.)
F. caerulea, Aikin! in Eaton, man. hot., under Valenanella. F. radiata,
Bart, compend.? Valeriana locusts a. olitoria, Linn. V. olitoria, Willd.
spec-1- P- 182. Valerianella olitoria, Mcench, meth. p. 493 ; “ Dufresne,
TValer. p. 56, t. 3, f 8 DC. prodr. 4. p. 625. V. radiata, DC. 1. c .;
Darlingt,fl. Cest.p. 11 (chiefly); not Fedia radiata, Michx. V. rhombi-
carpa, Aikin ! cat. Baltimore plants.
Fields, Maryland and Virginia, Dr. Aikin J New Orleans, Drummond.
Doubtless.introduced from Europe. June— Plant 4-10 inches high, dichotomous
; the angles of the, stem pubescent. Upper leaves sparingly toothed
at the base,, ciliate, as also the bracts. Flowers smaller than in V. radiata,
in small glomerules. Stigma of three very small linear-oblong lobes.'
Transverse section of the fruit elliptical 5 the spongy mass often nearly as
large as the empty cells. J
* * Fruit triquetrous, not grooved between the (at length confluent ?) empty cells, which
form the anterior angle, and are much smaller than the fertile one; the latter not
thickened at the back.—Trigonoccelae.
4. F. Fagopyrum: fruit triangular, with an ovate outline, nearly glabrous
when mature, obsoletely 2-3-toothed at the apex ; the lateral angles acute,
the anterior somewhat obtuse ; upper leaves mostly entire and rather acute ;