372 



BORAGINACEAE 



coming 1 to lYo inches long and often shortly petioled; spike leafy-bi-acteate 

 throughout, somewhat loose; corolla 1 to IV2 lines broad; nutlets commonly 4, 

 orbicular-ovate, constricted at apex so as to be shortly acute, % to 1 line long, the 

 dorsal ridge weak or not strongly differentiated, produced over the apex into the 

 thin but prominent ventral keel ; dorsal side crowded with low or flattish transverse 

 ridges, whitish and smooth but separated by distinct line-like grooves; lateral 

 angles well-defined; caruncle small, borne in the transverse groove. 



Montane meadows and tiats, 4000 to 8000 feet : Sierra Nevada from Sierra Co. 

 to Kern Co.; San Bernardino Mts. June-Jul.y. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada: Mohawk Creek, Sierra Co., W. I. Follett 83; Doimer Lake, Sonne; 

 Tallen Leaf Lake, Eldorado Co., Ottley 820; Deadman Creek, Tuolumne Co., Jepson 6560; Lake 



Eleanor, Tuolumne Co., A. L. Grani 12.59; Lake Mer- 

 ced, Mariposa Co., Jepson 4407 ; Yosemite, Jepson 

 4258a; Arnold Mdw., Madera Co., A. L. Grant 1350; 

 Mono Mdws., Mono Creek, South Fork San Joaquin 

 River, E. Ferguson 420 ; Volcano Creek, Tulare Co., 

 Hall 4" BabcocJc 5317. San Bernardino Mts., (ace. 

 P. A. Mum). The collections above cited, all from 

 rather high altitudes, represent for the most part var. 

 diffusus Jtn., the bracts mostly exceeding the flowers; 

 whereas in the typical form from Yosemite Valley, the 

 bracts are described as mostly shorter than the flow- 

 ers. A collection from Y'osemite Valley (Jepson 

 10,471), as well as other collections from the same 

 region, do not exhibit, however, any uniformity in 

 bract size ; the bracts are mostly longer than the flow- 

 ers, save sometimes in case of the terminal flowers of 

 the raceme. Most collections show the bracts to be 

 variable in size in such wise as to indicate this feature 

 to be of slight significance taxonomically, as is, to be 

 sure, the case generally in the genus. One may con- 

 sider Plagiobothrys canescens in which bractless 

 racemes or bracted racemes often occur in one collec- 

 tion, frequently, indeed, on one individual. 



Eefs. — Plagiobothrys torreyi Gray, Proc. Am. 

 Acad. 20:284 (1885) ; Jepson, Man. 855 (1925). Eri- 

 trichium torreyi Gray, I.e. 10:58 (1874), type loc. 

 Yosemite Valley, Torrey. Cryptantha torreyi Rydb., 

 Mem. N. Y. Bot. Gard. 1:331 (1900). P. torreyivai. 

 diffusus Jtn., Contrib. Gray Herb. 68:71 (1923), type 

 loc. Donner Lake, Heller 6986; Jepson, Man. 855 

 (1925). 



Fig. 418. Plagiobothrys torreyi 

 Gray, a, habit, X y2 ; b, fl., X 4 ; c, co- 

 rolla, spread open, X i; d, nutlet, X 8. 



Plagiobothrys myosotoides Brand; Engler, 

 Pflzr. 4-^-: 108 (1931). Litlwspermum myosotoides 

 Lehm., Asperif. 319 (1818), type from Peru. P. torreyi var. perplexans Jtn., Contrib. Gray Herb. 

 68:72 (1923), type loc. Greenhorn Pass, Greenhorn Mts., Kern Co., Purpus 5542. Two California 

 collections (ridge betw. Isabel Valley and Arroyo Bayo, Mt. Hamilton Range, Helen Sharsmith 

 1893; Big Sandy Valley, Black Mt., Fresno Co., Hoover 3465) have been referred to this Chilean 

 species by I. M. Johnston (Jour. Arn. Arb. 20:381, — 1939) and a third (Greenhorn Pass, Green- 

 horn Mts., Purpus 5542) may be here considered. These plants match closely P. torreyi in size, 

 habit, leafage, pubescence, racemes and flowers. The nutlets are like those of Plagiobothrys tor- 

 reyi in configuration and in keels and are of about the same size. The differences, as here worked 

 out, appear to be as follows: The rugae of nutlets in Plagiobothrys torreyi are low, broad and flat, 

 separated by shallow line-like grooves ; they are smooth, polished, whitish and shining. The rugae 

 of nutlets in Plagiobothrys myosotoides are narrow and acute and separated by broad grooves 

 which are sometimes papillate, or often the rugae consist of rows of tubercles ; the rugae are brovm- 

 ish and slightly roughish, not polished or shining. These differences between the two species, if 

 correctly observed differences, are fundamental, but it must be said that of the above-cited col- 

 lections of Plagiobothrys myosotoides only two have perhaps full grown nutlets and none have 

 mature nutlets. Dead-ripe fruiting specimens are yet to be collected. Geographically there is a 

 marked distinction: P. torreyi occurs from 4000 to 7500 feet; the above collections of P. myoso- 

 toides represent the foothills from 2500 to 3000 feet or sometimes 4500 feet. Although of obvious 

 interest, it is probable that evidence on this problem, morphologic and especially geographic, is 

 yet in the formative stage. 



