PRIMROSE FAMILY 337 



compressed dorsally. rugulose. [Ancient Greek name for some sea plant or zoophyte, 

 curiously transferred.] 



A genus of about 60 species of the northern hemisphere, more abundant in Eurasia than in North America. 

 Type species, Androsace maxima L. 



Plants with numerous fibrous roots, glabrous; calyx hemispheric; capsule globose, well exceeding the calyx. 



1. A. filiformis. 



Plants with a single taproot, more or less puberulent with forked hairs; calyx-tube obpyramidal; capsule ovoid, 

 shorter than the calyx. 

 Corolla shorter than the calyx, the lobes less than 1 mm. long, erect. 



Involucral bracts ovate to obovate-oblanceolate; calyx-lobes triangular-lanceolate, merely acute at apex. 



2. A. occidentahs simplex. 



Involucral bracts lanceolate-subulate, ending in a prominent apiculation. 



3. A. acuta. 



Corolla exceeding the calyx, the lobes over 1 mm. long, spreading in anthesis. . „ , 



4. A. septentrtonalis suOHmbetlata. 



1. Androsace filiformis Retz. Slender Androsace. Fig. 3759. 



Androsace filifonnis Retz. Obs. 2:10. 1781. 

 Androsace capillaris Greene, Pittonia 4: 148. 1900. 



Glabrous annual, with a tuft of several to many fibrous roots. Leaves in a basal rosette, ovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate, entire or denticulate, 7-15 mm. long, narrowed at base to a petiole of about 

 the same length; scapes 1 to several, 3-10 cm. high; bracts lanceolate-subulate, 1-1 .5 mm. long; 

 pedicels few to many, 1-5 cm. long; calyx hemispheric, 2.5-3 mm. long, the teeth triangular, 3- 

 nerved, flat ; corolla white, exceeding the calyx, the lobes broadly oval, 1 mm. long, reflexed ; 

 capsule globose, exceeding the calyx ; seeds globose, finely tuberculate. 



Wet places Boreal and Transition Zones; northern Eurasia and northwestern North America, extending as 

 far south as Oregon, Utah and Colorado, western and southwestern Washington and adjacent Oregon, lype 

 locality: Siberia. June-Aug. 



2. Androsace occidentalis var. simplex (Rydb.) St. John. Western Androsace. 



Fig. 3760. 



Androsace simplex Rydb. Bull. Torrey Club 40: 462. 1913. 



Androsace occidentalis var. simplex St. John, Victoria Mus. Mem. No. 126: 53. 1922. 



Annual from a slender taproot. Leaves in a basal rosette, oblanceolate, sessile or with a 

 short winged petiole, 5-10 mm. long ; scape solitary, 2-A cm. high ; bracts oblanceolate to oval, 

 2-5 mm. long; pedicels 1-4, erect, 5-15 mm. long; calyx-tube 2 mm. long, scarious, the lobes 

 lanceolate, acute, equaling the tube, dark green, puberulent; corolla much shorter than the 

 calyx, the lobes 0.5 mm. long, erect. 



Talus slopes and flats, Arid Transition and Boreal Zones; British Columbia to Alberta and Utah. Known in 

 the Pacific States only from Emigrant Gap, Sierra Nevada, California. Type locality: Missoula, Montana. April- 

 Sept. 



3. Androsace acuta Greene. California Androsace. Fig. 3761. 



Androsace acuta Greene, Man. Bay Reg. 238. 1894. 



Androsace asprella Greene, Pittonia 4: 150. 1900. 



Androsace occidentalis var. acuta Jepson, Man. Fl. PI. Calif. 7SS. 1925. 



Androsace elongata subsp. acuta Robbins, Amer. Midi. Nat. 32: 154. 1944. 



Annual with a slender taproot, rather densely puberulent throughout with forked hairs. 

 Leaves in a basal rosette, linear-lanceolate, attenuate-acute, sessile or narrowed to a short winged 

 petiole, entire, 8-16 mm. long, ciliolate with short stiff hairs on the margins ; scapes about 1-6, 

 erect or ascending, 2-4 cm. high; bracts linear, 3-5 mm. long, attenuate at apex to a sharp 

 apiculation, ciliolate on the margins ; pedicels mostly 3-6, ascending or the outer widely spreading 

 and curved upward, 1.5^.5 cm. long; calyx-tube obpyramidal, 2 mm. high, scarious, the lobes 

 about equaling the tube, narrowly triangular-subulate, with rather broad sinuses, attenuate at 

 apex to a sharp apiculation, green below, reddish toward the apex; corolla shorter than the 

 calyx, the lobes becoming erect, scarcely 1 mm. long. 



Mostly on north-facing slopes, Upper Sonoran Zone; Rogue River Valley, Oregon, and California Coast 

 Ranges, from Contra Costa County to San Diego County. Type locality: "northward slopes of the hills. Contra 

 Costa and Alameda Counties," California. March-May. 



4. Androsace septentrionalis var. subumbellata A. Nels. Northern Androsace. 



Fig. 3762. 



Androsace septentrionalis var. subumbellata A. Nels. Wyo. Exp. Sta. Bull. No. 28: 149. 1896. 

 Androsace subumbellata Small, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 319. 1898. 



Annual from a taproot, more or less puberulent throughout. Leaves in a dense basal rosette, 

 narrowly oblanceolate, 8-20 mm. long, sessile or narrowed to a short, winged petiole; scapes 

 1 to several, shorter to slightly longer than the leaves ; bracts subulate, 2-3 mm. long ; pedicels 

 1-6, erect or ascending, 1-3 cm. long; calyx-lobes lanceolate, acute, about 1 mm. long; corolla 

 well-exceeding the calyx, the lobes over 1 mm. long, spreading in anthesis. 



Open slopes, usually in gravelly soils. Boreal Zones; British Columbia to Alberta, and southward to New 

 Mexico. In the Pacific States it has been collected in the Wallowa Mountains, Oregon, and the Sierra Nevada, 

 White and San Bernardino Mountains, California. Type locality: "grassy hillside near the summit of Union 

 Peak," Wyoming. May-Sept. 



