1921] Smiley: Flora of the Sierra Nevada^ of Calif ornia 315 



Specimens examined. — Glen Alpine trail to Mt. Tallac, 9,300 feet, 

 Abrams 4841; Dick's Peak, Tahoe, 9,900 feet. Smiley 428; Mt. Tallac, 

 above highest timber, 9,700 feet, Hall and Chandler 4632 ; Mt. Rose, 

 10.000 feet, Kennedy 1141 ; ridge above Suzy Lake, 8,900 feet. Smiley 

 152; Silver Mountain, 11,000 feet. Brewer 2051; Tuolumne meadows, 

 dry gravelly slope of open pine forest, 8,800 feet, R. A. Ware 2660c ; 

 Ragged Peak, Yosemite, 9,700 feet. Smiley 834; Lambert's Dome, 

 9,000 feet. Smiley 760 ; Lake Tenaya, dry ground, 8,300 feet, Smiley 

 868; Kaiser Crest, Fresno County, 9,400 feet. Smiley 627; Alta 

 meadows, Mrs. Brandegee, August 6, 1905; Mt. Whitney, Culbertson 

 (B4355). 



This is one of the most variable of western plants. Many attempts 

 have been made to bring order into its numberless changes of form ; 

 one of the most recent is that of Dr. A. Brand. "^ He proposes to 

 recognize but a single species but tries to differentiate between some 

 ten forms while cognizant of the fact that they are "nur zum Teil 

 geographisch geschieden und gehen oft so weit in einander iiber dass 

 man sie mit Sicherheit nicht unterscheiden kann." Dr. Brand main- 

 tains that all the North American forms belong to one section of the 

 species, having the filaments bearded, while the other section, in South 

 America, has the filaments naked or with a few scattered hairs ("Fila- 

 menta nuda raro pilis paucissimis adspersa"). I have had no oppor- 

 tunity to examine the South American material but if this contrast 

 (bearded vs. essentially naked filaments) indeed marks the natural 

 division among the forms, it is not necessary to go to the other end 

 of the hemisphere for examples since the specimen of Culbertson 's, 

 cited above, has the filaments nearly free from any hairs. In fact, 

 the variation in the amount of hairiness of the filaments seen in many 

 of the specimens examined, suggests that the variability of this plant, 

 disclosed in its protean changes of foliage characters, habit, and 

 duration of growth, and recognized by Dr. Brand in his skillful 

 arrangement of these permutations, affects also the basis for his 

 specific sections. 



7. Phacelia hydrophylloides Torr., in Gray, Proc. Am. Acad., vol. 

 7, p. 400. 1868. 



Type locality.— "Ebbett's Pass, and near Lake Tenaya, 8-9,000 

 feet, Brewer. Open- woods along the trail of the Yosemite, from 

 8,000 down to 5,000 feet, Bolander." 



Range. — Sierra Nevada. 



Zone. — Canadian, 



