Nelson : New Plants from Wyoming 125 



slender, divaricate branches: first year's leaves crowded on _ the 

 crown, pinnately coarsely toothed, the teeth simple or incisely 

 cusped, oblanceolate in outline, 2-4 cm. long on petioles about 

 equaling the blade, falling away during the winter and early part 

 of the second season : second year's leaves cauhne, smaller, 

 numerous, sessile, the lower oblanceolate, laterally incisely few- 

 toothed, three-toothed at apex, the middle tooth triangular and 

 much the largest : upper leaves mostly entire, from linear to oblong : 

 petals white, very small, narrowly spatulate, scarcely more than 

 than half the length of the i mm. long oblong sepals : racemes 

 very numerous, excessively crowded, the whole plant a relatively 

 compact subglobose or conical mass of capsules from the ground 

 up : capsules nearly smooth, broadly ovate, 3 mm. long on pedi- 

 cels of about equal length, sinus relatively wide and shallow : seeds 

 "brown, subclliptic, not evidently margined : cotyledons incumbent. 

 For some time it has seemed probable that the Lcpidiuui so 

 common on the Laramie plains was not to be included under any 

 of the described species. The incumbent cotyledons separate it at 

 once from L. Virginicum L. ; its undoubted biennial duration, 

 short petals and bushy -branched habit separate it from both L. 

 Virginicum and L. vicdium Greene, the only two to which it is 



closely allied. 



This species has been distributed by mc under nos. 1424 and 



3356. 



Lepidium ramosum 



Biennial : taproot vertical, its rootlets slender and widely spread- 

 ing : closely and corymbosely branched from the base, 1 5-20 cm. 

 high, minutely granular-pubescent : leaves of the first season clus- 

 tered on the crown, oblanceolate, serrate, or more rarely pinnatifid, 

 petiolcd, falling away early the second season : cauline oblanceo- 

 late. entire, or sparingly serrate, comparatively large (3-5 cm. 

 long) : racemes numerous, many-flow^ered, contracted near the 

 summit : pedicels spreading after anthesis, about equaling the 

 capsule : petals spatulate, about equaling the wider subacute 

 sepals : stamens 2 : capsule orbicular, 3 mm. in diameter, smooth, 

 obscurely veined, narrowly winged around the summit, the sinus 

 relatively deep and narrow: seeds broadly semi-ovate, straight 

 ■edged on the side of the cotyledons, narrowly winged at summit 

 .and on the curved side : cotyledons incumbent. 



A few specimens of this species were distributed as L. medium 

 Oreene under no. 3092, Point of Rocks, June i, 1897, but it will 

 Idc seen from the foregoing description that it is closer to L. apet- 



