480 TRANS. OF THE ACAD. OF SCIENCE. 



tens, Unnlaschka, Chamisso, to the Cascade Mountains, Ly- 

 all, and Rocky Mountains, Drummond, Big Horn Mountains, 

 Hdyden, Medicine Bow Mountains, H. Engelmann, and 

 southward to Colorado, Hall & Harbour, 565, Huerfano Val- 

 ley, C. C. Parry, and to the Californian Sierras, //. JJolan- 

 der, at the Mono Pass, Hb. n. 92; var. (i in the northern 

 Rocky Mountains, Eourgeau. 



With some hesitation I refer the Rocky Mountain plant, 

 of which I have numerous and well preserved specimens be- 

 fore me, to J. 3/ertensiantcs of the North-west coast, the au- 

 thentic specimens of which, at my disposal, are rather incom- 

 plete ; but they are distinct enough to prove Meyer wrong in 

 referring the Sitcha plant to his J.falcatus (Ledeb. Fl. Ross. 

 4, 228). Bongard, to be sure, describes the leaves as flat, but 

 they are not adverse like those of J.falcatus, but averse like 

 those of J. xiphioides, and, besides, are slightly but distinctly 

 knotted. 



Stems 7-14 inches high, compressed, but not ancipitous 

 except in var. j3, "weak and flaccid" (Hall), grooved below, 

 smooth upwards,; leaves, as in all its allies, of very different 

 Avidth, usually i-1 or rarely 1$, but in (1 1J— 2 J lines wide; 

 heads 4^-6 lines in diameter; flowers very distinctly pedi- 

 celled, 1| to (commonly) 2 lines long; inner sepals, as in this 

 whole section, quite variable, obtuse to acute and even acumin- 

 ate, usually shorter, but in some flowers of the Sitcha speci- 

 mens even longer than the outer ones. Stamens ~ or f- the 

 length of the sepals, usually 6, but sometimes 3 (3, Bongard; 

 4-5, Kunth) in Sitcha and Cascade Mountain specimens, 6 in 

 all those from the Rocky Mountains or California, which I 

 have examined ; anthers as long as, or, usually, shorter than 

 the filament, often apiculate. Ovary as well as capsule 

 broadly obovate and obtuse. The seeds make a near ap- 

 proach to those of the last section, their appendages being 

 sometimes quite conspicuous; in Hall's Colorado specimens 

 I find them usually very short, while in a specimen of Dr. 

 Hayden's they are almost equal to the diameter of the seed ; 

 the seed itself is 0.23-0.30 line long, the length being equal 

 to 2— 2J diameters; with the appendages they are 0.30-0.35, 

 and in the abovementioned specimen of Dr. Hayden even 

 0.50 line long; 7-9 and in some Rocky Mountain specimens 

 (Drwnmond, Hall) 9-12 ribs are visible on the side; the sur- 

 face is regularly reticulated with more or less distinct cross- 

 lineolation. 



Var. /3, with its tall stem, long and broad leaves, and a pan- 

 icle of 3 inches in length, looks quite distinct from the ordin- 

 ary form, but I cannot find any more essential differences. 



This species with the four following ones, the Mexican 

 J. brevifvlius, Liebm., and the Asiatic J. Leschenaidtii, Gay, 

 form a very natural group, united by characters as well its 



