140 LOASACEAE 



capsule clavate-cylindric, 20-25 mm. long, villous; seeds irregularly angled, rarely grooved on 

 the angles, minutely tuberculate on the sides. 



Dry slopes, usually in light sandy soil or on rocky ledges, Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones, Upper San 

 Joaquin Valley and surrounding foothills to the Colorado Desert, California. Type locality: near Visalia, Cali- 

 fornia. March-June. 



16. Mentzelia congesta (Nutt.) Torr. & Gray. Ventana Stick-leaf. Fig. 3295. 



Trachyphytum congestum Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 534. 1840. 

 Mentsclia congesta Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 534. 1840. 

 Acrolasia congesta Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 30: 277. 1903. 



Annual, the stems erect, 2-3 dm. high, simple or sparingly branched, pubescent. Leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, entire or with a few sinuate teeth ; bracts broadly lanceolate to obovate, usually 

 toothed at the apex, scarious except at the tip ; sepals lanceolate, 3 mm. long ; petals yellow, 4-5 

 mm. long ; capsule cylindric, villous ; seeds irregularly angled, not grooved on the angles. 



Drv hillsides and mountain slopes. Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition Zones; Idaho, Nevada, and Cali- 

 fornia, mainly on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Type locality: Lewis River, Idaho. May-July. 



Mentzelia congesta var. Davidsoniina (Abrams) J. F. Macbride, Contr. Gray Herb. No. 56: 28. 1918. 



(Acrolasia Davidsoniana Ahrams, Bull. Torrey Club 32: 538. 1905.) Differs chiefly in the smaller bracts, which 

 are often lanceolate and acute at apex. This variety replaces the typical species in the mountains of southern 

 California. Type locality: Mount Wilson, Los Angeles County. 



17. Mentzelia micrantha (Hook. & Arn.) Torr. & Gray. Small-flowered Stick- 

 leaf. Fig. 3296. 



Bartonia micrantha Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey 343. 1840. 

 Mentzelia micrantha Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 535. 1840. 

 Acrolasia catalinensis Millsp. Field Mus. Bot. Ser. 5: 177. 1923. 



Annual, the stems 3-6 dm. high, simple below, corymbosely branched and rather compact 

 above. Leaves ovate, acute or acuminate, sinuate-toothed to entire, 2.5-5 cm. long; flowers in 

 clusters at the ends of the branches; bracts foliaceous, broadly ovate, exceeding the flowers; 

 sepals lanceolate 1.5-2 mm. long; petals oval, 3 mm. long; 5 outer filaments dilated; capsule 

 narrowly cylindric, 6-12 mm. long, densely villous; seeds few, prismatic, with a shallow groove, 

 the sides faintly muriculate. 



Sandy and gravelly soils, Upper Sonoran Zone; Coast Ranges, from Trinity County, California, to northern 

 Lower California and Guadalupe Island, Mexico. Type locality: California Coast Ranges. Collected by Douglas. 

 May-July. San Luis Stick-leaf. 



18. Mentzelia tricuspis A. Gray. Desert Stick-leaf. Fig. 3297. 



Mentzelia tricuspis A. Gray, Amer. Nat. 9: 271. 1875. 



Bicuspidaria tricuspis Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 30: 275. 1903. 



Mentzelia tricuspis var. brevicornuta I. M. Johnston, Univ. Calif. Pub. Bot. 7: 444. 1922. 



Annual, branching from the base 5-15 cm. high, the branches short-hirsute. Leaves narrowly 

 oblong-lanceolate or oblanceolate, 4-6 cm. long, acute at apex, narrowed at base to a short petiole, 

 coarsely and saliently toothed to subentire; flowers terminating short branches; sepals 8-10 mm. 

 long, long-attenuate, becoming involute and subulate in age; petals obovate, 15-20 mm. long, 

 obtuse or rounded at the apex, and often apiculate, pale yellow ; stamens in 4 or 5 series, the 

 outer filaments dilated and toothed at apex, the anthers arising above the teeth on a filiform 

 prolongation from the sinus; capsule 10-15 mm. long, 5-10 mm. in diameter, hirsute, reflexed in 

 fruit ; seeds irregularly angled, rugose, not winged. 



Dry rocky hills, Lower Sonoran Zone; Mojave and Colorado Deserts, southern California to southern 

 Nevada and Arizona. Type locality: "Desert districts south of St. George," tJtah. April-May. 



19. Mentzelia involucr^ta S. Wats. White-bracted Stick-leaf. Fig. 3298. 



Mentzelia involucrata S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 20: 367. 1885. 

 Bicuspidaria involucrata Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 30: 275. 1903. 

 Nuttallia involucrata Davids. & Moxley, Fl. S. Calif. 240. 1923. 



Annual, the stems stout, branching from the base, white, hispid, 15-30 cm. high. Leaves 

 lanceolate, acute, the lower narrowed to a petiole, the upper sessile, irregularly sinuate-dentate, 

 3-8 cm. long, densely short-hispid; flowers terminating the branches; bracts ovate-lanceolate, 

 1.5-2.5 cm. long, pectinately toothed; white-scarious with green margins; sepals lanceolate- 

 attenuate, 10-18 mm. long; petals 25-30 mm. long, yellow, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, 

 apiculate; outer filaments bicuspidate at apex with long linear cusps; capsules subcylindric, 

 about 15 mm. long, 5-7 broad; seeds horizontally flattened to ovoid, irregularly angled, densely 

 tuberculate. 



Dry desert hillsides and washes. Lower Sonoran Zone; Mojave Desert, California, to Lower California, 

 Western Arizona and Sonora. Type locality: San Bernardino County, California. March-May. Samija. 



3. EUCNIDE Zucc. Linnaea 18:508. 1844. 



Herbs or low shrubs, clothed with short barbed pubescence and stinging hairs. Leaves 

 alternate, petioled, toothed or lobed. Flowers mostly in terminal bracted cymes. Hypan- 



