MUSTARD FAMILY 85 



racemes short and dense, subcapitate, in the leafy axils or in the forks; petals bright 

 yellow; pods glabrous, finely reticulated, bifid at the apex, the teeth acute, the sinus 

 open; style half as long as the body of the pod. 



Sandy bottoms of desert washes or dry pool beds, 1000 to 4100 feet : Mohave 

 Desert; Inj'o Co. Nevada to Mexico. Fl. Mar.-Apr.; fr. May. 



Locs. — Victorville, Newlon 475; Rabbit Sprs., Jepson 5944; Barstow, Jepson 5398, 6602; 

 6625; Kramer, Jepson 5345; Lancaster, Parry; Rosamond, Antelope Valley, Davy 2264; Mohave, 

 Parry; Owens Lake (s. of), S. W. Austin 52; Laws, Heller 8181. Fallon, Nev., Blanche Pioss. 



Var. apteruin Henr. & Thell. Leaf -blades narrowly obovate, serrately cleft; pods not 

 notched at apex or only slightly or obscurely. — Desert flats and valleys, Colorado Desert: San 

 Felipe, T. Brandegee; Ironwood Well (= Yaqui Well), T. Brandegee. 



Refs. — Lepidium flavum Torr. Pac. R. Rep. 4:67 (1857), type loc. sandy places near Mohave 

 Creek, Fremont; Jepson, Man. 439 (1925). Sprengeria flava Greene, Lflts. 1:198 (1905). S. 

 watsoniana Greene, I.e. 199, type loc. Humboldt Lake, Nev., Watson 126. S. minuscula Greene, 

 I.e. type loc. Shepherd Cafion, Argus Mts., Inyo Co., Coville cf Funston 734. Var. apterum Henr. 

 & Thell.; Mededell. Rijks Herb. Utrecht 34:1 (1918), type loc. Kramer, Heller. 



9. L. virginicum L. Birds Pepper. Stem erect, % to 2 feet high, simple 

 below, paniculately branching above and bearing many racemes 2 to 8 inches long, 

 rarely with several stems from the base; herbage glabrous to sparingly pubescent; 

 blades of basal and lower leaves narrowly ovate to oblanceolate, irregularly pin- 

 natifid or sharply serrate, 1 to 21/4 (or 3) inches long, narrowed at base to a petiole 



1 to 3 inches long; blades of cauline leaves oblanceolate or linear, serrate only 

 towards the apex or entire, more rarely pinnately cleft, shorter, shortly petioled 

 or mostly sessile; petals white; stamens 2; pods orbicular or nearly so, glabrous, 

 11/2 lines long, slightly notched at the very narrowly winged apex; pedicels II/2 to 



2 lines long, widely (or even horizontally) spreading. 



Moist valleys and stream bottoms, 20 to 4800 feet : throughout California. East 

 to the Atlantic. Feb. -Nov. 



Locs. — Olinda, Shasta Co., BlanTcinsliip ; Beckwith Pass, Jepson 7763; Blue Canon, Placer 

 Co., H. A. WalTcer 1205; Scott Valley, Lake Co., Jepson 13,400; Healdsburg, Alice King; Ft. 

 Bragg, W. C. Mathews; St. Helena, Jepson 13,399; Rough & Ready Isl., lower San Joaquin 

 River, Berg; Pescadero, T. Brandegee; Cottonwood Creek, White Mts., Duran; Santa Barbara, 

 S. H. Faunt le Boy; Mt. Wilson, Peirson 298; Arroyo Seco (hills w.), Los Angeles, Peirson 2357; 

 Pasadena, Geo. B. Grant; San Bernardino Mts., Hall (cots, incumbent, tending to be accumbent) ; 

 Santiago Creek, Anaheim, Alice King; Coyote Canon, Santa Rosa Mts., Jepson 1457; Palomar, 

 Jepson 1512; Mission San Luis Rey, Jepson 8479; Lakeside, San Diego Co., T. Brandegee. 



The species passes into the var. pubescens Thell. Stout, 9 to 12 inches high; herbage his- 

 pidulous; pods a little larger, "glabrous" or puberulent. — Desert regions: Providence Mts., T. 

 Brandegee; Santa Rosa Mts. (Thellung, Gatt. Lepidium 230). East to New Mexico. 



Refs. — Lepidium virginicum L. Sp. PI. 645 (1753), type loc. Virginia; Jepson, Man. 439 

 fig. 426 (1925). L. intermedium B. & W. Bot. Cal. 1:47 (1876); Greene, Fl. Fr. 275 (1891) 

 L. medium Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 227 (1901), ed. 2, 192 (1911), and other Cal. authors. L. her 

 nardinum Abrams, Bull. Torr. Club 37:149 (1910), type loc. Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts. 

 Airams 2826. Var. pubescens Thell. Mitteil. Bot. Mus. Univ. Ziirich 28:230 (1906). L. inter 

 medium var. pubescens Greene, Bot. Gaz. 6:157 (1881), type loc. Mangos Sprs., N. Mex. 

 Greene. L. medium var. pubescens Rob. ; Gray, Syn. Fl. 1^:127 (1895). L. hirsutum Rydb. Bull 

 Torr. Club 39:312 (1912). 



10. L. densiflorum Schrad. Miners Pepper. Similar to L. virginicum; herb- 

 age puberulent to almost glabrate; blades of cauline leaves oblanceolate to lin- 

 ear, entire or sparingly serrate (often only towards apex), % to 1^/4 inches long; 

 blades of basal leaves pinnately divided or cleft or merely toothed; racemes more 

 slender, often denser; petals none or minute; stamens 2; pods glabrous, sometimes 

 puberulent. 



Valley floors, desert mesas and canon flats, (500 or) 2000 to 6500 feet: and 

 region south, east and north of the Sierra Nevada from the Mohave Desert to 

 Siskiyou Co.; infrequent on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada or in cismon- 

 tane California. East to Texas and New Jersey, north to Canada. Apr-May, fr. 

 June-Aug. 



