r 
A81 
Aquilegia brevistyla Hook. I'l. Bor. Amer. i, 24 (1829). Pi. XVIII. 
This plant is very rare in the United States. Unless the locality given in the sixth 
edition of Gray’s Manual! belongs to this plant, the station given below, as far as I 
know, is the first one recorded in the country, All specimens I have seen from the 
Rocky Mountains belong to another species, which Ihave named A. saximontana.’ 
The original description of 4. brevistyla is as follows: ‘Subpubescens, calcaribus 
ineurvis limbo brevioribus, stylis brevioribus inclusis, staminibus corolla subre- 
vioribus.” To this Hooker adds, in smaller type: ‘ Caulis foliaque fere omnino ut in 
A, vulgare. Flores duplo minores, cxerulei plerumaque pubescentes.” “Pistilla 5, 
- Germina lineari-cylindracea, pubescentia, in stylis apice leniter recurvis sensim 
attenuata, staminibus brevioribus. Capsule 5, unciam long, in stylo brevi vix 
duas lineas longo terminate.” 
This description does not fit the Rocky Mountain plant, as in it neither the stem 
nor the flower nor the capsule is pubescent, but the plant is perfectly smooth. 
Neither does the stem nor the leaves resemble those of 4. vulgaris. The Rocky Moun- 
tain plant is more or less cespitose, with many low (1 to 2 dm. high) stems from the 
caudex, which is covered with old leafstalks. In 4. vulgaris the stem is tall (4 to 
10 dm. or more high) and simple. The leaves are of a firm texture in the latter, the 
root leaves long-petioled and twice-ternate, the stem leaves on short petioles or sub- 
sessile, often simply ternate or simple and 8-lobed, In the Rocky Mountain plant 
the leaves are thin, all slender-petioled and twice ternate, the upper, however, some- 
times reduced, The plants of my collection and specimens of .1. brevistyla from 
western British America very much resemble 4, vulgaris, but differ in their shorter 
styles, the smaller size of the flowers, and the form of the corolla, In 4, vulgaris 
the limb is truncate or retuse, much shorter than the spur, and generally shorter 
than the stamens. In 4. brevistyla the limb is oblong, truncate, longer than the 
short spur and the stamens. The corolla, peduncles, upper part of the stem, and the 
capsules are in the specimens mentioned, as they should be according to the original 
description, viz, pubescent. 
In nearly all the literature in this country in which A. brevistyla is mentioned, the 
reference is to A. sarimontana instead. Torrey & Gray’s Flora isan exception, Here 
the description is essentially the same asin Hooker's Flora. In both the distribution 
of the species is given as ‘‘ Western part of Canada, as far north as Bear Lake,” 
Gray’s Mannal, sixth edition, perhaps includes both. All the other descriptions I 
have seen refer to the Rocky Mountain plant. The best one is given by Marcus E, 
Jones.> This [shall use as the basis for my description of 1. sarimontana, adding 
such characters as will better show the distinction between this and A. brevistyla, 
Even a comparison between Jones’s description (or Porter’s in Flora of Colorado, or 
Coulter’s in Manual of Rocky Mountain Region), and the original one in Hooker’s 
Flora will show that they are drawn from different plants. * 
1 Gray, Man. ed. 6, 46 (1890). 
2See page 482, in footnote. 
3 Zoe, iv, 258, October, 1893. 
+The North American species of Aquilegia with curved spur may be disposed in the 
following way: 
A. Stem 4 lo 10 din. high. 
a. Style in fruit more than 7 cm. long. 
A. vu“Garis L. Sp. Pl. i, 998 (1753). 
Limb of the corolla shorter than the spur and the stamens; flowers blue, red, or 
white. Escaped from gardens. 
A. FLAVESCENS Wats. Bot. King, Sury. y, 10 (1811). 
Limb of the corolla of the length of the spur but shorter than the stamens; 
