BORAGE FAMILT 355 



base. Corolla white. Gynobase columnar, scarcely separable from the equally 

 broad style. Style iu fruit dilated, broader than the capitate stigma, persistent. 

 Nutlets 4, uniform. — Species 1. (Greek eremos, desert, and karua, a nutlet.) 



1. E. micrantha Greene. Stems several from the base, very slender, diffusely 

 and diehotomously much-branched, 2 to 5 inches high, discretely or remotely leafy, 

 the numerous brauchlets ending in terminal spikes which are crowded with equal 

 leaves in regular ranks; herbage hispid, the hairs on the stems usually appressed; 

 leaf -blades linear, 1 to 2 lines long, irregularly but thickly pitted ; terminal branch- 

 lets densely leafy, the flowers borne in the uppermost axils; calyx-lobes oblong, 

 obtuse; corolla white, sometimes pink in age, 1,4 to 1 line broad, the throat obscurely 

 appendaged ; nutlets slender-ovate, acuminate or lanceolate-acuminate, smooth and 

 polished or minutely papillate, % to % line long, the angles rounded ; style ex- 

 ceeding nutlets, the exserted portion lanceolate. 



Sandy desert flats or washes, or arid interior valleys or mountain slopes, 500 

 to 6500 (or 7500) feet: Inyo Co.; Mohave and Colorado deserts; intramontane 

 Southern California from the Santa Clara Valley in Los Angeles Co. to the Laguna 

 Mts. in eastern San Diego Co. South to Lower California, east to Texas, north to 

 Nevada and Oregon. Apr .-June. 



Field note. — An observation upon this species recorded in the desert is here transcribed: The 

 way lies through heavy sand in the lower part of the floor of Collins Valley, an arm of the Colo- 

 rado Desert. One of the many features of interest in a wash proves to be a scattered colony of 

 Eremocarya micrantha. The many stems from the root-crown branch diehotomously and re- 

 peatedly. Numerous terminal branchlets, crowded with short densely-ranked linear leaves, form 

 a close even weave over the periphery of the plant. In the sandy wash these thickly-branched low 

 rounded borages, diminutive individuals, attract the immediate interest of the desert traveler. 

 Very dark green, and thus in striking contrast to the prevailing grays and browns and slate colors 

 of the dull arid level, they suggest, in a curious way. Baobab trees in miniature. Their aspect is 

 distinctive and quite apart from that of any of the CryptaJithae. The root carries a purple stain. — 

 Jepson Field Book 37:177 (1920), ms. 



Locs. — Inyo Co.: Argus Eange (n. end), Jepson 19,550a; Coso Hot Sprs., Coso Eange, C. N. 

 Smith 149; Inyokern, C. N. Smith 64. Tehachapi Mts.: Liebre Twins, Gijford 647. Mohave 

 Desert : cove near Willow Sprs., Old Dad Mts., Jepson 20,406 ; Lavic, Jepson 15,465 ; Searles Lake, 

 near Trona, Jepson 7147 ; Red Rock Caiion, w. end El Paso Mts., Allison Erames; Saltdale, Jepson 

 19,504; Barstow, Jepson 5428; Shay's Well, Jepson 5954; Lancaster, Davy 2287. Colorado Des- 

 ert: McCoy Wash, Palo Verde Valley, Hall 5938; Mecca, Parish 8464; Collins Valley, ne. San 

 Diego Co., Jepson 8831 ; lower San Felipe Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 8733 ; Valleeito, e. San 

 Diego Co., Jepson 8603. Intramontane S. Cal.: Saugus, Santa Clara VaUey, K. Brandegee ; 

 Mt. Wilson, San Gabriel Mts., Geo. B. Grant; San Bernardino, Parish; Santa Kosa Mts., Munz 

 5839; Laguna Mts., T. Brandegee. 



Var. lepida Mcbr. Stems often stouter and taller, less dichotomous; corolla larger (1% to 

 214 lines broad), the appendages in the throat less obscure. — Montane slopes and valleys, 4500 

 to 6800 feet: southern Sierra Nevada from Mono Co. to Tulare Co.; intramontane Southern Cali- 

 fornia from Mt. Piuos to eastern San Diego Co. South to Lower California. June-Aug. 



Locs. — S. Sierra Nevada: Walker River, Mono Co., Cleveland; Lloyd Meadows, Freeman 

 Creek, Kern River, Jepson 4888. Intramontane S. Cal.: Mt. Pinos, n. Ventura Co., Ball 2051; 

 Cajon Pass, Peirson 370; Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Airams 2904; Strawberry Valley, 

 Mt. San Jacinto, Jepson 1308b; Grapevine Spr., e. of Warner Ranch, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 

 8751; San Felipe Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 17,119; betw. Pine Valley and Jacumba, se. 

 San Diego Co., C. V. Meyer 428. 



Refs. — Eremocarya micrantha Greene, Pitt. 1:59 (1887). Eritrichium iwieranthum Torr., 

 Bot. Mex. Bound. 141 (1859), type loc. Frontera, Tex., Thurber. KrynitzTcia micrantha Gray, 

 Proc. Am. Acad. 20:275 (1885). Cryptantha micrantha J tn., Contrib. Gray Herb. 68:56 (1923) ; 

 Jepson, Man. 847 (1925). Eremocarya abramsiana Brand; Engler, Pflzr. 4-":77 (1931), type 

 loc. Bear Valley, Abrams 2904. Var. lepida Mcbr., Proc. Am. Acad. 51 :545 (1916). Eritrichium 

 micranthum var. lepidum Gray, Syn. Fl. 2:193 (1878), type from San Diego Co., Cleveland. 

 Krynitskia micrantha var. lepida Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 20:275 (1885). Eremocarya lepida 

 Greene, Pitt. 1:59 (1887). Cryptantha micrantha var. lepida Jtn., Contrib. Gray Herb. 68:57 

 (1923) ; Jepson, Man. 847 (1925). 



15. ALLOCARYA Greene 



Low herbs (ours annuals save 2 perennials), inhabiting depressions or moist 

 ground, commonly branching from or near the base, the branches mostly simple. 



