Oplotheca Floridana.
conspicuous mid-rib of a carmine-red colour, the under surface covered
with a long sericeous pubescence. Inflorescence a naked, simple
panicle, supporting numerous, short, remote, sessile, opposite spikes.
Flowers inconspicuous and confused, imbricated and whitish. Calix
double; the exterior consists of transparent membranaceous scales,
abruptly terminated with a notch in the middle of the truncation; the
interior is covered with the flocculent appendage like common cotton,
which finally invests and conceals the whole spike. Flowering
time, July.
Grows on the Banks of the Altamaha, Florida—Dr. Baldwin. On
the sandy beach of the Arkansa—Mr. Nuttall.
The genus of which the only detected North American species is
here figured, was named by Mr. Nuttafi, from two Greek words, .
armour, and a»«», a sheath, in allusion to the seed being protected in
an armed sheath. It is sufficiently hardy to stand in borders, where it
thrives without particular care, as was the case with the fine specimens
from which the drawing was made last summer, raised from
seeds of Mr. Nuttail.
The table represents the top of the plant, of its natural size, in
flower, separated from the middle portion, which exhibits the leaves
and pubescent stem.