328 BORAGINACEAE 



Ventral groove of nutlet ending about % the distance from base; e. Mohave Desert and 

 Inyo Co. 

 Stems several to many, caespitose on a branched perennial root-crown; panicle narrow, 



the branches short, few-flowered ; nutlets whitish 4. 0. tumuJosa. 



Stems 3 or 2 from a simple biennial root ; panicle broad, the branches many-flowered, 



somewhat elongated; nutlets light gi'ay 5. 0. virginensis. 



Corolla-tube well exserted (1% to 2 times as long as calj'x) ; Inyo Co 6. 0. fiavoculata. 



B. Nutlets smooth. 



Stems erect ; leaves very much shorter than the panicles ; Inyo Co. and e. Mohave Desert and bor- 

 dering ranges - 7. 0. confertifiora. 



Stems prostrate or decumbent; leaves mostly exceeding the panicles; San Bernardino and White 

 mountains 8. 0. abortiva. 



1. 0. nubigena Greene. Stems slender, erect but somewhat flexuous, spar- 

 ingly leafy, 1 to several from the densely leafy and much-branched root-crown, 

 3 to 11 inches high; herbage thinly strigose and also spreading-hispid, the leaves 

 dark-colored ; leaves 1 to 2^2 inches long, the blades narrow-obovate to spatulate, 

 narrowed to a petiole 1 to IV2 times as long; flowers in terminal dense head-like 

 clusters, the heads 5 to 8 lines broad, densely bristly-hispid, leafy-bracteate, usually 

 with supplementary solitary flowers in the upper leaf-axils; cah'x-lobes lanceolate 

 or linear; corolla white, 2 to 3 lines long, % to 1^ lines broad, the tube little or not 

 at all exserted, the throat with prominent crests ; nutlets brown or clay-color, long- 

 ovate, flat on the back, sparingly rugose or tuberculate or smoothish, narrowly 

 wing-margined, the groove narrow or closed at maturity. 



Gravelly ridges and rocky summits, 7500 to 12,000 feet : southern Sierra Nevada 

 from Tuolumne Co. to Tulare Co. June-Aug. 



Geog. note. — Oreocarya nubigena is a high-altitudinal species with a broad densely leafy 

 root-crown, slender somewhat flexuous stems, small flowers in densely bristly small heads, and 

 rather soft or papery texture to the pericarp of the nutlet. Authentic material from the type 

 locality, Clouds Rest above Yosemite, is well matched by collections from the southern Sierra 

 Nevada, which have passed or would pass under the name Oreocarya clemensae. The following 

 stations for Oreocarya nubigena may be cited: Parker Pass, Tuolumne Co., A. L. Grant 1609; 

 Kaiser Peak, Fresno Co., A. L. Grant 1048; Palisade Creek, Fresno Co., E. Fcrfiiison 516; Mt. 

 Whitney, Jepson 1006. All the above collections are cismontane. Transmontane plants or plants 

 from high easterly crests of the northern Sierra Nevada, with somewhat stoutish, somewhat rigid 

 stems, cylindric inflorescences and larger corollas, heretofore included by the author and by Payson 

 in the species here called Oreocarya nubigena, are in this work referred to Oreocarya humilis. 

 However, the following transmontane collection is referred to O. nubigena: Mt. Patterson, Sweet- 

 water Mts., Mono Co., Hoover 5547. 



Eefs. — Okeocarya nubigena Greene, Pitt. 3:112 (1896), type loc. Clouds Eest, Yosemite, 

 Chesnut 4" Drew; Jepson, Man. 845 (1925). Cryptantha nubigena Payson, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 

 14:265 (1927). C. clemensae Payson, Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 14:267 (1927), type loc. Glenn's Pass, 

 Fresno Co., Clemens. 



2. 0. crymophila (Jtn.) Jepson & Hoover comb. n. Stems several from a 

 woody branched root-crown, erect or suberect, 8 to 13 inches high, puberulent and 

 spreading-bristly ; leaves oblanceolate or linear, 1 to 4 inches long, puberulent and 

 ascending-hirsute, the cauline with the blades narrowed to a subsessile base, the 

 lower or basal ones with the blades gradually narrowed to petioles as long ; inflor- 

 escence very bristly; terminal flower-cluster dense, several-flowered, the lateral 

 clusters axillary and scattered or discrete, one or few-flowered; corolla white, 2 to 

 3 lines broad, its tube equaling or slightly exceeding the calj'x-lobes ; fruiting calyx 

 5 to 6 lines long, its lobes erect, bristly ; style % longer than nutlets ; nutlets long- 

 ovate or ovate-lanceolate, strongly compressed, narrowly winged, irregularly and 

 weakly rugulose dorsally ; ventral groove open. 



Rocky slopes, 9000 to 10,000 feet : ridge between Clark Fork and Middle Fork of 

 Stanislaus River, Sierra Nevada of Alpine Co. July. 



Endemism note. — As thus far known Oreocarya crymophila is an endemic of especial interest 

 which in the high Sierra Nevada replaces Oreocarya nubigena north of Parker Pass. Only the 

 following stations are known: Bald Peak, Hoover 4465; EedPeak; betw. Sonora Pass and Sonora 



