URTICEÆ
Sarcobatus. Flores amentacei. Amentum androgynum, superne masculum. Squamæ masculæ peltatæ, orbiculares, repando-lobatæ, contiguo-imbricatæ, e centro pedicellatæ, tetrandræ. Antheræ oblongæ, subtetragonæ, sessiles, bilocellatæ rima laterali dehiscentes. Squamæ feminæ subcordatæ, supra basin adfixæ. Pistillum singulum; ovarium axi amenti adpressum, ovatum, depressum, inferne strigoso-sericeum, vertice glabrum (an inferne cum calyce, seu urceolo, concretum?); stigmata duo, sessilia, divergentia, subulata, papilloso-scabra. Fructus ignotus.
Sarcobatus Maximiliani, (Pulpy Thorn, Lewis and Clarke Iter.)
Frutex pedalis et altior, ramosissimus, ramis plerisque geminis confertis subtriquetris glabris pallidis, epidermide vetusta rimosa. Cicatrices foliorum tumentes, unde rami tuberculati et vetustiores quidem hinc inde quasi annulatim diffracti. Folia ½-¾, poll., longa, ¾, lin. lata, trigono-semicylindrica, linearia, obtusa, sessilia, integerrima, carnosa, glauca glabra, siccando caduca, nervo medio (in siccis) supra et infra prominulo. Amenta in ramulis terminalia, sessilia, ½ poll, circiter longa, lutescentia, a basi ad medium feminea, superne mascula. Axis inter flosculos femineos dense tomentosus, subtrigonus et a casu squamarum infra pistillum singulum cicatrice lunata præditus, inter flores masculos glaber, tuberculatus, tuberculis quaternatim digestis sedem antherarum quaternarum, singulæ squamæ stipitem singentium, prodentibus. Limbus squamæ masculæ (membranaceæ omnino peltatatæ et indusium Aspidii cujusdam longius pedicellati referentis) repando 5-6 lobus. Squamæ femineæ diverg. ⅜ positæ sunt.
In regione Mississippi fluvii superiori tractus latos investit hic frutex.
This shrub has some similarity with Ceratiola ericoides, and may have been overlooked on that account. As we are still unacquainted with the fruit, the place of the genus in the natural system cannot be positively assigned, and it is possible that it may be connected with the Euphorbiaceæ of the tribe Hippomaneæ.