Vol. 28 



No. 3 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB 



MARCH 1 90 1 



Some small-flowered Species of Nemophila from the Pacific Coast 



By Alice Eastwood 



(With Plates 15-20) 



Nemophila parviflora Dougl. (Trans. Linn. Soc. 17: 275) 

 has been an appropriate name under which all the small-flowered 

 Nemophilae of the Pacific Coast have been placed. In this hetero- 

 morphous collection, as described in Gray's Synoptical Flora 

 of North America (2: 156), two synonyms are recognized. 

 These are N. heterophylla Fisch. & Mey. (Sert. Petrop. 1846. 

 //- <£), and N. pdunculata Dougl. (Trans. Linn. Soc. 17 : 275). 

 Since the publication of the second edition of the Synoptical Flora, 

 (Jan. 1, 1886), two small-flowered species have been published, 

 N. spatnlata Coville (Contr. Nat. Herb. 4: 156), and N. sepulta 

 Parish (Erythea, 7 : 93). 



Small-flowered Nemophilae have been for years accumulating 

 in the Herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences and have 

 either been put with the undetermined species or labelled N. 

 parviflora. 



Considerable observation in the field added to a knowledge of 

 these herbarium specimens has convinced the writer that, instead 



This 



is 



of one species with small flowers, there are many, 

 undoubtedly one of the genera so common in California and so 

 puzzling, where the evolutionary impulse is very strong and where 

 new species are now being evolved. 



If these Nemophilae had been large-flowered, numerous species 

 would have been recognized long ago, as the differences in the 



[Issued 27 March.] 



137 



