20 Dodecatheon Meadia. [ ZOE 
these plants and their rootbuds, if not their seeds, are so easily ob- 
tainable that the question should soon be settled. 
Until such time the following arrangement of the forms is offered 
as agreeing somewhat better than the older ones with more recent 
and more extended observations. : 
D. Meapia L. Leaves tapering at base ; stamen-tube exserted ; 
dehiscence valvular.—Eastern United States extending to the 
Rocky Mountains and Northern Mexico. 
var. JEFFREYI. Leaves linear-oblanceolate tapering into 
the petiole; flowers usually 4-merous ; stamen-tube little or not at 
all exserted ; style and a small portion of the apex of the capsule 
falling off in dehiscence ; seeds with narrow wing-like margins and 
prominent linear hilum. D. Seffreyi Moore (according to Dr. Gray); 
D. Meadia vars. macrocarpum (?), lancifolium and alpinum Gray. 
—Sierra Nevada from 4,000-8,000 feet, usually in bogs. Some 
specimens collected on the floor of the Yosemite are two or more 
feet in height with leaves eighteen inches long, but at greater eleva- 
tions it is represented by the very much smaller var. alpinum. 
var. FRIGIDUM. Leaves broader, usually thin ; stamen- 
tube not exserted ; mature fruit unknown. D. frigidum Ch. & 
Schl.; D. dentatum Hook. ; D. Meadia var. latilobum Gray.—Or- 
egon to Idaho, Alaska and Northeastern Asia. 
var. ELLIPTICUM. Leaves thickish obovate, oblong or ob- 
lanceolate with cuneate base ; Stamen-tube exserted ; scapes low and 
Stout ; petals 4-9, yellowish, pure white or rose-colored ; anthers 
usually rather short and blunt ; capsule commonly short and blunt, 
with circumscissile dehiscence, D. ellipticum Nutt.; D. Meadia var. 
brevifolium Gray ; D. patulum Greene.—San Diego to the Columbia 
River, often in the Sacramento Valley growing in the margins of 
small depressions, ‘‘ hog wallows,’’ which are filled with water dur- 
ing the rainy season. 
var. HENDERSONI. Leaves as short but usually broader 
than the last ; scapes taller, the corolla usually rose-colored and 
often 4-merous, the petals sometimes laciniate ; stamen-tube ex- 
serted, the anthers usually longer and more pointed than in the last ; 
capsule circumscissile and commonly longer and less blunt. D. Hen- 
dersoni Gray ; D. cruciferum & D. Clevelandi Greene.—Through- 
out the length and breadth of California. 
