

108 BOTANY OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 



Mentzelia dispersa Wats. Proc. Amer. Ac.nl. xi. 137 (1876). Typo locality, 1 

 "East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, and Antelope Island and the Wahsateh, Utah; 

 4,500-6,000 feet altitude." 



Near Havilah (No. 1086). 



Mentzelia laevicaulis (Hook.) Fl. Bor. Amor. i. 221 (18.11). under Bartonia — Dougl. 

 MS.;Torr. & Gr. Fl. i. 535 (1840). Type locality, "on tbe gravelly islands and 

 rocky shores of tbe Columbia, near tbe ' Great Fulls.'" 



Near Independence (No. 956). 



Mentzelia reflexa Coville, Proc. Biol. 8oc. Wash. vii. 74 (1892). Type locality 

 as given below. Platk IX. 



"Plant annual, 20 cm. or less high; stem stout, diffusely brandling from tbe base, 

 brownish white and striate when dry, hirsute, as well as tbe leaves aud calyx lobes, 

 with retrorsely barbed, as well as with upwardly denticulate, hairs ; leaves from linear- 

 oblanceolate below to ovate or even hastate above, short-petioled or sessile, all irreg- 

 ularly sinuate-dentate or the lowest almost pinnatitid; flowers single on short, usually 

 1- or 2-leaved axes in the forks of the stem; ovary broadly oblong, 4 to 5 nun. long, 

 hirsute; calyx lobes triangular-subulate, about 1.5 mm. broad at base, by 5 to 6 mm. 

 long; petals oblong-oblanceolate, tapering to a bluntly acute apex, equaling the 

 calyx lobes; staminodia none; stamens 9 to 13, shorter than the calyx; filaments ex- 

 panded at base only, or almost to the apex, to a width of about 0.5 m^.. ; anthers 

 small, about as broad as long; placentae 3, broad, fleshy; ovules about one-half im- 

 bedded in the placenta; ; style cleft for about one-third its length, equaling tbe sta- 

 mens; capsule oblong, 8 to 10 mm. long, its pedicel reflexed at the apex; seeds about 

 10 or 12 in each capsule, gray, somewhat compressed, angularly obovate orpyriform, 

 slightly constricted below the middle, and with a deep, transverse groove on either 

 face along this line, muriculate throughout. 



"This plant appears not to be closely related to any known species of Mentzelia. 

 It resembles in its petals, stamens, and seeds M. torreyi, and in the last of these 

 organs M. tricunpis and its allies. Its characteristic external features are its diffusely 

 branched but stiff habit, its flowers scattered in the forks of the stem, and itsrellexed 

 fruiting pedicels. Its seeds resemble those of If. tricuspid. 



"Type specimen in the United States National Herbarium, No. 709, Death Valley 

 Expedition; collected April 21, 1891, in Surprise Canon, Panamint Mountains, Cali- 

 fornia, by Frederick V. Coville and Frederick Funston." 



This plant was also observed in Furnace Creek Canon (No. 454), and near tbe 

 mouth of Hall Canon, Panamint Mountains (No. 688). 



Mentzelia torreyi Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. x. 72 (1874). Type locality, "ster- 

 ile saline plains of Humboldt County, Nevada." 



A few plants of a perennial Mentzelia were seen early in March in the saline mesa 

 near the Devil Hole, about 2 miles east of Watkins's ranch, Nye County, Nevada. 

 Their stems were in their winter condition, dead and brown, aud no specimens were 

 collected. They may belong to M. torreyi, a species that has been but once collected, 

 in a similar location in Humboldt County, Nevada. Our plant was 30 to 50 cm. high, 

 while M. torreyi is described as but 3 to 6 inches in height. 



Mentzelia tricuspis Gray, Amer. Nat. ix. 271 (1875). Type locality, "from the 

 desert districts south of St. George," Utah. 



In the Vegas Wash and in the valley of the Virgin River, below St. Thomas 

 (Nos. 1892, 1908). This species is distinguished from M. involuerata of Watson- by its 

 linear or filiform, pinnatilid, herbaceous bracts, and capitate stigmas. M. iurohtvrata 

 has broadly ovate, linear-toothed, and in the center membranaceous bracts, and 

 truncate stigmas not expanded at the tip. It was collected flrst by the Ives Expe- 



1 Wats. Bot. King Surv. 114 (1871). 2 Proc. Amer. Acad. xx. 367 (1885). 



