vida, regarded by DeCandolle as a mere variety of nutans,
with which it agrees in the presence of a crown.
Plant perennial, caespitose, downy. Stems ascending,
cylindrical, branched, about two feet high. Leaves, the
radical and those of the lower part of the stem, spathulate,
with a short point, on rather long channelled footstalks ;
upper ones sessile, linear, lanceolate, acute, with the mar-
gins slightly waved; the under side rather paler, and
marked with three or five ribs. Flowers white, slightly
drooping, in a loose spreading panicle. Peduncles long,
filiform, viscid. Calyx nearly an inch long, clavate, ten-
ribbed, pubescent; the teeth ovate-oblong, blunt, with a
white membranous border. Petals destitute of a crown,
wedge-shaped, parted about half way, or deeply cordate,
with broad obtuse segments; veiny and livid on the under
side, pure white above. Claws long, linear, attenuated
towards the base. Stamens ten, unequal, seldom projecting
beyond the tube.. Filaments slender, white. Anthers
yellow. Germen cylindrical, green, sitting on an elevated
column, into the top of which the stamens are inserted.
Styles three, slender, compressed, about an inch long. Stigmas
downy, their points purple and recurved. Capsule
conical, surrounded by the persistent calyx.
W il l ia m P e e t e .
Hartford, May, 1832.