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THE LUPINES OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, 

 CALIFORNIA. 



By Anstruther Davidson, M. D. 



In studying the Leguminous plants the Lupines appear to me to 

 present more than ordinary difficulty in determination and that this 

 difficulty is not wholly confined to amateurs is strikingly illustrated 

 by the confusion still pervading our nomenclature, as well as by 

 the multiplicity of synonyms of eminent authorities. The existing 

 discrepancies may partly be accounted for by the difficulty of pre- 

 senting in a descriptive account the peculiarities of each species; 

 and partly by the variability of the different species under special 

 conditions of soil and climate. Though the Botany of California 

 makes no mention of, even gives no hint of any possible differences 

 between the Lupines of northern and southern California, yet in 

 some species differences undoubtedly exist, or the descriptive details 

 in the Botany of California and the Flora Franciscana are inac- 

 curate or incomplete. 



I have this season carefully examined the Lupines of Los Angeles 

 County, and so far I have found practically no marked variation 

 in the individual species, though these differed in some particulars 

 from the northern types, as will be detailed under their respective 

 headings. Finding so little variation in the individual in general it 

 seemed natural to suppose that in some special particulars there 

 might exist an equal constancy. 



I first investigated the calyx-lobes, the depth of cleft, etc., and 

 while presenting a fair uniformity in a number of individuals, yet 

 in some species they were too variable to be relied on as differenti- 

 ating factors. The ciliation of the keel I have, however, found so 

 constant in each species as to give, by the peculiar distribution of 

 the hairs, an easy method of distinguishing the different species 

 found here. As our authorities make mention of the ciliation in 

 but few of the Lupines, I am unable to compare the northern and 

 southern forms in this particular ; but if it prove with the former 

 as constant as it does with those of this district, it may give not 

 only a ready means of identification but serve as a useful factor 

 in the differentiation of allied or variable species. 



