CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 71 



character of margin of torus hardly perceptible: seeds retic- 

 ulate— Proc. Am. Acad. XL 122, and Bot. Cal. I. 23. 



The description of this species is drawn from specimens 

 brought from the Mohave Desert. I have seen none from 

 any of the more easterly localities. 



# * Petals narrower, their margins not meetiny ivlien open, 

 fugacious. 



E. rhombipetala. 



Tuberculate-scabrous throughout and glaucous: stems 

 with stout, depressed branches: peduncles quadrangular, 

 stout, little exceeding the sub-radical leaves: petals rhom- 

 bic-ovate, a half inch long, fugacious : capsules 3 — 4 inches 

 long, nearly equaling the peduncles: torus cylindrical, be- 

 coming scarious above, the two margins alike, and easily 

 distinguishable: seeds large, the reticulations very distinctly 

 and regularly honeycombed. 



A most distinct and peculiar species found chiefly in the 

 lower San Joaquin Valley, but also observed by Mrs. Cur- 

 ran in Colusa County. Most of our specimens in the herba- 

 rium want the petals, it being impossible to obtain them 

 unless the collecting is done in the early part of the day. 



The peculiar roughness of the plant extends even to the 

 capsules, and is conspicuous on the angles of the peduncles. 

 The pods and seeds are as large as in the rankest forms of 

 E. Californica, although the entire plant is very much 

 smaller than even the middle sized specimens of that species. 



HETERODRABA. Nov. Gen. Cruciferarum. 



Sepals equal. Petals minute or wanting. Style hone. Silicle 

 short-elliptical, twisted, indehiscent, by a very hlmy parti- 

 tion 2-celled: valves flat, nerveless. Seeds 3 — 5 in each cell, 

 in two rows: cotyledons accumbent. A Calif ornian annual, 

 leafy at base, with long, horizontal and nearly prostrate, 

 racemose branches, evidently near to Draba, from which it 



