320 Rydberg : Rocky Mountain flora 



Nelson's clear and discriminating revision of a large part of the 

 genus." While Elias Nelson's treatment is in the main excellent, 

 the writer is inclined to take some exceptions to this as well as to 

 that of the New Manual. In the latter we find the following 

 key of the A. alpina group: 



Stems very slender, 2-7 em. high. 1. A. media. 

 Stems medium, 8-15 cm. high. 



Leaves broadly spatulate; involucres 6-7 mm. high. 2. A.fusca. 

 Leaves spatulate-oblanceolate; involucres about 5 mm. high. 



Leaves obtuse, tomentose. 3. A. reflexa. 



Leaves acute, canescent. 4. A. umbrinella. 



The only species that can be separated out by this key is 

 Antennaria fusca. The key is not workable otherwise. A. media 

 is often 8-10 cm. high and A. umbrinella and A. reflexa are often 

 less than 7 cm. high. In both A. reflexa and A. umbrinella as 

 limited in the New Manual and in E. Nelson's paper are the leaves 

 both tomentose and canescent, as the one word indicates the kind 

 of pubescence, and the other word the color of the same. E. 

 Nelson merges A. mucronata E. Nels. in A. umbrinella Rydb. and 

 A. flavescens Rydb. in A. reflexa E. Nels. Under the latter he 

 makes the following statement: "In describing A. umbrinella Dr. 

 Rydberg confused two species . . . The male and female plants 

 of his type are of different species. One of these he later named 

 A. flavescens, and the staminate plants of this and his A. umbrinella 

 are identical." It is true that there were a few staminate speci- 

 mens of Antennaria flavescens mixed in the type collection of A. 

 umbrinella, but there were also a few staminate specimens of the 

 latter. I saw the plant in field, as I was present when Professor 

 J. Flodman collected the type, but we did not then notice that 

 another species was growing with it. The staminate plants of 

 A. umbrinella, A. flavescens, and A. reflexa are very much alike 

 and hard to separate. A. flavescens has somewhat narrower bracts 

 and the leaves are usually more or less yellowish and with a very 

 fine and closely appressed silky tomentum. The difference be- 

 tween the staminate plants of A. umbrinella and A. reflexa I can 

 not describe. The staminate plant of A. mucronata is very dif- 

 ferent, more resembling that of A. media, but the inner bracts 

 are nearly white, the outer very dark brown. E. Nelson states 

 that typical staminate plants are unknown. The only ones I 



