VOL. XIX PP. 155-158 NOVEMBER 12, 1906 



PROCEEDINGS 



OP THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



NEW PLANTS FROM THE GREAT BASIN. 

 BY AVEN NELSON AND P. B. KENNEDY. 



A desert flora is always interesting to the student. The hard 

 conditions that prevail, produce variation or elimination. The 

 unusual ecological factors give rise to a surprisingly large num 

 ber of forms that seem to have characters which are both fixed 

 and distinct. 



Prof. P. B. Kennedy, of the University of Nevada, Reno\ is 

 favorably located for studying just such a flora. The Great 

 Basin has interested others and much is known of its vegetation, 

 but that vast area will long remain a fruitful field of inquiry. 

 Mr. Kennedy is accumulating data and specimens which will add 

 much to our knowledge concerning it. He is kindly permitting 

 the undersigned to study his collections with him. The first 

 paper on the plants of Mt. Rose appeared in the current volume 

 of the Proceedings, p. 35. The present paper is offered as the 

 first of a coordinate series. The results of this season's field 

 work will be offered in subsequent papers. 



Sophia paradisa sp. nov. 



Winter annual, 1-2 dm. high, branched from the base ; stems glandular- 

 pubescent; leaves densely and finely stellate-pubescent, silver-gray, pin. 

 nate, 1-3 cm. long; leaflets divided into rounded or linear lobes; flowers 

 light-yellow, minute, clustered at the summit of the fruiting racemes ; 

 mature capsules almost glabrous, 4 mm. long and 1.5 mm. wide, abruptly 

 attenuate towards the base and apex; pedicels slightly longer, glandular- 

 pubescent ; seeds oblong, light-brown, less than 1 mm. long, glabrous. 



Allied to Sophia incisa. Found abundantly on dry, light colored adobe 

 soil in the desert flats of Paradise Valley, Humboldt County, Nevada, 

 April 30, 1905. P. B. Kennedy. No. 1059 (type). A considerable propor 

 tion of the specimens seen were stunted by a white rust, Albugo. 



Sphaerostigma orthocarpa sp. nov. 



Plant 1-3 dm. high, branched from the base, hirsute-pubescent through 

 out ; stems several, rather stout, purplish below ; lateral branches slender ; 

 31 PROC. BIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. XIX, 1906. (155) 



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