CARROT FAMILY 275 



42. CYMOPTERUS Raf. Journ. Phys. 89: 100. 1819. 



Acaulescent or short-caulescent perennial herbs, with a deep-seated thickened root, 

 the stems mainly subterranean (pseudoscapes) bearing the tuft of leaves and peduncles 

 at the surface of the ground. Leaves variously lobed, divided or decompound, glabrous 

 or pubescent, thin to subcoriaceous, petiolate. Umbels congested and globose, or spread- 

 ing; involucre present or absent; involucels usually present, the bractlets conspicuous, 

 herbaceous or partly scarious to hyaline. Flowers yellow, white or purple; sepals small 

 or obsolete ; stylopodium wanting. Fruit ovoid to oblong, somewhat flattened dorsally, all 

 the ribs conspicuously winged, or the dorsal ones sometimes wingless by abortion, the 

 wings thin, or thickened and corky toward the outer edge; oil-tubes small, 1 to many in 

 the intervals, 2 to many on the commissure. [Name Greek, from words meaning wave 

 and wing.] 



A genus of about 30 species, inhabiting western North America. Type species Selinum acaule Pursh. 



Umbels congested and globose, the rays obsolete; bractlets scarious and paleaceous. 



Leaves and peduncles from the crown of the root; oil-tubes many in the intervals. 



Fruit glabrous; leaves hirtellous. 1- C. cinerarius. 



Fruit pubescent; leaves glabrous. 2. C. deserticola. 



Leaves and peduncles arising from a slender subterranean pseudoscape; oil-tubes usually solitary in the 

 intervals. 3. C. globosus. 



Umbels not globose, the rays evident; bractlets not paleaceous. 

 Bracts scarious, united; bractlets conspicuous, hyaline. 



Bractlets white or whitish, few-nerved; pedicels 3-12 mm. long. 10. C. purpurascens. 



Bractlets purple or greenish white, many-nerved; pedicels less than 1 mm. long to obsolete. 



11. C. multinervatus. 



Bracts usually wanting, never scarious; bractlets inconspicuous or if conspicuous never hyaline. 

 Pseudoscape conspicuous; bractlets conspicuously foliaceous. 6. C. acaulis. 



Pseudoscape absent or very short; bractlets not conspicuously foliaceous. 

 Leaves scabrous to hirtellous. 



Leaves oblong; fruit ovoid to oblong; 6-11 mm. long, 5-8 mm. broad, the wings about twice 



the width of the body. 8. C. abortgtnum. 



Leaves narrowly oblong; fruit ovoid, 3-6 mm. long and broad, the wings narrower than the 

 body. 9. C. bipinnatus. 



Leaves glabrous. 



Leaves simply ternate or pinnate, the divisions broad. 



Leaves orbicular-reniform; fruit-wings plane. 4. C. Gilmanii. 



Leaves oblong-ovate; fruit- wings corrugated. 5. C. corrugatus. 



Leaves ternate-pinnately decompound, the divisions linear. 7. C. panamintensis. 



1. Cymopterus cinerarius A. Gray. Gray's Cymopterus. Fig. 3620. 



Cymopterus cinerarius A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 6: 535. 1866. 



Plants acaulescent, the leaves and peduncles arising directly from the root-crown, 0.7-0.8 

 dm. high. Leaves oblong-ovate, 15-25 mm. long, cinereous-hirtellous, 2-pinnate; leaf-divisions 

 entire to pinnately lobed; ultimate divisions approximate, distinct, oblong-lanceolate, apiculate, 

 1-3 mm. long; petioles 3-5 cm. long, glabrous or sparsely hirtellous; peduncles exceeding the 

 leaves, glabrous; umbel small, discoid, the rays obsolete; bracts united below the middle, tri- 

 angular-lanceolate, acute, scarious-margined ; flowers white ; fruit narrowly cuneate, 6 mm. long, 

 glabrous ; wings a little constricted at the base in cross section, the dorsal and lateral similar. 



Alpine ridges. Boreal Zones; Sonora Pass, Sierra Nevada, and the Sweetwater and White Mountains, 

 California, and adjacent Nevada. Type locality: Sonora Pass. June-Sept. 



2. Cymopterus deserticola Brandg. Desert Cymopterus. Fig. 3621. 



Cymopterus deserticola Brandg. Univ. Calif. Pub. Bot. 6: 168. 1915. 



Plants acaulescent the leaves and peduncles arising from the root-crown, 10-15 cm. high, 

 glabrous. Leaves broadly oblong-ovate, 2-6.5 cm. long, glaucous and glabrous, ternate-bipin- 

 nate ; leaflets entire to pinnately lobed ; ultimate divisions 1-4 mm. long, 1-2 mm. broad, apicu- 

 late; petioles about as long as the blade; peduncles exceeding the leaves; umbel compact, 

 globose, discoid; involucre none; bractlets paleaceous, mostly aborted; flowers purple; truit 

 oblong-ovoid to cuneate, pubescent, 5-7 mm. long; lateral wings narrower than the body, the 

 dorsal absent or reduced. 



Loose sandy or gravelly soil, Lower Sonoran Zone; Mojave Desert, California. Type locality: Kramer, 

 California. April-May. 



3. Cymopterus globosus S. Wats. Globose Cymopterus. Fig. 3622. 



Cymopterus montanus var. globosus S. Wats. Bot. King Expl. 124. 1871. 

 Cymopterus globosus S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 11: 141. 1876. 



Peduncles and leaves produced at the surface of the ground on a slender subterranean stem 

 arising from the deep-seated root. Leaves glabrous and glaucous, ternate-bipinnate or bipin- 

 nate, broadly ovate in outline, 2-7 cm. long, blades usually longer than the petioles; leaflets 

 pinnately incised or lobed; ultimate divisions apiculate, 0.5-6 mm. long; peduncles exceeding 

 the leaves; umbels compact, globose, 2-3 cm. in diameter; involucre none; bractlets scarious. 



