302 BORAGINACEAE 



ovate to rliombic, 2 to 4 lines long, with sinuate revolute margins and 2 to 3 pairs 

 of impressed nerves; calyx 1 line long, its lobes subulate; corolla lavender, 2 lines 

 long, its limb 21^ lines broad; stamens inserted at middle of corolla-tube, their 

 filaments slender, dilated below insertion into oblong plates adnate by one edge, 

 standing vertically; style cleft ^2 ; nutlets subglobose, polished, % to lA line long. 

 Dry sandy soil, -100 to 500 feet : along the Colorado River from Mohave Valley 

 to Palo Verde Valley, thence west and south through the Colorado Desert. East 

 to Texas, south to Mexico and Lower California. Mar.-May. 



Geog. note. — In the Colorado River valley, plants of Coldenia brevicalyx are characterized by 

 somewhat slender stems, compact flower clusters 1 to 2 or 2% lines broad, and white-tomentose 

 calyces 1% to 2 lines long, the calyx-lobes usually not setulose at tip: Needles, Jones; McCoy 

 Wash, Palo Verde Valley, Hall 5934; Ehrenberg (Ariz.), J. Grinnell; Fort Yuma, Jepson 11,736. 

 West of the Colorado River, in the Colorado Desert, the plants are coarser and stockier, the flower 

 clusters often looser and 2i/> to 4 lines broad, the calyces brownish or grayish-hairy and 2 to 2% 

 lines long, and the calyx -lobes usually minutely setulose at tip: Painted Canon, n. of Mecca, 

 Jepsnn 11,687; Kane Sprs., Ewan 4095; San Felipe Narrows, ne. San Diego Co., jepson 12,543; 

 Split Mt., Parish 9045. 



Refs. — Coldenia brevicaltx Wats., Proc. Am. Acad., 24:62 (1889), type loc. lower Colorado 

 River, Palmer; Jepson, Man. 838 (1925). C. palmeri Jtn. in Munz, Man. 418 (1935) ; not Gray 

 (1870). 



3. C. palmeri Gray. Stems several from a woody perennial base, freely 

 branched dichotomously, spreading or decumbent and forming a mat or a low dense 

 rounded tuft, 4 to 8 inches high and 6 to 18 inches broad ; branches puberulent or 

 glabrate, the leaves densely hairy or with a felt-like grayish pubescence ; leaf -blades 

 obovate, sometimes ovate, 2 to 4 lines long, strongly marked with 5 or 6 pairs of 

 nerves, revolute-margined; flowers crowded in small clusters in the forks and at 

 the ends of the branchlets, subtended by a circle of leaves ; calyx-lobes subulate, 

 densely hairy-tomentose, especially inside, % to nearly as long as corolla-tube; 

 corolla bluish or pink, 2 lines long, its limb 1^/4 liues broad ; filaments inserted near 

 base of corolla-tube or below its middle and projected downward to base of corolla 

 as very narrow plates, adnate by one edge and standing vertically, or sometimes 

 reduced to line-like ridges ; style cleft % to % ; nutlets globular or ovoid, smooth 

 and shining, I/2 line long, only 1 or 2 maturing, the scar orbicular. 



Sandy desert flats and desert dunes, often in shifting sand, -200 to 2600 feet : 

 eastern Mohave Desert ; Colorado Desert. East to Arizona. Mar.-June. 



Habit note. — The taproot is stout with its crown deep-seated. From this cro^vn are developed 

 1, 2 or 3 erect slender hypogaeous stems which at the ground surface branch and usually become 

 woody. The seasonal shoots arise from these woody branches and form a complicated dichoto- 

 mous network. The small flower-clusters are about 2 lines across. In age, the flowers fall away, 

 leaving the extremely abbreviated or dwarf branches, which are now conspicuous as densely white- 

 hairy knobs (or white pellets) at the forks or nodes, the hairs almost, but not completely, con- 

 cealing the attachment-scars of the flowers. 



Locs. — Mohave Desert: Searles Lake, Jepson 7145a; Daggett, Jepson 20,600; Lavic, Jepson 

 15,469 ; Kelso Sand Dunes, Jepson 20,558 ; Essex, Jepson 18,362 ; Needles, Jepson 5480. Colorado 

 Desert: Banning, San Gorgonio Pass, Gilman 45; Palm Springs of San Jacinto, Parish 4128; 

 Pleasant Valley near Hexie Mt., Clary 1169; Coral Reef ranch, Coachella, Clary 1578; Fish Sprs., 

 nw. Imperial Co., C. V. Meyer 413; Harper Well, w. Imperial Co., Jepson 8906; Vallecito, e. San 

 Diego Co., Duran 3194; Brawley, Parish 8329; Alamo River near Calexico, Parish 8329a; Grays 

 Well, Algodones Sandhills, Jepson 11,726. 



Refs. — Coldenia palmeri Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8:292 (1870), type loc. lower Colorado 

 River, Palmer ; Jepson, Man. 838 (1925). Tiqnilia irevifoUa var. plicata Torr., Bot. Mex. Bound. 

 136 (1859), type loc. Colorado Desert, Schott. C. plicata Cov., Contrib. TJ. S. Nat. Herb. 4:163 

 (1893). 



4. C. canescens DC. Stems gnarled, woody and rough-barked, prostrate or 

 procumbent, from a stout perennial base, 2 to 6 inches long; leaves foment ose and 

 thinly short-hirsute, the branches hirsute; leaf-blades ovate or oblong, entire, 

 revolute-margined, not obviously veiny, 3 to 5 lines long, the petioles i/4 fo 1 line 

 long; flowers solitary or in small clusters in the axils or forks ; corolla white, 2V^ to 



