Morris: Revision of Species of Plantago 119 



2 in the Columbia University Herbarium, 5 in the Herbarium of 

 the Field Columbian Museum, 21 in the Herbarium of the Cali- 



Academy 



1 6. Plantago tetrantha sp. nov. 



A low green and purplish 



filift 



root, glabrous to pubescent, depauperate forms villous : leaves 

 basal, strictly erect, very slender, several, linear-subulate, truncate ly 

 callous-tipped, entire and involute towards the apex, sessile and 

 slightly clasping, 40 50 mm. by 1 mm., without venation, glabrous : 

 scapes basal, erect, filiform, one or two in number, surpassing the 



leaves, 80-120 mm. 



spike* 



two- to four {to five)-flozvered, erect, capitate, 4-8 mm. by 3-6 mm., 

 slightly pubescent : bracts scarious, with rigid callous-tipped apex, 

 onethird as long as the sepals, broadly ovate, narrower in depauper- 

 ate forms, apiculate by the callous tip, 1.5 mm. by 1.2 mm., pubes- 

 cent or glabrate : flowers perfect, opposite in pairs as in a short 

 interrupted spike : calyx puberulent, with or without scarious mar- 

 gins, green to purple, its divisions oblong, obtuse, 3 mm. long : 

 corolla lobes spreading, somewhat reflexed, round- ovate > obtuse, 3 

 mm. by 2.25 mm., white, dark brown at the base : stamens four, 

 long-exserted ; style equalling the petals : pyxis circumscissile at the 

 lower third. 



Seven sheets or specimens have been examined from northern 

 California and Oregon, as follows : 4 in the U. S. National Herba- 

 rium, 2 in the Herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden, I in my 

 own herbarium. Type specimen is R. A. Plaskett's no. 55, from 

 the Santa Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, California, March, 

 1898, in the U. S. National Herbarium. 



In several of the above species the differential characters are 

 minute, but they are constant. In P. aristata the extremes would 

 be somewhat puzzling without the intermediate forms. In all the 

 species with oblong to ovate bracts, the habit and appearance 

 of the plants alone (to say nothing of anatomical characters) suffice 

 for their ready recognition. 



Deft, of Biology, Washington, D. C, High Schools. 



