432 POLEMONIACEAE 



on slender pedicels. Heads usually enveloped in a dense mat of arachnoid wool, less com- 

 monly glandular-puberulent. Calyx deeply cleft into linear, unequal to subequal simple 

 lobes, the sinuses usually over half-filled with a hyaline membrane, lobes and membrane 

 often densely arachnoid-woolly. Corolla blue or white to yellow, rarely pink, sometimes 

 bicolored, funnelform to subsalverform. Stamens inserted on the base of the corolla- 

 throat, or occasionally in or just below the sinuses of the corolla-lobes, included or ex- 

 serted. Anthers versatile, often sagittate, sometimes cordate or elliptic. Capsule ellipsoid 

 or obovoid, sometimes conspicuously 3-sided, often with the base of the style persistent on 

 the capsule and splitting with the valves. Seeds 1 to several in each locule, usually muci- 

 laginous when wetted. [Name Greek, meaning wool and star, in allusion to the woolly 

 plants with star-like flowers.] 



A genus of 14 species confined to western North America. Type species, Gilia filifolia Nutt. 



Plants perennial, woody throughout, or at least from a persistent woody crown; anthers often 3-S mm. long. 



1. E. densifolium. 

 Plants annual, herbaceous throughout. 



Stamens inserted in the sinuses of the petals; corolla 10-20 mm. long; anthers 2-2.5 mm. long. 



2. E. pluriflorum. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of throat or at least well below sinuses. 



Corolla 8-20 mm. long, the lobes equal or longer than tube; filaments 2 to 4 times throat. 



Stamens subequal to equal in length; corolla-tube 1 to 1.5 times calyx; leaves usually simple and 

 entire, lateral pinnae, if present, long and filiform. 

 Corolla 15-20 mm. long, its tube 4 to 6 times throat; bracts all equal or exceeding the calyx 

 and sometimes the corolla; corolla regular; hills of Monterey Bay region. 



7. E. virgatum. 



Corolla 8-15 mm. long, the tube not over 3 times throat, tube shorter than calyx, or 1 or 2 ex- 

 ceeding the calyx; corolla slightly irregular; chiefly southern California. 



5. E. sapphirinum. 



Stamens very unequal in length; corolla irregular, tube 1.5 to 2 times calyx; leaves pinnately parted, 

 pinnae rigid. 4. E. ercmicum. 



Corolla 6-12 mm. long, the lobes conspicuously shorter than tube, regular to slightly irregular. 



Stems low, diffuse, divaricately branched, glabrous; stamens inserted midway on throat; corolla 

 6-8 mm. long; deserts. 3. E. diffusum. 



Stems virgately, corymbosely, or racemosely branched or simple; stamens inserted on base of throat. 



Filaments of stamens long-exserted. 



Stamens 6-8 mm. long, exceeding corolla-lobes; corolla golden yellow; seeds solitary in 

 locules. 6. E. luteum. 



Stamens 3-4 mm. long, not exceeding the corolla-lobes; corolla blue or white, seeds 2-4 in 

 a locule. 8. E. filifolium. 



Filaments included, sometimes the anthers exserted. 



Corolla 9-12 mm. long; throat 2 mm. long; anthers exserted; chiefly Great Basin. 



9. E. Wilcoxii. 



Corolla 4-9 mm. long (if over 9 mm. long the anthers wholly included). 

 Stamens longer than throat (anther-tips exserted). 



Branching racemose; corolla longer than calyx; ovules 2-4 to a locule | plants 

 6-30 cm. high ; east base of Cascades and Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi Moun- 

 tains, north to Kings River. 10. E. sparsiflorum. 



Branching corymbose; corolla shorter than calyx; ovules solitary in locules; 

 plants 3-10 cm. high; anthers very short; central California Coast Ranges. 



14. E. Abramsii. 

 Stamens shorter than throat. 



Corolla 7-10 mm. long, longer than longest sepal; ovules 1-2 in a locule. 



Branching racemose, stamens 0.75 mm. long; corolla-throat 1 mm. long. 



11. E. Tracy i. 



Branching virgate-corymbose; stamens 1.5 mm. long; corolla throat 2 mm. 

 long. 12. E. Brandegeae. 



Corolla 4-5 mm. long, subequal to longest sepal; ovules several to each locule. 



13. E. Hooveri. 



1. Eriastrum densifolium (Benth.) H. L. Mason. Perennial or Many-leave(i 



Eriastrum. Fig. 3960. 



Huegetia densifolia Benth. Bot. Reg. 19: under pi. 1622. 1833. 



Gilia Hxiegclia Steudel, Nom. ed. 2. 1 : 683. 1840. 



Gilia densifolia Benth. in A. DC. Prod. 9: 311. 1845. 



Navarretia densifolia Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 2: 433. 1891. 



IVelwitschia densifolia Tidestrom, Contr. U.S. Nat. Herb. 25: 429. 1925. 



Eriastrum densifolium H. L. Mason, Madrono 8: 73. 1945. 



Shrub, subshrub or woody-based perennial 2-10 dm. high, virgately branching or more com- 

 monly with numerous stems from base ; stem puberulent or glabrate to lanate and densely 

 floccose, often very leafy, sometimes much-branched in inflorescence. Leaves irregularly pin- 

 natifid to rarely entire or pinnately few-toothed, segments usually linear, from not rigid (as in 

 type) to almost spinose, glabrate to floccose toward base ; flowers sessile in terminal, bracteate, 

 densely arachnoid heads, several heads often aggregated to appear as one inflorescence ; bracts 

 3-5-lobed, the middle lobe often long-attenuate with a pungent tip, lateral lobes much shorter; 

 calyx deeply cleft into subequal lobes, each flanked almost to tip by a broad hyaline membrane 

 which unites below to form a pseudotube a little over half the length of calyx, densely arachnoid 

 with tangled persistent white hairs; corolla narrowly funnelform, 1.5-2 cm. long, lobes blue, 

 tube and throat yellow or white, throat narrow, forming an angle of from 25-30 degrees, glabrous 

 to finely puberulent within, lobes broadly elliptic to elHptic-spatulate, 8-10 mm. long; stamens 



