362 BORAGINACEAE 



papillate, the rugae rough; ventral side irregularly and closely rugulose, keeled 

 down to the sear ; sear narrow-lanceolate to deltoid-lanceolate, slightly excavate, 

 % as long as nutlet. 



Wet alkaline meadows, near springs, 350 to 400 feet: upper Napa Valley. 

 Mar.-May. 



Geog. note. — Found only near the sulphur springs on the alkaline flats at Calistoga, Allocarya 

 stricta is an extremely narrow endemic. It is not rare in its locality and has been collected many 

 times. The characters of it may, perhaps, preclude confusion with any other species. 



Eefs. — Allocakta stricta Greene, Pitt. 2:231 (1892), type loc. Calistoga, Napa Co., Greene; 

 Jepson, Man. 853 (1925). A. calif ornica var. stricta Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 443 (1901), ed. 2, 

 346 (1911). Plagiobothrys strictus Jtn., Contrib. Gray Herb. 68:78 (1923). 



10. A. californica Greene. Stems several from the base, decumbent or spread- 

 ing, 3 to 14 inches long ; herbage strigose ; leaf -blades linear-oblanceolate, % to 1% 

 inches long; racemes 2 to 9 inches long, the flowers discrete or usually remote; 

 corolla % to 1^/4 lines broad; nutlets ovate, irregularly rugulose transversely, the 

 rugae long or short and often branched or merging with short oblique rugae and 

 thus imperfectly reticulate, the interspaces thickly and finely tuberculate; ventral 

 side keeled down to and continuous with the scar ; scar lateral but reaching the base, 

 deltoid or ovate ; entire surface of nutlet microscopically scaly-dotted. 



Grassy clay slopes or moist flats, 15 to 500 feet : coast line from San Francisco 

 to Del Norte Co. ; in Humboldt Co. extending to the interior. North to Oregon. 

 Apr.-May. 



Geog. note. — As here described, Allocarya californica is a species primarily of the coast line, 

 ranging from San Francisco to Del Norte County. The following collections are first cited: San 

 Francisco, J. T. Howell; Hussey ranch, Pt. Eeyes, Davy 6814; Bodega Bay, E. Brandegee; 

 Gualala, s. Mendocino coast, Gwen Netvell; Fort Bragg, Matheu's 67. The San Francisco collec- 

 tion represents the original station for the form Allocarya diffusa Greene ; the remaining collec- 

 tions (as just cited, save that from Fort Bragg) were named Allocarya areolata by C. V. Piper 

 in his revision of the genus. Collections from Humboldt Co. are next cited: Petrolia, Mattole 

 Valley, Tracy 9962 ; Cape Mendocino, Tracy 15.963 ; Holmes Flat, lower Eel Eiver, Tracy 13,957 ; 

 Alton, Tracy 3680; Fort Baker ranch. Van Duzen River, Tracy 10,274; Eureka, Tracy 3009. 

 Of these northern stations. Stone Lagoon, Humboldt Co., Tracy 13,949 and some others, in greater 

 or less degree, represent indefinite transitions to the form A. reticulata Piper. A collection from 

 Del Norte Co. is last cited: Gasquet, Paris & Tra<-y 11,176. 



All these collections are from stations on or very near the coast line and comprehend a natural 

 area in species distribution. Moreover, all of them, including that from San Francisco, agree 

 habitally and agree in pubescence and in inflorescence ; they agree in nutlets as to size, shape, 

 ventral carina and scar. The dorsal interspaces or areolae of the nutlets are in all cases finely 

 tuberculate save that in the A. reticulata form the areolae, although smooth as to the formal type, 

 are usually finely papillate. The whole surface of the nutlets is in every collection microscopically 

 scaly-dotted. The rugae form inconstant patterns, as is usual in this genus, but in general the 

 short or long rugae tend to set off irregular interspaces or complete or imperfect areolae in a 

 various manner. 



Variations of rugae patterns of the nutlets as found on one individual (Bodega Bay, K. Bran- 

 degee) may be expressed in a condensed statement as follows: (a) dorsal surface irregularly but 

 markedly rugose transversely, scarcely at all reticulate; (b) dorsal surface irregularly rugose 

 transversely only at middle and above, scarcely at all reticulate; (c) dorsal surface rugose trans- 

 versely only at the middle, not reticulate; (d) entire dorsal surface markedly reticulate with 

 small areolae; (e) dorsal surface at middle reticulate; (f) dorsal surface weakly and irregularly 

 reticulate at middle. In these various patterns a dorsal keel may be present at apex or it may be 

 absent. In all cases, too, the dorsal interspaces or areolae and especially the non-rugulose areas 

 are more or less finely tuberculate. The extremes of nutlet features in this series, as taken from 

 one individual, differ more from each other than from the nutlets characteristic of the plants 

 found at the other stations along the coast line as cited above. 



It may be further pointed out that some of the nutlets in the collection from Bodega Bay, 

 K. Brandegee, agree well with those of Allocarya scalpta Piper (Alder Point Flat, Humboldt 

 Co.). Nutlets of the former may be selected which seem as if exact replicas of nutlets selected 

 from the type collection of A. scalpta. 



It is, then, an obvious summation that Allocarya californica, as here described, presents a 

 population essentially homogeneous in all fundamental aspects and morphological features and 

 in its distribution represents a wholly natural area. It is, however, not strongly differentiated 

 from A. cusickii var. vaUicola of the interior of California and there are stations back of the 

 coast line in Mendocino and Humboldt counties which seem to represent intermediate states. 



