PORTULACE^. 179 



l^a lines broad. Var. (2) augustifolia. Quite like the type save 

 that the lowest radical leaves are linear, almost without distinction of 

 blade and petiole, the later ones somewhat broader and lanceolate : 

 involucre truncate and with acute angles on the upper side (opposite the 

 deflection of the pedicels) rounded on the other. Var (3) amplecteiis. 

 Like smaller states of the type ; but involucral pair of leaves united on 

 one side only, forming a '2-lobed bract which is narrowed to a short 

 petiole sheathing the base of the short raceme. — The most prevalent of 

 Californian winter annuals, attaining its best development in the shade 

 of oaks and laurels among the hills ; in open grounds mixch smaller ; in 

 sandy soil near the sea usually reduced and depressed. The first variety 

 is peculiar to the Mt. Diablo region, growing in open grounds, in fields 

 and waste places. The second grows along with the type everywhere, 

 and is remarkably different from it in that its earliest leaves are linear, 

 only the later ones widening to the lanceolate, thus reversing the 

 common order ; for in the type the earliest leaves are broader than long, 

 only the later ones being somewhat narrower. This may perhaps be a 

 species. It can hardly be referred to C. parvijiora, a plant which 

 belongs to "Washington and British Columbia, and has a different 

 foliage, always linear, an equilateral involucre, etc. Our third variety 

 belongs to middle elevations of the Sierra. The flowering season of the , 

 s^Decies is from March to July, according to locality. 



++ ++ Herbage glaucous, in age flesh-colored. 



7. C. gfypsophiloides, F. & M. Ind. Sem. Petr. ii. 33 (1835) : (J. spalhu- ' 

 lata, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xxii. 282, excl. var., not of Dougl. Very ' 

 pale and glaucous, 4 —10 in. high : radical leaves linear, one-half or one- 

 third as long as the slender scapes ; cauline pair short and united on 

 one side to form a quadrate disk-like involucre, or longer, lanceolate- 

 acuminate and less perfectly united : raceme peduncled, many-flowered ; 

 pedicels scattered, often 1 in. long : petals rose-purple, thrice the length 

 of the calyx, cuneate-oblong, deeply emarginate, unguiculate at base and 

 united around the ovary : seed dull to the unaided eye, under a lens 

 roughened with a low and rounded but smooth and shining tubercu- 

 lation. — On northward slopes and at the summits of the higher mountains 

 of the Coast Range, from Tamalpais and Mt. Diablo northward ; plentiful 

 in its localities, and the most beautiful of all Clayiouias. Mar., Apr. 



8. C. spatliulata, Dougl. in Hook. Fl. i 225. t. 74 (1833) : C. exigua & 

 tenuifolia, T. & G. Fl. i. 200 & 201 (1838) : C. spalhulata, var. lenuifolia, 

 Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. xxii. 282. Low, densely tufted and fleshy, 1—3 

 in. high : scapes little exceeding the linear leaves ; involucral leaves 

 lanceolate or linear, more or less dilated at base and there connate on one 

 side, equalling or exceeding the short raceme : petals white or purplish, 

 little longer than th-e sepals, truncate or rounded at apex : seed oval, 



