ROBINSON. — ALSINE.E. 297 



ing at the base : the interuodes an inch or two long : inflorescence 

 dichotonious, few to many flowered : sepals attenuate, glandular, nearly 

 equalling the obovate petals (2^-3 lines in length) : capsule commonly 

 a fourth shorter. — PI. Fendl. 13 ; Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. G9 ; Wats. 

 Bot. King Exp. 40, exclusive of var. glabrescens ; Porter & Coulter, 

 Fl. Col. 13. — Chiefly in the Rocky Mts., but sometimes among the 

 sage-brush of the plains. Nebraska, Engehnann; Colorado to New 

 Mexico, G. R. Vasey ; San Francisco Mts., Arizona, Lemmon ; Los 

 Angeles, Cal., Nevin. The var. diffusa of Prof. Porter's Fl. Col. 

 is a greener form from the Rocky Mts. of Colorado and Wyoming with 

 a more lax and spreading inflorescence and often although not always 

 larger flowers. It intergrades with the type, so that in herbarium 

 specimens at least its separation is often unsatisfactory. A form col- 

 lected by Prof. Porter in the Garden of the Gods, and possessing very 

 small flowers (sepals 1£-1^ lines in length) upon curved and spread- 

 ing branches, is perhaps equally worthy of varietal distinction. 

 *+ *+ Flowers densely fascicled at the summit of the stem. 



A. Franklinii, Dougl. Caudex of numerous procumbent more 

 or less elongated branches, covered with somewhat persistent dried 

 leaves : stems quite smooth, erect, simple, 3-5 inches high, somewhat 

 rigid but fragile, bearing 3-6 pairs of narrowly subulate pungent 

 spreading smooth or ciliolate and minutely scabrous leaves (5-9 lines 

 long) : cymes dense, sub-involucrate : sepals elongated, attenuate, pun- 

 gent with slightly spreading tips, 1-nerved, 4-6 lines long, distinctly 

 exceeding the petals. — Hook. Fl. Bor.-Am. i. 101, t. 35; Torr. & 

 Gray, Fl. i. 178 ; Torr. Bot. Wilkes Exp. 244. — Sandy soil, Oregon, 

 Douglas, Lyall, Howell, Nevius, Cusick ; Washington, Suksdorf. 

 Specimens collected by Douglas at source of the Missouri may well 

 have been the next species. 



A. Hookeri, Nutt. Caudex densely multicipital : stems 1-4 

 inches high, pubescent: leaves shorter than in the last: flowers 

 smaller and petals about equalling or slightly exceeding the sepals. — 

 Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 178. A. Franklinii, var. minor, Hook. 

 & Arn. Bot. Beech. 326; Wats. Bibl. Index, 95; Coulter, Man. 

 Rocky Mt. Bot. 35. A. Franklinii, Engelm. Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. 

 n. ser. xii. 186; Coulter, 1. c. 35 in great part; Hook. & Jackson, 

 Index Kew. 179. — Rocky Mts., lat. 40°, Nultall ; Colorado, Vasey ; 

 Wyoming, Hayden, Parry, Porter, Greene, Sheldon ; Plains of Green 

 River, Gray; Nebraska, Rydberg, Webber; Montana, Tweedy. This 

 species with much the habit of the preceding differs in its much denser 

 caudex and constantly pubescent stem, as well as in the differences 



