376 BOKAGINACEAE 



rupted but joining the median dorsal keel and lateral keels and thus forming 

 rectangular or irregular areolae ; areolae papillate or tuberculate ; caruncle seated 

 in the shallow transverse ventral groove. 



Grassy fields and hillslopes, 10 to 4000 feet : throughout eismontane and intra- 

 montane California; also in the Mohave Desert, but rare. South to Lower Cali- 

 fornia, north to Washington. Mar.-May. 



Note on the nutlets. — Attached near the middle on the ventral side, the nutlets of Plagio- 

 bothrys nothofulvus are borne nearly horizontally with their shortly acute apices or beaks inter- 

 locked over the gynobase. The dorsal side of the nutlets is properly described as rugose reticulate, 

 since the ridges of the reticula, whether representing the median keel or the transverse rugae, are 

 usually equally developed. 



Field note. — Where the San Joaquin Eiver debouches from the Sierra Nevada foothills, a flat- 

 topped hill called Table Mountain rises in the foreground — its summit a level rocky pavement, 

 its slopes nurturing extensive areas of Plagiobothrys nothofulvus. It lies here in the foothills of 

 Fresno County under the one-time forestrally famous uplift of the immediate region, Pine Eidge. 

 Table Mountain affords excellent views in several directions, especially southward along the foot- 

 hills. The most abundant spring flowering of Plagiobothrys nothofulvus appears in March, the 

 "snow-drop" blossoms enveloping the hills with a glomng drapery for leagues. The rolling valley 

 lying under Table Mountain southward is dominated by this species, — ribbons and streamers and 

 patches of it extending from the main leagues-wide colony over the thinly wooded hills everywhere. 

 This scene is repeated, a little earlier or a little later, in numerous districts throughout the Sierra 

 Nevada foothills for hundreds of miles and south to the Cuyamaea Mountains of eastern San Diego 

 County. Of the various species of Plagiobothrys in California, this one is, perhaps, the most 

 abundant. It is, in consequence, of some importance as a range plant, since cattlemen call it good 

 stock feed and sheepmen claim that sheep are fond of it — especially when it is young or coming 

 into flower. — Jepson Field Book, 49:79 (March 27, 1929), ms. 



Locs. — Coast Eanges: Yreka, Sutler 694; Paskenta (6 mi. w.), w. Tehama Co., Virginia 

 Bailey; Look Prairie, Bull Creek, Constance 617; Mail Eidge, Humboldt Co., Jepson 1905; Bell 

 Springs Eidge, n. Mendocino Co., Jepson 2202; Pine Peak, Vaca Mts., Jepson 21,153; St. Helena, 

 Napa Valley, Jepson 21,158 ; Berkeley Hills, Jepson 21,151 ; Mt. Diablo, Jepson 9878a ; Mt. Hamil- 

 ton, Jepson 4193; Parkfield, se. Monterey Co., Jepson 16,173; San Luis Obispo, Summers. Great 

 Valley: Salt Creek, w. Tehama Co., Jepson 21,152; Eio Linda, n. Sacramento Co., Jepson 16,573; 

 Vacaville, Jepson 21,160; Merced, Buckminster. Sierra Nevada foothills: near Table Mt., n. of 

 Oroville, Heller 11,283; Penn Valley, w. Nevada Co., Jepson 21,157; Spanish Eavine, Placerville, 

 Jepson 18,606; Gwin Mine, Calaveras Co., Jepson 1804; Phoenix Lake, near Sonora, A. L. Grant 

 60a; La Grange, Stanislaus Co., Hoover 1711 ; Bootjack, Mariposa Co., Jepson 12,782 ; Little Dry 

 Creek near Sparkville, Fresno Co., Jepsmi 15,145; Orosi (e. of), Tulare Co., H. P. Kelley ; Olcese 

 Eanch, lower Kern Eiver, near Cottonwood Creek, Allison Krames. Tehachapi Mts.: Bena sta., 

 Caliente foothills, Jepson 11,610; Keene, Jepson 7158. Mohave Desert: Bailey road sta., w. 

 Antelope Valley, Hoover 3116. Cismontane and intramontane S. Cal. : Los Alamos, Los Alamos 

 Valley, Jepson 8448; Santa Barbara, T. Brandegee 25x; San Bernardino, Parish 25y; Cootca 

 Valley, Palomar Mt., Jepson 1526; Santa Ysabel, Cuyamaea Mts., Jepson 8524; Julian, Jepson 

 17,137; San Pasqual VaUey, cent. San Diego Co., Jepson 19,166; La Mesa, w. San Diego Co., 

 Jepson 6690. 



Eefs. — Plagiobothrys nothofulvus Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 20:285 (1885) ; Jepson, Fl. W. 

 Mid. Cal. 447 (1901), ed. 2, 349 (1911), Man. 856 (1925). Eritrichium nothofulvum Gray, I.e. 

 17:227 (1882), new name for Myosotis fulva H. & A., Bot. Beech. 369 (1840), not Myosotis fulva 

 H. & A., I.e. 38 (1830). P. laxus Greene in Baker, West. Am. PI. 2:16 (1903), type loc. Lakeport, 

 Lake Co., C. F. Baker 3065, nomen nudum. 



9. P. arizonicus Greene. Stems several from the base, usually simple, erect 

 or usually ascending, commonly 5 to 8 inches high; herbage hispid with spreading 

 hairs; leaf -blades linear-lanceolate to linear, % to 1 inch long; roots, midribs and 

 margins of leaves purple, or occasionally the whole plant purplish ; spikes elongated, 

 2 to 6 inches long, remotely flowered, mostly naked above ; calyx cleft nearly half- 

 way to base, the oblong lobes connivent over the fruit, the lower portion at length 

 eircumscissile near base; corolla 1 to IVi lines broad; nutlets 2 (sometimes 1, 3 or 

 4), ovoid and abruptly short-acute, % to IVi lines long, the transverse parallel 

 rugae of the dorsal side joined to the median keel and lateral keels, thus setting off 

 rectangular areolae, or the transverse rugae sometimes interrupted or obscure; 

 keels often tuberculate ; areolae smooth or minutely papillate-dotted ; caruncle 

 seated in a transverse groove and thus sunken below the crest of the ventral keel. 



Dry sandy hillslopes or plains, 100 to 4000 feet : inner South Coast Range; San 

 Joaquin Valley from Merced Co. to Kern Co. ; Tehachapi Mts. ; southern Sierra 



