Studies on the Rocky Mountain Flora—IX 
By P. A. RYDBERG 
THE NYCTAGINIACEAE OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION 
The family Nyctaginiaceae has been sorely neglected by the 
systematic botanists in this country. Until lately we have had not 
even an attempt at a monographic work since Dr. Gray’s notes were 
published in the Botany of the United States and Mexican Boun- 
dary Survey in 1859. Gray’s treatment there as a whole can 
scarcely be regarded as an improvement on that by Choisy, pub- 
lished ten years earlier in De Candolle’s Prodromus, and of course, 
both are now out of date. Professor Heimerl’s treatment in Dvze 
naturlichen Phanzenfamilien is as good as could be expected from 
a European monographing an almost exclusively American family ; 
but this gives little help beyond the genera. Recently there has 
appeared a revision of the family by Marcus E. Jones * as it is 
represented on the Great Plateau. As the territory covered by 
Jones practically includes that treated in this article, it would seem 
superfluous to duplicate the work ; but I have had the advantages 
of a large library and the rich collections of Columbia University, 
_ the United States National herbarium, and the New York Botan- 
ical Garden. These advantages are, however, somewhat balanced 
_ by Mr. Jones’ longer field experiences. Jones’ paper is valuable 
because it gives fuller descriptions of many poorly known species, 
descriptions drawn by a botanist who knows the species in the 
field. It is deplorable, however, that this paper in many places 
shows a good deal of carelessness, especially in the matter of cit 
ing publications. Under Allionia, it has for instance : 
“5. A. GLABER ¢ (Wats.) Kuntze, Am. Nat. 76,” and 
“7. A. AGGREGATA (Vahl) Spreng. Ic. 5 437.” 
In the first case, one would suppose that Kuntze published the 
combination in the American Naturalist, while the fact is that Wat- 
_ Son there published Oxydaphus glaber, on which Adlionia glabra is 
2. bee. 
ee 
m * Contributions to Western Botany, 10: 34-54. June, 1902. 
7 This should have been A. glabra. 
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