General Notes. 187 



NOTE OX ARABIS PEDICELLATA A. NELSON* 



My attention has been called to tliis species again by coming across a 

 very close diiplirate of tlie tyjie in ]\[r. C. F. Baker's recently distril)uted 

 specimens from Nevada, No. 991. This on Dr. Greene's determination has 

 gone out as Parryn Mevziem Greene. On looking up that species I find tliat 

 Arnhis pedicellata is quite specifically distinct from Parrya MenziesH, though 

 undoubtedly both sliould be referred to the same genus. My first thought 

 was that Aral)ispedici'Jl(ii(i\\o\\V\ have to become Purrya pedicellaia. Accord- 

 i ngly the distinction between the two genera came up for consideration. Be- 

 tween Pan-yn proper and Arabis the distinctions may be fairly well drawn, 

 though they are no more pronounced than between the sections of Arnhis as 

 that genus is now constituted. On the other hand, the Pltaenicaidisseciion of 

 Parrya and some of the species of A rabis are very closely related. The type 

 species, P. Menziesn, of this section has in turn been referred to a number of 

 different genera at different times, even by the same author. Nuttall inten- 

 tionally and thoughtfully separated it from Parrya (T. & G. Fl. N. A. 1 : 89). 

 Dr. Greene coincides in this opinion (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 13 : 143) at first, 

 but later remands it to Parrya (Fl. Fr. 253), while Dr. Watson refers it to 

 Oieiranllius. 



All these translocations seem to have had for their raison d'etre the re- 

 puted peculiar habit and the broad straight flat ensiform pods. But in the 

 recent Nevadan specimens, cited above, these characteristics break down 

 (see description of A. pediceflaln, 1. c. — a description which seems 

 to need no cliange). The characters given below apply with equal 

 .force to the Pliaenicaulls sedion of Parrya and to many typical species of 

 Arabis. 



Stems either erect or decumbent at base, from a woody caudex, leafy- 

 bracteate : leaves more or less clustered at base, entire: the cauline auri- 

 cled or sagittate at base : sepals erect, more or less gibbous at base : petals 

 clawed, with a patulous blade, exceeding the sepals: stamens 6, free and 

 unappendaged : pods linear or broader, nearly flat, more or less 1 -nerved ; 

 replum not thickened ; stigma entire : seeds flattened, orbicular or elliptic, 

 winged or wingless; the cotyledons accumbent. 



I am unable to find in literature or in the specimens at hand any 

 character to justify retaining Phaenicuulis either as a di.stinct genus or as a 

 section of Parrya. As suggested in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 1. c, there are 

 some points in which a closer approach is made to Slrepianlhus. 



Arabis Meuziesii (Hook.) comb. nov. Hesperi.'i Menziesii Hook. Fl. Bor. 

 Am. 1 : 60; Phaenicaulis cheirantlioiden Nutt. in T. <k G. Fl. N. A. 1 : 89. 



— Aven Xelson. 



* Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., 17 : 91. 



