344 PLUMBAGINACEAE 



1. Samolus floribundus H. B. K. Water Pimpernel or Brookweed. Fig. 3774. 



Samolus floribundus H. B. K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 2: 224. 1817. 



Samolus amcricanus Spreng. Syst. 1 : 702. 1825. 



Samolus Valcrandii var. americanus A. Gray, Man. ed. 2. 274. 1856. 



Stems erect, simple or commonly branched at least at base, 15—45 cm. high. Leaves often 

 rosulate at base as well as scattered along the stem, 2.5-7 cm. long, 1.5-2.5 cm. broad, obovate, 

 obtuse at apex, narrowed below to a short winged petiole, the upper stem-leaves becoming 

 smaller, more abruptly narrowed at base and often sessile ; flowers in loose elongated often 

 paniculate racemes; pedicels slender, spreading, 8-20 mm. long; corolla campanulate, about 1.5 

 mm. broad; staminodia inserted in the sinuses of the corolla-lobes; capsule about 2.5 mm. broad. 



Swamps and streams, mainly Sonoran Zones; British Columbia and New Brunswick to Mexico and South 

 America. Rarely collected in the Pacific States except in southern California, where it has been collected in a 

 number of stations from San Luis Obispo County to San Diego County, also on Santa Cruz Island and in north- 

 ern Lower California; other stations are on the lower Sacramento River and in Monterey County, California. 

 Type locality: Lima, Peru. June-Aug. 



Family 117. PLUMBAGINACEAE. 

 Plumbago Family. 



Perennials, mostly acaulescent herbs, with tufted basal leaves, but in Plumbago 

 the stems climbing and leafy. Flowers perfect, regular, variously clustered. Calyx 

 tubular or funnelform, 5-toothed, plaited in the sinuses, the tube 5-15-ribbed. 

 Corolla 5-merous, the segments distinct, connate at base or united into a tube, 

 convolute or imbricate in the bud. Stamens 5, hypogynous, opposite the corolla- 

 segments; filaments distinct or united at base; anthers versatile, 2-celled. Ovary 

 superior, 1 -celled; ovule 1, pendulous, anatropous; styles 5, distinct or united. 

 Fruit a utricle or an achene, enclosed by the calyx, rarely a dehiscent capsule. 

 Seed solitary, with a membranous testa ; endosperm mealy or none ; embryo straight. 



About 10 genera and 350 species, of wide geographical distribution. 



Flowers cymose-paniculate on the branches of the scape; leaves broad and flat. 1. Limonium. 



Flowers in a dense scarious-bracted head at the summit of the simple scape; leaves narrowly linear. 



2. Armeria. 



1. LIMONIUM Mill. Card. Diet. abr. ed. 4. 1754. 



Herbs, with broad flat leaves in a basal tuft, and branching bracted scapes. Flowers 

 small, cymose-paniculate on the branches of the scapes, in few-flowered bracteolate 

 clusters, forming- secund spikes. Calyx campanulate or tubular, usually 10-ribbed, the 

 limb scarious, 5-toothed. Petals 5, distinct, clawed. Stamens 5, adnate to the petals at 

 base. Styles 5, distinct in our species, stigmatic on the inner side. Fruit a utricle. 

 [Ancient Greek name for the wild beet.] 



A genus of about 120 species, of wide geographical distribution. Besides the following, two species occur 

 on the Atlantic Coast of North America. Type species, Limonium vulgare Mill. 



1. Limonium californicum (Boiss.) Heller. California Marsh-rosemary. 



Fig. 3775. 



Statice catifornica Boiss. in A. DC. Prod. 12: 643. 1848. 

 Statice Limonium var. calif arnica A. Gray, Bot. Calif. 1: 466. 1846. 

 Limonium commune var. californica Gieene, Man. Bay Reg. 235. 1894. 

 Limonium californicum Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. 6. 1898. 



Leaves obovate to oblong-obovate, obtuse, rounded or retuse at apex, inconspicuously mucro- 

 nulate, 5-16 cm. long, 1.5-6 cm. broad, rather thick and coriaceous, narrowed to stout often 

 reddish petioles 2-10 cm. long; scape stout, solid, 20-40 cm. high; paniculately much-branched 

 above to usually below the middle, the panicle 4-35 cm. wide, the branches ascending densely 

 flowered at the apices, forming small secund spikes 10-35 mm. long; calyx obconic, 4.5-5.5 mm. 

 long, the ribs pubescent from the base to above the middle; the lobes deltoid-ovate, acute or 

 acutish, 0.5-0.7 mm. long, intermediate teeth obsolescent or none. 



Coast marshes. Humid Transition and Sonoran Zones; Humboldt County to Orange County and San 

 Clemente Island, California. Type locality: San Francisco and Santa Clara, California. July-Nov. 



Limonium mexicanum Blake, Rhodora 18: 59. 1916. (Limonium commune var. mexicanum Jepson, 

 Fl. Calif. 3: 77. i939.) Like L. californicum in general habit and structure, but the calyx glabrous, or, 

 according to the original description, "rarely with a few hairs." This may be a distinct specific entity, but 

 it is so much like the preceding species that experimental studies are needed to determine its relationship. 

 San Diego County, California, and northern Lower California. Type locality: San Diego. 



2. ARMERIA Willd. Enum. Hort. Ber. 333. 1809. 



Acaulescent tufted herbs, with mostly naked scapes and persistent narrow basal 

 leaves. Flowers in terminal heads, sessile or short-pedicelled, subtended by scarious 



