BUNCH-FLOWER FAMILY 



373 



1. Abama californica (Baker) Heller. 

 California Bog-asphodel. Fig-. 913. 



Nartheciuin ossifragjim occidcntalc A. Gray, Proc. Am. 



Acad. 7: 39J. 1867. 

 Karthecium califoruicum Baker, Tourn. Linn. .'^oc. 15: 



351. 1876. 

 Abama californica Heller, Cat. X. Am. PI. 3. 1898. 

 Abama occidoitalis Heller, Muhlenbergia 1: 47. 1904. 



Stems slender, 3-6 dm. high, glabrous. Basal 

 leaves 10-25 cm. long, 3-4 mm. broad, usually 7- 

 nerved, acute ; stem leaves usually 3 or 4, remote, 

 raceme loose, becoming 10-25 cm. long; pedicels 

 6-12 mm. long, perianth-segments, narrowly linear- 

 lanceolate, 6-8 mm. long, yellow ; filaments dense- 

 ly white-wooly to near the top. about two-thirds 

 the length of the perianth-segments ; capsule well 

 exserted, tapering above to a slender beak, fully 

 half as long as the body ; seeds 10-15 in each 

 cell, stramineous, 2 mm. long, or with the tails 

 9 mm. long. 



About springs and bogs in mountain meadows. Transi- 

 tion Zone: Siskiyou Mountains, southern Oregon to Men- 

 docino and Fresno Counties. Type locality: swamps, Red 

 Mountain, Mendocino County, California. 



3. XEROPHYLLUM Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 210. 1803. 



Tall perennial herbs, with thick short woody rootstocks, and stout simple leafy stems. 

 Leaves narrowly linear, dry. rough-margined, numerous and longer toward the base. 

 Flowers numerous, white, in a large dense terminal raceme, the lower first expanding. 

 Perianth-segments withering-persistent, oblong or ovate. 5-7-nerved, spreading, glandless. 

 Stamens 6, filaments subulate, glabrous; anthers oblong. Ovary sessile, 3-grooved; styles 

 3, filiform, reflexed or recurved, stigmatic along the inner side; ovules 2^ in each cell. 

 Capsule ovoid, 3-grooved, loculicidally and sometimes also septicidally dehiscent. Seeds 5, 

 oblong, without or with only minute appendages. [Greek, in allusion to its xerophytic 

 foliage.] 



An -American genus of 2 or 3 species. Xcrofhyllum asphodel aides (L.) Nutt., the type species, is 

 restricted to the pine barrens of the Atlantic States. 



L Xerophyllum tenax (Pursh) Ntitt. 

 Western Tiirkev-beard. 



Fig. 914. 



Helonias tenax Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 1: 243, pi. 9. 1814. 

 Xerophyllum tenax Nutt. Gen. 1: 235. 1818. 



Stems slender, 2-15 dm. high, with scattered 

 ascending leaves dilated at base. Basal leaves, 

 5-8 dm. long. 3-6 mm. wide, rather rigid, flat 

 above and somewhat carinate, pale green ; raceme 

 dense, becoming 3-6 dm. long, the lower liracts 

 foliaceous and serrulate, the upper scarious and 

 often upon the lower part of the pedicel ; pedi- 

 cels 3-5 cm. long, very slender, erect in fruit ; 

 flowers fragrant; perianth-segments 8-10 mm. 

 long, scarcely equalling the stamens ; styles 4 

 mm. long, exceeding the ovary ; capsule about 6 

 mm. long, broadly ovate, acute, loculicidally 3- 

 valved ; seeds narrowly oblong, 4 mm. long. 



Open dry ridges or borders of mountain meadows. 

 Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; Yellowstone Park 

 to British Columbia, southward through the Pacilic .States 

 to Plumas and Monterey Counties, California. Indian 

 Basket Grass. Type locality: Collins Creek, Idaho. 



Xerophyllum douglasii S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 14: 284. 1879. Distinguished by the somewhat 

 smaller flowers and the slightly included stamens. A little known and doubtfully distinct species, collected 

 by Douglas in western North America, but the locality not known. 



