332 BORAGINACEAE 



Loes. — Sierra Nevada (east slope or east side) : Beckwith Pass, Lassen Co., Jepson 7761; 

 Bishop, Almeda Nordyl'e ; Cottonwood Creek, w. Inyo Co., Purpus 1930 ; Little Lake, sw. Inyo Co., 

 Jepson 19,526; Walker Pass (2 mi. e.), Jepson 19,870. Cisniontane s. Sierra Nevada: Volcano 

 Creek, Tulare Co., Hall # Babcock 5459; Lloyd Mdws., Kern River, Tulare Co., Jepson 4896; 

 Piute Mts., Kern Co., C. N. Smith 1(55. Mohave Desert: Essex, Jepson 18,164; Cedar Cafion, Mid 

 Hills, Providence Mts., Jepson 18,.33S ; Kessler Peak, Ivanpah Mts., Jepson 15,828; Twenty-nine 

 Palms, Jepson 5969; Calico Wash, Calico Mts., Jepson 17,220; Barstow, Jepson 5397; betw. 

 Johannesburg and Atolia, Jepson 19,524 ; Saltdale, Jepson 19,507 ; Mohave sta., Heller 7764 ; near 

 Cajon Pass, Jepson 6126; Antelope Valley, Davy 2209. Ranges bordering the westerly sides of 

 the Mohave Desert: Bisses sta., Tehaehapi Mts., Dudley 459; Cuyama Valley, se. San Luis Obispo 

 Co., Axelrod 258; Mt. Pinos, Ventura Co., Hall 6578; Mt. Wilson, San Gabriel Mts., Peir.son 

 174; Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Hall. Western Colorado Desert: Pleasant Valley, Hexie 

 Mt., n. of Indio, Clary 1170 ; San Felipe, e. San Diego Co., T. Brandegee ; Mountain Springs grade, 

 Oroutt; Signal Mt., T. Brandegee. 



Var. hispida Mcbr. Herbage conspicuously and coarsely spreading-bristly. — Mesas or 

 montane flats or slopes, 2500 to 10,000 feet: Sierra Nevada on east slope from eastern Nevada Co. 

 to Inyo Co. ; Sierra Nevada on west slope in Tulare and Kern Cos., but only in high easterly valleys 

 or on high easterly peaks ; central Mohave Desert. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada (e. slope) : Bronco, e. Nevada Co., Sonne 483; Casa Diablo, Mono Co., 

 Congdon; Centennial Plat, ne. of Coso Mts., Inyo Co., Eenner 31; Horseshoe Mdw., Cottonwood 

 Creek, w. Inyo Co., Jepson 942. Southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare and Kern Cos.: South Fork 

 Mdw., South Fork Kern River, Tulare Co., Jepson 937; Piute Peak, Kern Co., Purpus 5304. 

 Mohave Desert: Jimgrey sta., Jepson 15,564. 



Refs. — Greeneocharis circumscissa Rydb., Bull. Torr. Club 30:677 (1909) ; Jepson, Man. 

 846 (1925). Lithospermum circumscissmn 11. & A., Bot. Beech. 370 (1840), tyrpe loc. Snake Fort, 

 Snake River, Ida., lolmie. Piptocalyx circumscissus Torr.; Wats., Bot. King 240 (1871). Eritri- 

 chiuni circumscissum Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 10:58 (1874). Krynitzlcia circumscissa Gray, I.e. 

 20:275 (1885). Wheelerclla circumscissa Grant, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 5:28 (1906). Cryptaniha 

 circumscissa Jtn., Contrib. Gray Herb. 68:55 (1923). Var. hispida Mcbr., Proc. Am. Acad. 51: 

 546 (1916), type loc. Mt. Whitney trail, Culbertson 4240. Cryptantha cireuinscissa var. hispida 

 Jtn., I.e. 74:42 (1925). KryniWcia dichotoma Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 1:206 (1885), type loc. 

 betw. Boca and Verdi, Curran. Piptocalyx dichotomus Greene, Pitt. 1:60 (1887). Wheelerclla 

 diohotonui Grant, Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 5:28 (1906). G. dichotoma Mcbr., I.e. Cryptantha dichotoma 

 Jtn., I.e. 68:55 (1923). G. circumscissa var. dichotoma Jepson, Man. 846 (1925). 



13. CRYPTANTHA Lehm. Nievitas 



Ours annuals, except one species perennial ; some extra-limital species rarely 

 biennials or perennials. Flowers sessile or rarely pedicelecl, borne in short or elon- 

 gated spikes. Calyx 5-parted to the base, as long as tlie corolla-tube, its lobes 

 hirsute or bristly or both, in fruit usually closely embracing the nutlets, eventually 

 deciduous from the stem. Corolla white, small (^4 to 3 lines broad). Nutlets 4 or 1, 

 sometimes 3 or 2, smooth, papillate, tuberculate or murieulate, not rugose or par- 

 tially so very rarely; back of nutlets not keeled or very rarely obscurely keeled; 

 face of nutlets with a median groove from the apex to the sear near the base, the 

 groove either open or closed and usually continued beyond the scar as a fork, the 

 fork either open (areolate) or closed. Gynobase subulate, tlie nutlets attached to 

 it from the scar half-way or wholly to the apex along the groove. — The foliage is 

 often withered by fruiting time, sometimes by flowering time. The nutlets in one 

 flower sometimes differ in size and sometimes in morphological character. — Species 

 about 80, North and South America. (Greek kruptos, hidden, and anthos, flower, 

 on account of the cleistogamotts flowers in the original South American species.) 



Tax. note. — The segreg.ation of tlie multitudinous forms of Cryptantha into specific units de- 

 pends mainly upon structural differentiation in the nutlets. Such differentiating characters may 

 be determined with satisfaction only by means of truly mature fruits, since nutlets of full size, 

 though lacking maturity, may show marked differences from fully grown nutlets, even on one 

 individual. In those species where the normal number of nutlets is 4, some flowers may develop 

 only 2 or 3 nutlets, or, again, where the normal number is 1, some flowers may occasionally produce 

 2 nutlets. Habit of the plant, form or disposition of the spikes, hairiness and size of calyx or 

 size of corolla may sometimes furnish differentiating characters associated with nutlet characters, 

 but ordinarily the nutlet affords the most reliable evidence in the way of specific segregation. 

 The species of the group with winged margins to the nutlets or lineate margins are both const.ant 

 in their characters and well-defined; such species are Cryptantha pterocarya, Cryptantha holoptera 



