124 CARYOPHYLLE^, 



in Hook. Fl. i. 98. t. 32 & Fl. Alt. ii. 166 (1830). Habit and foliage of the 

 preceding, but leaves shorter : stems 6 — 10 in. high, very viscid above, 

 especially the pedicels of the umbellate or more open and dichotomoiis 

 cyme ; bracts small, lanceolate : calyx with a broad almost truncate 

 base ; sepals ovate, acute, 3-nerved, membranously margined, l^^j — 2 

 lines long ; petals longer : capsule somewhat exceeding the calyx. — High 

 Sierra, but less common than the preceding; Donner Pass, Turiey; 

 Webber Lake, C. T. Blake. 



3. A. pun^eiis, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 179 (1838). Rather compactly 

 cespitose but not woody ; the short leafy and flowering branches erect ; 

 herbage glandular-pubescent : leaves linear-si;bulate, pungent, 3 — 5 lines 

 long, crowded : fl. few in an open leafy-bracted cyme : sepals lanceolate 

 acuminate, pungent, 1%—^ lines long, obscurely 3-nerved : petals 

 scarcely equalling the calyx : capsule shorter, few-seeded : seeds 

 smooth. — In the higher Sierra, from Tuolumne Co. northward. 



* * Low annuals ; cymes foliaceous-bracted ; valves of capsule 3, entire: 

 seeds not carunculate. — Old genus Alsine. 



4. A. Douglasii, T. & G. Fl. i. 674 (1840) ; Fenzl. (1833), under Alsine. 

 Sparsely pubescent with spreading gland-tipped hairs, or glabrous, 

 slender, branching, 3 — 12 in. high : leaves filiform, ^^ — li/g in- long, 

 ascending or spreading, slightly connate at base : fl. large, on long slender 

 pedicels : sepals oblong-ovate, acute, 1% lines long, 1 — 3-nerved : petals 

 obovate, 2 lines long or more : capsule globose, equalling the calyx ; 

 seeds large, smooth, compressed and acutely angled. — On stony hill-tops 

 and sandy or gravelly plains throughout the State. Mar., Apr. 



5. A. Califoriiica, Brewer, in Boland. Catal. 6 (1870); A. hrerifolia 

 var. (?) Calif ornica. Gray, Proc. Calif. Acad. iii. 101 (1864). Glabrous, 

 very slender, 2 — 3 in. high : leaves lanceolate, obtusish, ] — 2 lines long : 

 fl. small, on slender pedicels : sepals oblong-ovate, acute, 3-nerved, 

 1 — 1% lines long ; petals spatulate, 2 lines : capsule oblong, as long as 

 the calyx : seeds small, sharply muriculate. — Less common than the 

 preceding, and confined to middle jiarts of the State. Apr., May. 



6. A. palnstris, Wats. Bot. Calif, i. 70 (1876) ; Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad, 

 iii. 61 (1863), under Alsine. Glabrous, flaccid, decumbent, leafy through- 

 out, ^2 — 2 ft. high : leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, Jg — 1 in. long : fl. 

 few, large, long-pedicelled : sepals elliptic, obtuse or acutish, nerveless, 

 herbaceous, but with a narrow scarious margin, 1% — 2 lines long : petals 

 oblong, twice longer : capsule oblong, shorter than the calyx : seeds 

 numerous. — Dr. Kellogg, writing of this from San Francisco almost 

 thirty years ago says: " A plant very abundant in swamps in this vicinity, 

 known to us for the last ten years." It does not appear to have been 

 seen by any one in recent years. Dr. Behr, who knew the original 



