BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 15 



33. Chorizanthe calif ornica (Benth.) A. Gray. 

 California Chorizanthe or Spine-flower. Fig. 1337. 



Mucronea calif ornica Benth. Trans. Linn. Soc. 17: 419. pi. 20. 1836. 

 Chorizanthe calif ornica A. Gray, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 7: 149. 18S9. 



Stems erect or ascending, dichotomously branched above, 8-25 cm. high, glandular-hirsutulose. 

 Leaves basal, spatulate, 1-3 cm. long, the blade narrowed to a slightly winged petiole; bracts 

 deeply 3-lobed, sessile clasping at base, 5-10 mm. long, the lobes ovate-lanceolate, acute or 

 abruptly acuminate into a straight slender spine, hirsute-tomentose ; involucres 2-3 in the axils ; 

 the tube cylindric, 2.5-3 mm. long, obscurely ribbed, teeth 3 or rarely 4, unequal, outwardly 

 curved, ending in a straight spine ; calyx white, partly exserted, the lobes oblong, obtuse, entire, 

 pubescent; cotyledons accumbent. 



Dry sandy slopes and washes, Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones; San Luis Obispo County south, in cismon- 

 tane southern California to San Diego. Type locality: "California," collected by Douglas. April-July. 



Chorizanthe californica var. Suksd6rfii J. F. McBride, Contr Gray Herb II. No. 53: 6. 1918 A robust, 

 apparenUy ecological form growing in or near sand dunes near Surf and Playa del Rey, southern Cahtornia. Ine 

 bracts are more prominent, their lobes obtuse and mucronate. 



34. Chorizanthe perfoliata A. Gray. 

 Perfoliate Chorizanthe or Spine-flower. Fig. 1338. 



Chorizanthe perfoliata A. Gray, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist. 7: 148. 1859. 

 Mucronea perfoliata Heller, Muhlenbergia 2: 23. 1905. 



Stems branched from the base, diffuse, 15-35 cm. high, sparsely puberulent, sparsely glandu- 

 lar with subsessile or short-stalked glands ; whole plant becoming reddish in age. Leaves basal, 

 2-4 cm. long, spatulate ; bracts perfoliate, orbicular or shallowly 3-lobed, with the lobes or angles 

 spine-tipped, those on the main branches often 15-18 mm. in diameter; involucres usually solitary 

 in the axil of the bracts, 4-8 mm. long, the tube 4-angled, corrugated between the angles ; flowers 

 pedicelled ; calyx puberulent ; stamens 6. 



Sandy or rocky soils, Sonoran Zones; Inner Coast Ranges from Stanislaus County to San Luis Obispo 

 County; head of San Joaquin Valley and Victorville, Mojave Desert, California. Type locality: near Fort Tejon, 

 Tehacnapi Mountains, California. April-June. 



35. Chorizanthe Thurberi (A. Gray) S. Wats. 

 Thurber's Chorizanthe or Spine-flower. Fig. 1339. 



Centrostegia Thurberi A. Gray ex Benth. in DC. Prod. 14: 27. 1857. 

 Chorizanthe Thurberi S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 12: 269. 1877. 

 Chorizanthe Thurberi var. cryptantha Curran, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1: 275. 1885. 



Stems erect, 5-15 dm. high, dichotomously branched from or near the base, the branches 

 slender, spreading, sparsely glandular-hispidulose. Leaves basal, 1-3 cm. long, oblong to spatu- 

 late, narrowed to a short winged petiole, ciliolate on the margins, otherwise glabrous ; bracts 

 3-lobed, spine-tipped ; involucres solitary in the axils of the bracts, 4-6 mm. long, 3-angled with 

 3 divaricately spreading saccate horns near the base, 5-toothed at apex, the teeth erect, tipped by 

 slender straight spines; calyx included, pubescent, deeply parted; stamens 6 or 9. 



Sandy or gravelly soils, Sonoran Zones; Inner South Coast Ranges, southern Sierra Nevada and Inyo 

 County, south to the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, California, east to Nevada and western Arizona. Type 

 locality: San Felipe, San Diego County, California. April-June. 



36. Chorizanthe leptoceras (A. Gray) S. Wats. 

 Slender-horned Chorizanthe or Spine-flower. Fig. 1340. 



Centrostegia leptoceras A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 8: 192. 1870. 

 Chorizanthe leptoceras S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 12: 269. 1877. 

 Eriogonella leptoceras Goodman, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 21: 91. 1934. 



Stems erect, branching from the base, 5-20 cm. high, the branches slender, divaricately 

 spreading, glabrous. Leaves basal, oblanceolate, 1-2.5 cm. long, glabrous; bracts 3-lobed, 3-6 mm. 

 long, the lobes spine-tipped, pubescent; involucres 1-2 in the axils, 4-6 mm. long, the tube 

 cylindric, spurred at base with 6 slender spreading uncinate spines, 6-toothed at apex, the teeth 

 erect ending in a slender straight spine ; calyx slender-pedicelled, partly exserted, pubescent, the 

 lobes spatulate. 



Dry sandy soil, Sonoran Zones; cismontane southern California, San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles County, 

 to Elsinore, Riverside County, California. Type locality: "Plains of San Gabriel," Los Angeles County, Call- 

 fornia. May-June. 



7. OXYTHECA Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. II. 1 : 169. 1848. 



Slender, dichotomously branched annuals, stipitate-glandular at the nodes. Leaves 

 forming- a rosette at base of the stem. Bracts foliaceous and more or less united, usually 

 ternate. Involucres borne on slender pedicel-like peduncles, turbinate, 4-5-cleft with the 

 teeth bearing a terminal awn, or truncate, with 7-20 ribs prolonged into as many acicular 

 awns, longer than the tube. Flowers few to several in the involucres, often subtended 

 by minute bractlets, pedicelled; calyx 6-parted, glabrous or pubescent. Stamens 9, in- 



