64 



ERICACEAE 



20. SARCODES Torr. 



Brig-lit red or crimson saprophytic perennial herb with a single fleshy scaly 

 stem arising from a thick ball of brittle roots and ending in a raceme of fleshy crim- 

 son flowers. Calyx of 5 distinct sepals, nearly equaling the corolla, glandular. 

 Corolla red, campanulate, 5-lobed, glabrous. Stamens 10; anthers muticous but 

 not awned, opening bj' terminal pores. Ovary low-eonical, 5-celled, 10-lobed; style 

 rather long; stigma capitate, somewhat 5-lobed. Capsule depressed, many-seeded, 

 surrounded by the persistent calyx and corolla, the cells loculicidally dehiscent 

 from top to bottom, the slit widest below and permitting the seed to fall out at the 



bottom. — Species 1. (Greek sarx, flesh, and 



oeides, resembling.) 



Bibliog. — Austin, E. M., Sarcodes sauguinea (Bot. 



Gaz. 8:284-285,-1883). Oliver, F. W., On Sarcodes 



sanguinea (Ann. Bot. 4:303-326, pis. 17-21,-1890). 



Elwes, J. H., The Snow Plant of California (Madrono 



1:131-132,-1923). 



1. S. sanguinea Torr. Snow Plant. (Fig. 

 315.) Stems 6 to 15 inches high; scales ovate, 

 the upper strap-shaped, all ciliate; sepals cili- 

 ate; corolla 6 to 9 lines long. 



Pine woods, 4000 to 8000 feet, common: 

 Siskiyou, Trinity and Humboldt Cos.; Sierra 

 Nevada from eastern Siski.you Co. to Tulare 

 Co.; mountains of coastal Southern California. 

 Lower California, western Nevada, and south- 

 ern Oregon. June- July. 



Eeol. note. — Under coniferous trees in rich deep 

 humus is a favored habitat for Sarcodes sanguinea. The 

 stems arise from a tuberous base to which is attached 

 the large rather dense ball of coralline roots. This bulb- 

 ous base sends up 1 to 3 or 4 flowering shoots or some- 

 times as many as 16. These shoots appear shortly after 

 the snow melts from the slopes, probably never pushing 

 up through the snow, although a late and light snow fall 

 after they appear may give this impression. Sometimes 

 the plants occur locally in great abundance. On the 

 headwaters of the North Fork Tuolumne River, 45 stems 

 were counted in a space four feet square (Frida Aber- 

 nathy), and some 32 plants were found in a Tanirac Pine wood between Lily Creek and Gentry 

 station near Yosemite in a space thirty feet square (Jepson Field Book, 41:16, — 1924. ms.). 



Loes. — North Coast Ranges: Cuddihy Valley (ridge above), w. Siskiyou Co., Jejjson 2859; 

 South Fork Mt., e. Humboldt Co., Tracy 8943 ; Lasseck Peak, Humboldt Co., Goddard 681. Sierra 

 Nevada: Mt. Shasta (N. Am. Fauna 16:157) ; Morgan Sprs., Tehama Co., Jepson; Westwood, 

 Lassen Co., comm. Mary G. Clark: Truekee, Sonne; Silver Lake, Amador Co., E. Mullil-en 117; 

 Gentry sta., Yosemite, Jepson 10,506a; Nellie Lake, Fresno Co., A. L. Grant 1077; Round Mdw., 

 Giant Forest, Jepson 711. S. Cal.: Mt. Pinos, n. Ventura Co., Epling 4" Dunn ; Icehouse Caiion, 

 San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 4G0 ; Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Parish; Mill Creek, San Ber- 

 nardino Mts., Jepson; Saunders Mdw., San Jacinto Mts., C. V. Meyer 157; Santa Rosa Mts., 

 Jepson. 



Refs. — Sarcodes sanguinea Torr., PI. Frem. 18, pi. 10 (1853), type loc. "Sacramento Valley, 

 * * * probably on the Yuba River" (undoubtedly in the Sierra Nevada), Fremont; Jepson, Fl. W. 

 Mid. Cal. 367 (1901), ed. 2, 310 (1911), Man. 739, fig. 720 (1925). 



a 



Fig. 315. Sarcodes sanquinda Torr. 

 o, habit, X %,; 6, long. sect, of fl., X 

 1% ; c, cross sect, of ovary, X 2. 



21. NEWBERRYA Torr. 



Saprophytic herb. Stem white, scaly, short and often subterranean. Inflores- 

 cence flesh-pink, capitate, dense, composed of short 2 to 5-flowered cymose spikelets. 

 Sepals bract-like, 2 in the lateral flowers, mostly 4 in the terminal ones, hairy within, 

 less so externally. Corolla tubular-campanulate (or slightly urnshaped), very 



