294 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



# * Leaves very narrowly linear, commonly acerose and often rigid and pun- 

 gent ; western species. 



i- Sepals broadly ovate, obtusish, sometimes apiculate : flowers not densely 



aggregated. 



A. capillaris, Pom. Leaves chiefly grouped at the base iu fasci- 

 cles upon a multicipital caudex, h-2^ inches long, somewhat pungent, 

 little spreading ; the cauline few pairs, much reduced : stems 4-8 inches 

 iu height : petals obovate, considerably exceeding the short obtuse 

 sepals. — Poir. in Lam. Encycl. vi. 380; Regel, Ost-Sib. i. 3G6. Al- 

 sine nardifolia, Anderson, Cat. 118. The typical glabrous form with 

 straight leaves is comparatively rare in America but occasionally occurs 

 with var. nardifolia, Regel, 1. c. i. 372, which is glabrous with curved 

 leaves (A. nardifolia, Ledeb. Fl. Alt. ii. 166, & Icon. Fl. Ross. 6; 

 Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 98, t. 32), and the more common form var. 

 FORMOSA, Regel, I. c. i. 371, which has the stem and inflorescence 

 glandular. (A. formosa, Fischer in DC. Prodr. i. 402 ; Hook. f. Arc. 

 PI. 287, 322 ; Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exp. 243.) — Central California to 

 Utah, Montana, and British Columbia. (Asia.) 



A. ursina. Root stout, ligneous : caudex very densely multicipi- 

 tal and bearing very close fascicles or rosettes of very short filiform- 

 linear thickish glaucous glandular-ciliolate white-punctate apiculate 

 leaves (but 2-3 lines in length) : stems few, erect, branched, slender, 

 finely glandular-pubescent, 1^—3 inches high, bearing one or two pairs 

 of short distant spreading and rather rigid leaves : sepals nerveless : 

 petals white, oblong, slightly emargiuate : alternate filaments glandu- 

 liferous at the base : mature capsule considerably exceeding the calyx, 

 about 6-seeded. — Dry hills, Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., S. B. 

 S)- W. F. Parish, August, 1882. This species has much the habit of 

 A. compacta, Coville, but much more obtuse sepals ; it is most nearly 

 related to A. capillaris, Poir., but differs in its condensed habit and in 

 a waxy punctation of the leaves. 



A. aculeata, Wats. Leaves grouped chiefly iu fascicles at the 

 summits of a multicipital caudex, decidedly glaucous, rigid and pun- 

 gent and with age strongly spreading, 6-12 lines in length; cauline 

 leaves few, shorter: stems simple up to the few-flowered cymes, 4-6 

 inches high: petals rather narrow, elliptic-oblanceolate, obtuse, 1^—2 

 times as long as the sepals. — Bot. King Exp. 40, & Bibl. Index, 94. — 

 Chiefly in mountainous districts from Oregon (Nevius, Cusick, How- 

 ell) to N. Nevada (Watson), S. Utah, and Arizona (?). The sepals 

 are variable and become more acute in the southern form, which is 

 more difficult to distinguish from those varieties of A. congesta which 

 have an open inflorescence. 



