Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 4, Pt. 3

BOTANY.
de los Reyes; April 17. Stems about a foot long, clothed, like the leaves, with a short woolly (and
somewhat viscid?) pubescence. Leaves nearly an inch long and half an inch wide; the upper
ones almost amplexicaul. Flowers few in leafy cymes, about as large as in Cerastium vulgatum.
Sepals lanceolate, acute, obscurely 3-nerved. Petals about one-fourth longer than the sepals.
Stamens 10. Styles rarely 4. Ovary and young fruit globose-ovate. This species resembles
S. pubera, but that has less pubescence on the stem in two lines; the leaves are much larger,
narrow at the base, and nearly smooth, except on the margin, and the sepals are broader as
well as more obtuse. The present plant has much the aspect of a Cerastium, but the styles are
almost invariably only three, and never five.
CERASTIUM OBLONGIFOLIUM, Torr. in Sill. Jour. 4, p. 63; Torr & Gray, Fl. 1, p. 188. Near
Punta de los Reyes, California; April 17. Except in the larger flowers, we see nothing in which
this differs from the eastern plant.
PARONYCHIA RAMOSISSIMA, DC. Mem. Paronych. p. 12, t. 4; Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1,. 72. San
Francisco; April 8.
PARONYCHIA SESSILIFLORA, Nutt. Gen. 1, p. 150; Hook7. Fl. Bor. —lmer. 1, p. 226, t. 79. Gravelly
natural mounds on the Canadian; September.
PARONYCIlA DICHOTOMA, Nutt. 1. c. On the Canadian, in rocky prairies; August.
DRYMARIA GLANDULOSA, Bartl.; Gray, P1. Wright. 2, p. 18. La Cuesta, New Mexico, on
mountains, under pine trees; September. A small state.
SPERGULARIA RUBRA, Pers. Syn. 1, p. 504, (Sect. Arenaric); Gray Gen. 111. 2, _p. 25, t. 107.
Arenaria rubra, Li,,n. Spergula rubra, Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1, p. 174, and Torr. & Gray,'Fi. 1,
p. 157. Arenaria media, Linn. A. marginata, DC. prodr. 1, p. 401. Low places where the
tide flows, Martinez, Corte Madera, &c.; April 10-23. All the specimens have the seed broadly
margined.
PORTULACACEE,.
PORTULACA PILOSA, Linn. Pecan creek, in dry, rocky places; August.
PORTULACA RETUSA, Engelm. in P1. Lindh. 2, p, 154. On the upper Canadian; September.
CALANDRINIA IMENZIESII, Hook. F'. Bor.-4mer. 1, p. 223, t. 10; Torr. & Gray,'Fi. 1, p.197.
Cocomungo, March 18, Corte Madera, April 20. C. speciosa, Lindl., seems to be scarcely distinct from this species. Dr. Bigelow collected at Cahon Pass, March 16, a Calandrinia scarcely
an inch high, but with conspicuous bright purple flowers. It is, probably, C. Menziesii in a very
early state.
CLAYTONIA CAROLINIANA, Michx. Fl. 1, p. 160; var. SESSILIFOLIA: minor, racemo foliis ovatooblongis sessilibus vix longiore; petalis obovatis integris. C. lanceolata, Hook. Fl. Bor.A4m. 1, p. 234. On hills near Downieville, May 22. Whole plant only 2 or 3 inches high.
Tuber globose, about half an inch in diameter. There were no radical leaves on any of the
numerous specimens. Stem leaves from half an inch to three-fourths of an inch or more in
length. Raceme 6-10-flowered, a little overtopping the leaves, even when the lower capsules
were nearly mature. Flowers about half as large as in the eastern plant. (They are quite as
large in specimens of C. lanceolata, Hook., collected in the Rocky mountains by Burke). Calyx
one-third the length of the petals. Corolla apparently pale rose-color. This is the only perennial (corm-bearing) Claytonia that we have received from California. Pursh's C. lanceolata (as
intimated in the Flora of North America), is a spurious species, made up of C. Caroliniana and
C. alsinoides. The leaves, in all the species of this genus that we have examined, are furnished
with a fine intra-marginal vein, in which all the veinlets terminate.
CLAYTONIA ALSINOIDES, Sims8, Bot. Nag. t. 1309; Torr. & Gray, Fl. 1. p. 199. Marshes, Punta
de los Reyes, April 17; deep woods, Bolinas bay, April 19.
CLAYTONTA PERFOLIATA, Don, Hort. Cant. ed. 4,p. 50; Bot. Mag. t. 1335; Torr. & Gray, 1. c. Corte
Madera, April 12; Cocomungo, March 18; Cajon creek, March 18. In the specimens from the
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