572 BORAGINACEAE 



reich A-^-: 101. 1931.) Stems slender, elongated, prostrate, herbage short hispid-pubescent when young; leaves 

 oblanceolate, 3-5 mm. wide; spikes very slender, elongated and remotely flowered; corolla about 2 mm. broad. 

 Mostly in foothills and mountains near the coast from the Santa Ynez Mountains, Santa Barbara County to 

 northern Lower California; also on Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina and Anacapa Islands. Type locality: Santa Bar- 

 bara, California. 



Echidiocarya califomica var. ursina Jepson, Fl. Calif. 3: 370. 1943. {Echidiocarya ursina A. Gray, Ptoc. 

 Amer. Acad. 19: 90. 1883; Plagiobothrys californicus var. ursinus I. M. Johnston, Contr. Gray Herb. No. 68: 74. 

 1923.) Dense and compact with stout much-branched stems 2-8 cm. long; spikes short; flowers concealed by the 

 leaves and bracts; corolla 1.5-2 mm. broad. Sandy or gravelly soils, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Moun- 

 tains, southern California. Type locality: Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mountains. 



19. PLAGIOBOTHRYS Fisch. & Mey. Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. 2 : 46. 1835. 



Slender, glabrate or mostly soft-pubescent, annual or perennial herbs. Leaves mostly 

 linear or linear-lanceolate, alternate above and either opposite at base or forming a rosette. 

 Flowers in bractless or bracteate spike-like racemes, the racemes more or less scorpioid 

 and usually elongated in fruit. Pedicels persistent, short or sometimes almost obsolete. 

 Corolla small, white, salverform, with crests or processes at the mouth of the throat. 

 Nutlets narrowly to broadly ovoid, erect or incurved. 



A genus of about 50 species, mainly inhabiting western United States and Chile. Type species, Plagio- 

 bothrys rufescens Fisch. & Mey. 



Caruncle of nutlet elongated, extending along the crest of the ventral keel; nutlets trigonous. 



I. Amsinckiopsis. 



Caruncle of nutlet orbicular or nearly so, sunken in transverse groove at base of ventral keel. 



Inflorescence glomerate; caruncle at or above the middle of the nutlet; basal leaves not persisting in fruit; 

 caruncle fragile. II. Sonnea. 



Inflorescence racemose and elongate in age; basal leaves forming a persistent rosette; caruncle cartilaginous. 



III. Euplagiobothrys. 



I. Amsinckiopsis. 



Corolla 4-7 mm. broad; nutlets irregularly rugose. 1. P. Kingii. 



Corolla 1-2.5 mm. broad; nutlets conspicuously tessellate. 2. P. Jonesii. 



II. Sonnea. 

 Represented by a single species. 3. P. hispidus. 



III. Euplagiobothrys. 



Calyx circumscissile, in age less than 4 mm. long; lobes usually connivent over fruit; nutlets usually only 1 or 2 

 maturing; midrib and margin of leaves purple-stained. 



Flowers in a simple bracteate raceme; corolla 3 mm. broad; nutlets strongly arched in lateral outline. 



4. P. arizonicus. 



Flowers in usually furcate-branched racemes, bracts wanting or sometimes 1 or 2 at base of racemes; nutlets 

 not strongly arched in lateral outline. 5. P. nothofulvus. 



Calyx not circumscissile or if so strongly accrescent and over 4 mm. long, erect or spreading; mature nutlets 

 usually 4. 

 Bristles of calyx-lobes uncinate. 6. P. uncinatus. 



Bristles of calyx-lobes not uncinate. 



Nutlets with a conspicuous annular caruncle, 2.3-3.3 mm. long; corolla-tube longer than calyx; not 

 purple-stained. 

 Racemes bractless; areolae on dorsal surface of nutlet regular and rectangular, and dorsal keel not 



winged. 7. P. campestris. 



Racemes bracteate; dorsal side of nutlet not areolate, or rugose-curved or interrupted forming irreg- 

 ular areolae. 8. P. infectivus. 

 Nutlets with a solid caruncle, less than 2.3 mm. long. 



Transverse dorsal rugae of nutlets very thin and sharp, enclosing polygonal granulate areolae. 



9. P. cancsccns. 



Transverse dorsal rugae low and broad, separated by shallow lineate grooves. 



Nutlets ovoid, usually constricted only at apex, the base rounded or sometimes slightly con- 

 stricted; plant conspicuously purple-stained. 10. P. Torreyi. 

 Nutlets cruciform, being abruptly and equally constricted at apex and base, shining; plants 

 little or not at all purple-stained. 

 Spikes bracteate; calyx nearly as broad as long; stems 1 or few from the base, stout. 



11. P. shastensis. 

 Spikes bractless or with bract only at base; calyx about half as broad as long; stems usu- 

 ally many from base. 12. P. tenella. 



1. Plagiobothrys Kingii (S. Wats.) A. Gray. King's Popcorn Flower. Fig. 4252. 



Eritrichium Kingii S. Wats. Bot. King. Expl. 243. pi. 23. figs. 3-5. 1871. 

 Plagiobothrys Kingii A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 20: 281. 1885. 

 Sonnea Kingii Greene, Pittonia 1 : 23. 1887. 



Stems 1 to several, erect or ascending, 1-4 dm. high, bristly-hirsute with spreading hairs. 

 Basal leaves linear-oblanceolate, the cauline linear, 3-6 cm. long, the short floral ones usually 

 lanceolate, hirsute with sparsely or slightly ascending hairs ; flowers in short dense spikes, these 

 becoming elongate and loosely flowered in fruit ; calyx-lobes 4-6 mm. long, rather stiffly hirsute 

 on the margins and apex, and also bearing stout straight straw-colored bristles ; corolla 4-7 

 mm. broad ; nutlets 4, cuneate-ovoid, acute and incurved at apex, dorsal side with low keel and 

 with similar keel on the lateral angles, the transverse rugae irregular, forming rather broad 

 papillate areolae ; scar elongate and keel-like, medial. 



Sandy deserts. Upper Sonoran Zone; western Nevada and Inyo County, California, east to Utah. Type 

 locality: "Truckee Pass and in the Trinity [Virginia] Mountains, Nevada; 4,500-6,000 feet altitude." May- 

 June. 



