CROWFOOT FAMILY 195 



Mature achenes with prominent aristate more or less spreading beaks and salient laterally compressed carinate 

 midribs. 

 Scapes slender; carpel-spikes 6-10 mm. long. 



Mature achenes without a cup-like depression at base of beak. 3. M. aristatus. 



Mature achenes with a cup-like depression at base of beak. 6. M. cupulatus. 



Scapes none or stout. 



Carpel-spikes sessile or subsessile; beaks ascending, straight; body of the achenes without a broad 



cellular margin. 4 - M- sessihs. 



Carpel-spikes on a stout scape; beaks conspicuous, usually curved and spreading; body of the achene 

 with a conspicuous cartilaginous margin. 5. M. alopecuroides. 



1. Myosurus minimus L. Common Mouse-tail. Fig. 1816. 



Myosurus minimus L. Sp. PI. 284. 1753. 



Myosurus Shortii Raf. Amer. Journ. Sci. 1: 379. 1819. 



Myosurus major Greene, Pittonia 3: 257. 1898. 



Leaves narrowly linear or filiform, blunt, 3-10 cm. long; scape 3-15 cm. long; sepals oblong, 

 about 3 mm. long ; spurs slender, 1-2 mm. long ; petals narrowly spatulate, sometimes wanting ; 

 fruiting spike 3-5 mm. long, 2-2.5 mm. thick. 



Moist places, Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones; a cosmopolitan species probably composing several 

 geographic races. On the Pacific Coast ranging from British Columbia to Lower California. Type locality: 

 Europe. April-May. 



Myosurus minimus var. apus Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1: 277. 1885. Flowers and fruit sessile or 

 on very short scapes, exceeded by the leaves. Mesas back of San Diego, California. 



2. Myosurus lepturus (A. Gray) Howell. Slender Mouse-tail. Fig. 1817. 



Myosurus apetalus var. lepturus A. Gray, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 2. 1886. 

 Myosurus lepturus Howell, Fl. N.W. Amer. 1: 12. 1897. 

 Myosurus tenellus Greene, Pittonia 3: 258. 1898. 



Leaves filiform or nearly so, 2-6 cm. long; scapes rather slender, 5-15 cm. long; sepals 

 linear-oblong, 1.5-2 mm. long; petals narrowly linear, about equaling the sepals or wanting; 

 spurs scarcely 1 mm. long ; fruiting spike 1 . 5-5 cm. long, 1 . 5-2 mm. thick toward the base and 

 gradually tapering to the apex; back of achenes narrowly oblong and narrowed at both ends, 

 more or less distinctly nerved toward the margins and grooved between these and the rather 

 flattened keel ; beak very short. 



Moist ground, especially on the bottoms of desiccated pools, Upper Sonoran Zone; British Columbia, 

 Washington, Oregon, and northern California, east to Saskatchewan and Montana. Type locality: California. 

 April-May. 



Myosurus lepturus var. filiformis Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1 : 277. 1885. More slender than the type; 

 fruiting spike scarcely over 1 mm. thick at base, very slightly tapering if at all; achenes with keel and marginal 

 nerves and beak as in the typical species, but proportionately broader and less than 1 mm. long. Desiccated 

 pools and alkali flats, mainly Lower Sonoran Zone; Sacramento Valley, California, south to Guadalupe Island, 

 Lower California. Type locality: Guadalupe Island. 



3. Myosurus aristatus Benth. Sedge Mouse-tail. Fig. 1818. 



Myosurus aristatus Benth. ex Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. 6: 458 bis. 1847. 



Leaves narrowly linear or somewhat spatulate, 2-5 cm. long; scapes very slender, 2-8 cm. 

 long ; sepals oblong, 1 . 5 mm. long, erect ; spurs equaling the blades ; petals present or none ; 

 fruiting spike 5-10 mm. long, remaining light green in drying ; backs of achenes sharply keeled 

 on the back and with a marginal nerve on either side ; beak about as long as the body and more 

 or less recurved-spreading. 



Low moist places, mainly Transition Zone; British Columbia to southern California, east to Nebraska and 

 New Mexico. Type locality: Camass Prairie, Idaho. April-May. This species has been referred by some 

 botanists to M. apetalus Gay of Chile. 



4. Myosurus sessilis S. Wats. Sessile Mouse-tail. Fig. 1819. 



Myosurus sessilis S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 362. 1882. 



Leaves 2-3 cm. long, narrowly linear; scapes several and spreading, short, usually 5 mm. 

 long or less; petals 3.5 mm. long; fruiting spikes 15-25 mm. long, spreading and somewhat 

 curved, 2 mm. thick near the base, gradually tapering to the acute apex ; beaks appressed, 

 straight ; fruiting carpel keeled on the back and without cellular thickening. 



Saline flats, Sonoran Zones; Umatilla County, Oregon, south to Lower California. Type locality: alkaline 

 flat, seven miles south of Arlington, Oregon. April-May. 



5. Myosurus alopecuroides Greene. Bristly Mouse-tail. Fig. 1820. 



Myosurus alopecuroides Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1 : 278. 1885. 



Leaves narrowly linear-spatulate, 3-4 cm. long; scapes stout, 6 mm. long; fruiting spikes 

 8-20 mm. long, 3-4 mm. thick at base, tapering to the apex ; beak spreading and more or less 

 curved, extending down the back of the carpel as a prominent strongly laterally compressed keel ; 

 body of the carpel somewhat quadrate with a cellular scarious body and an oblong cellular 

 thickened border ; seed oblong-ovoid. 



Desiccated winter pools and flats of alkaline soils, Sonoran Zones; Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, 

 California. Type locality: Antioch, California. April-May. 



