New and Interesting Plants from Western North America. 



By a. a. Ilr.i.i.ER 



Microsteris MacDougalii sp. nov. 



Annual, spreading, pubcrulent or pubescent with short hairs: 

 stem mucli 'branched from near the base, 15 cm. high or less, the 

 spread of the branches equalling the height : leaves alternate, 

 usually at the base of a branch, lanceolate, or linear-lanceolate, 

 the lower larger ones 2 cm. long, 2-3 mm. wide : pedicels slender, 

 usually quite short: calyx 5 mm. high, the linear-lanceolate lobes 

 splitting to the base, scarious-edgcd below, the tips acuminate and 

 cuspidate : corolla pale pink, very small, the tube scarcely or at 

 all exceeding the calyx, the lobes ver)' short : seeds olive-brown. 



Dr. D. T. MacDougal's no. 42, collected on "dry hills north 

 of Flagstaff," Arizona, June 3. 1898. The type specimen is de- 

 posited in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. 



In habit this species is like the northern M. diffusa, but very 

 different in other particulars. It is peculiar in having a calyx with 

 lobes split to the base. 



I 



Brittonastrum pallidiflorum sp. nov. 



Lower portion of stem not seen, the upper portion cinereous 

 pubcrulent, cymosely branched : branches slender, leafy, 2 dm. or 

 more in length : leaves scattered, opposite, coriaceous, roughened 

 with very short hairs, resinous dotted, the lower ones 4 cm. long, 

 including the petiole, 2.5 cm. wide, broadly ovate, obtuse, cor- 

 date at base, crenulate, the petioles 1.5 cm. long, ciHate ; leaves 

 of the upper part of the branches smaller, ovate or ovate-lanceo- 

 late, acute, somewhat contracted at base, dentate, short-petioled, 

 or the uppermost sessile : spikes 3-5 cm. long, dense, the pedun- 

 cles and pedicels very short, only about i mm. long; bracts 

 equalling or exceeding the calyx, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 

 pubcrulent, ciliate, acuminate ; calyx 7 mm. long, about i8-nerved, 

 pubcrulent resinous dotted, somewhat two-lipped, the lobes lan- 

 ceolate, acute, whitish, the two lower ones usually slightly shorter 

 than the three upper ones; corolla 14 mm. long, slender, its tube 

 exserted, pubcrulent or shortly pubescent, upper lip erect, the two 

 lobes short, rounded, the lower lip spreading, with the middle 

 lobe much longer than the lateral ones ; stamens and style ex- 

 serted ; style two-lobed. 



(621) 



