Engelmann, George Mar. 11, 1844 [fragment] [2] (seq. 111)

4)
Roadsides, praries, margins of woods, Houston to the Brazos. Fl. June to September.
Stem 1-1/2 foot high, leaves 2-4 inches long 1/2 to 1 inch wide, mostly with a few
remote, blunt teeth, sometmes entire and occasionally deeply sinuate-toothed.
Corolla pale purple, berries yellow.

(Besides this I got a few specimens of Solanum mammosum ? near S. carolinense
but villous tomentose, whitish, prickles weak calyx also sometimes with
a few prickles; flowers large, corymbose.

136. Physalis maritima Curtis mss. Probably only one if the many varieties of
Ph.
pennsylvanica. Sandy places on the seashore, covered with grass; Galveston
island, in flower from April to November.

Lindh. {Ferdinand Lindheimer} has also sent Ph. angulata; Ph. lanceolata (also a form of Ph. pennsylvanica
Ph. viscosa var, parvifolia, perennial, flowers long penduncled , but leaves
as small as in the smaller forms of Ph. obscura, only 1/2 to 1 inch long.

137. Herpestis cuneifolia Pursh. 138. Capraria multifida Mich.
139. Buchnera americana Lin β. parviflora. Whole plant smaller than the northern
form,
usually 10-15 inches high, flowers only half as large. Apparentlly no other difference.
Dry or wet praries, from Galveston to the Brazos, April & May, again in July
and August. The larger northern form has not been met with in Texas by
Mr Lindheimer.
140 Gratiola acuminata Walt. Among specimens of the common form of this plant,
we
find others, collected in August in moist clayey soil on the Brazos, which are
distinguished by the diffuse, at base decumbent and radicant stems, the
shorter, broader, obovate leaves, the longer peduncles, and the broader, much more
unequal sepals, which are all lanceolate, acuminate, not linear, obtusish as
in the common form. At present we can not specifically distinguish this form.
141. Gerardia spiciflora n.sp. annua (biennis?), caule erecto, inferna folioso,
ramoso
superne simplici, subnudo; foliis ositis oblongo linearibus basi attenuatis,
margine scabro revolutis, inferioribus subspathei latis, obtusis, seqerioibus
acutiusculis; floribus oppositis et ad apicem pedunculi elonguli in spicam
nudum dispositis; bracteis et pedunculis longitudne calycis; calyce subregularis
5-dentato, dentibus ovatis, obtusiusculis; corolla (purpurea, minore)
ciliata; filamentis et antheris rubro-pilosis.

Margin of brakish ponds, Galveston island; fl. May, probably into the summer.
About 10-15 inches high; remarkable by the long naked common peduncles;
corolla funnel shaped, not very ventricose, 6-9 lines long. From the nearly
related G. maritima it is distinguished by the greater size of the plant, but smaller
flowers and fruit, the scabrous, revolute margins of the (apparently also
succulent) leaves, by the form of the calyx, and by the inflorescence.
[NB. I have sent the same plant with the name to {George} Bentham through you.]

142 Pentstemon {Penstemon} digitalis Nutt? Caule erecto, puberulo foliis
serratis, glabris,
inferioribus lanceolatis acutis, infirmis in petiolum longum attenuatis;
superioribus basi cordata semi amplexicaulibus ovato-lanceolatis s. late
ovatis; summis puberulis; foliis floralibus, pedunculis calycibusque
glanduloso-pubescentibus; sepalis lanceolatis acutis; corolla maxima
(pupurea) ventricosa, extus glanduloso-pilosa, intus glabra.

Ravines in clayey soil, near Houston. April to June — Is it
Nuttall's plant? — The name is appropriate, and I used it before I was aware
that Nuttall had done so already. I have sent it under the same name to Bentham.