176 POLEMONUCEAE 



Sandy open slopes, sandy flats or forest swales in the mountains or in glacial 

 valleys, (2000 or) 4000 to 9000 feet, common : North Coast Ranges from Humboldt 

 Co. to Lake Co. ; Sierra Nevada from eastern Siskiyou Co. to Tulare Co. June- Aug. 



Geog. note. — One of the most abundant species of the Transition and Canadian zones in the 

 Sierra Nevada is Gilia leptalea. The plants, developing in the montane spring of June and July, 

 are usually only 1 to 2 or 3 inches high, but occur in countless millions of individuals, color lightly 

 the opens here and there, empurple broad aisles in the forest and form marked colonies in the gla- 

 cial valleys. It is vastly more abundant than Gilia capillaris which is relatively infrequent. 

 Sometimes the lower leaves are sparingly toothed. 



Locs. — North Coast Ranges: Hyampnm, Trinity Co., Chesnut 4" Drew; Buck Mt., Hum- 

 boldt Co., Tracy 2920 ; betw. Castle Peak and Middle Eel River, ne. Mendocino Co., Jepson 15,082 ; 

 Middle Creek, base of Elk Mt., nw. Lake Co., Jepson 15,085; Glenbrook, sw. Lake Co., Jepson 

 15,084; Mt. St. Helena (n. side), Tracy 2242. Sierra Nevada: Mt. Shasta, F. W. Morse; Dana, 

 ne. Shasta Co., Jepson 5754; Martin Sprs., Eagle Lake, Brown •$■ Wieslander 86; betw. La Loma 

 and Little Summit, Butte Co., Heller 11,590 ; Meadow Valley, Plumas Co., Fritz 4" Harris; Bear 

 Valley, Nevada Co., Jepson 21,241 ; French Mdw?., Middle Fork American River, Placer Co., L. S. 

 Smith 1679; Glen Alpine Sprs., Eldorado Co., Ottley 781; Cascade Creek, Middle Stanislaus River, 

 Jepson C526; Calaveras Grove, Jepson 10,078; Rodgers Creek, Tuolumne River, Jepson 33S7; 

 Mather, near Hetch-Hetchy, Jepson 4619; Yosemite, Jepson 21,067; Devils Postpile, Madera Co., 

 A. L. Grant 1557; Huntington Lake, Fresno Co., A. L. Grant 1463; J. O. Pass, near Mt. Silliman, 

 Jepson 736. 



Refs.— Gilia leptalea Greene, Erythea 4:58 (1896); Jepson, Man. 798, fig. 775 (1925). 

 Collomia leptalea Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8:261 (1870), based on Sierra Nevada material "from 

 Plumas to Mariposa Co.," the first cited collection that of Bridges. 



4. G. capillaris Kell. Stem erect, commonly branching above, 2 to 9 inches 

 high; leaves linear to narrow-lanceolate, entire, 4 to 12 lines long, mostly i/o to 1 

 line wide ; calyx y^ as long as corolla, cleft to middle into subulate cuspidate lobes ; 

 corolla white or pink, tubular-funnelform, 2 to 3 lines long, the tube much less con- 

 spicuously dilated than in G. leptalea. 



Moist northerly slopes or half -shaded areas : cismontane Southern California ; 

 Sierra Nevada, 4000 to 8500 feet, from Tulare Co. to Modoc Co.; North Coast 

 Ranges, 2500 to 6000 feet, in Humboldt, Trinity and Siskij'ou Cos. North to "Wash- 

 ington, east to Colorado. June- Aug. 



Tax. note. — It is evident that Gilia capillaris and Gilia leptalea are closely related but, 

 although seeming so very close, they are in this treatment held distinct. Field evidence is, here, 

 of interest. In 1923 Gilia leptalea was collected near Silver Lake in Silver Valley, Alpine Co. 

 (Jepson 10,093) ; near it Gilia capillaris was also found (Jepson 10,099). On the basis of living 

 colonies in this locality contrasting characters for these two species were worked out in the field 

 and are summarized as follows: 



Gilia leptalea (no. 10,093), (a) leaves aeicular ; (b) foliage scanty; (c) herbage thinly glan- 

 dular; (d) calyx lobes subulate or narrow-lanceolate, acuminate; (e) calj-x-tube narrow-elliptic, 

 the scarious intervals indefinitely separated by pale greenish-yellow nerves; (f) corolla bright 

 pink with a brown-purple spot on the base of each lobe, 4 lines long ; (g) corolla-tliroat f unnelf orm ; 

 (h) corolla-limb 3 lines broad; (i) anthers yellow; (j) style reaching the tips of coroUa-lobes. 



Gilia capillaris (no. 10,099), (a) leaves narrow but expanded; (b) foliage moderately abun- 

 dant; (c) herbage densely glandular; (d) calyx-lobes aeicular or linear, cuspidate; (e) calyx- 

 tube oblong, the scarious intervals separated by sharply defined green nerves; (f) corolla pale 

 blue or whitish, 2% lines long; (g) corolla-throat broadly clavate; (h) corolla-limb 1 line broad; 

 (i) anthers blue; (j) style reaching the middle of corolla-lobes. 



This tabulation represents a considerable array of morphologic difference. While some of 

 these characters are not invariable, the sum totals furnish differentiation. Gray considered Gilia 

 leptalea and Gilia capillaris sjnionymous, while Brand makes G. capillaris a subspecies of G. lep- 

 talea and states there are intermediate forms. The more recent research in California favors the 

 preservation of both as distinct specific units. To this statement of the case may be added the 

 following note: "I have seen no plants which seem to be intergrades or which cannot be referred 

 with certainty to the one species or the other. While Gilia capillaris has a wider geographic range 

 than Gilia leptalea (a species restricted to California), it is comparatively a rare plant, although 

 it may be overlooked as a small-flowered form of Gilia leptalea." — R. F. Hoover. 



Locs. — S. Cal. : Palomar, San Jacinto and San Bernardino mountains and Mt. Pinos, ace. 

 P. A. Mum. Sierra Nevada: Frog Mdw., Greenhorn Mts., C. N. Sinith 33; Middle Tule River, 

 Farptis 5130; Alta Mdws., Tulare Co., Newton 23a; Mt. Buena Vista, Mariposa Co., Con/jdon; 

 Big Mdw., North Fork Stanislaus River, Calaveras Co., Peirson 11,544 ; Silver Valley, Alpine Co., 

 Jepson 10,099; Bear Valley, Amador Co., Hansen; Donner Lake, Nevada Co., Heller 7042; Pine 



