PEA FAMILY 267 



Var. villosus Jepson, var. n. Herbage extremely villous; leaflets 3 to 6 lines long; petals 

 l)lue. — (Herbae villosissimae ; foliola lin. 3-6 longa; petala caerulea.) — Subalpine, 8000 to 9000 

 feet: Sierra Nevada from Eldorado Co. to Fresno Co. 



Locs. — Carson Pass, Jepson 8100 (type); Sonora Pass, A. L. Grant 161; Junction Mdws., 

 Fresno Co., E. Ferguson 460. 



Eefs. — LuPiNUS LYALLii Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 7:334 (1868), type loc. summit of Cascade 

 Mts., LTjall; Jepson, Man. 524 (1925). Var. lobbii C. P. Sm. ; Jepson, Man. 525 (1925). L. ari- 

 dus var. lobbii Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 8:533 (1873), type loc. "high Sierras of California", Lobb. 

 L. alpinus Hel. Muhl. 6 :22 (1910), type loc. Mt. Eose, Washoe Co., Nev., Heller 9914a. (?)!,. hy- 

 poleucus Greene, Lflts. 1:74 (1904), type loc. near summit of White Chief Peak, Culbertson 4416. 

 Var. DANAUS Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 8:534 (1873) ; Jepson, Man. I.e. L. danaus Gray, I.e. 335, 

 type loc. Mt. Dana, Bolander. Var. villosus Jepson. 



27. L. lepidus Dougl. Prairie Lupine. Plants 7 to 13 inches high, the proper 

 stems commonly very short or almost none, the peduncles and leaves in a basal or 

 sub-basal tuft on the branched root-crown : herbage silky, the hairs either appressed 

 or a little loose; leaflets 5 to 7, narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, % to 1% inches 

 long; petioles 2 to 10 inches long; racemes somewhat loose, 3 to 8 inches long, 8 to 

 11 lines wide, the peduncles 2 to 4 inches long, commonly not exceeding the leaves 

 or very little; flowers 4I/2 to 5^2 lines long; upper calyx-lip shortly bifid, the lower 

 minutely toothed at apex; petals purple. We, pink or white; keel woolly-ciliate; 

 pods 4 to 6 lines long, 2 or 3-seeded. 



Dry sandy plains, mountain slopes or valleys, 2000 to 4500 feet : east and north 

 of the Sierra Nevada crest from Mono Co. to Modoc and Siskiyou Cos. North to 

 Oregon and British Columbia. June-July. 



Note on variation. — The far northern original of the species is a plant somewhat caulescent 

 with the racemes moderately but not densely flowered. It is represented in California by mostly 

 stemless plants east and north of the Sierra Nevada crest, but the more or less caulescent form 

 with long dense racemes and short peduncles (var. confertus) intergrades continuously with it. 

 Specimens of var. confertus from one locality (San Bernardino Mts., Parish 429, 3054) may have 

 peduncles either shorter or longer than the stems, the racemes characteristically dense, or some- 

 times lax on the same plant. At the same altitude where the stemless form is found, and especially 

 at higher altitudes, we also find plants that are less coarse or somewhat smaller with slightly nar- 

 rower racemes. In the extreme phase of this high-montane form the peduncles are long enough 

 to raise the racemes above the foliage (var. torreyi), but continuous variations of short or long 

 peduncles, short or long proper stems, short or long racemes result in an array of forms not re- 

 ducible to definitely distinct categories, more especially as there is also variation in degree of 

 pubescence and in habit. A series of specimens collected by K. Brandegee (July 20, 1911) at 

 the lower end of Conner Lake unquestionably represents one narrow genetic unit. Some have the 

 dense racemes, short stems and long peduncles characteristic of L. lepidus var. torreyi, and all 

 have the flowers within the size limits of this form. Other sheets show plants with either stems or 

 peduncles, or both, greatly elongated, surpassing the lower leaves, and with the racemes as lax as 

 those of typical L. lepidus. Hence, the supposedly diagnostic characters of L. aridus, L. con- 

 fertus and L. torreyi and other more recently published forms are so intermingled that all as 

 species must be reduced to L. lepidus. Lupinus lepidus may, therefore, be compared to a mountain 

 plateau seamed and irregularly fissured by canons but with small buttes rising above its general 

 surface. The varieties described below may be likened to these buttes rising from the plateau, 

 but such topographic points, it must be remembered, are much less in volume than the plateau 

 mass into which they insensibly merge and unite in a broad way one with the others. Characters 

 which have been used for segregation of the Lupinus lepidus allies, such as the relative lengths of 

 stems, peduncles and lower leaves, might depend to a large extent upon ecological or climatic con- 

 ditions. Plants of alpine or other strictly limiting habitats are of course likely to be reduced m 

 stature but whether the greatest shortening occurs in stems, peduncles or petioles may possibly 

 depend upon the stage of development reached by the plant when the unfavorable factor in the 

 environment becomes effective. The following specimens are cited as L. lepidus. 



Loes.— Edgewood, Siskiyou Co., Lemmon; Shasta Valley, Hall 4084; Walker Lake, Mono 

 Co., Jepson 4447. 



Var. confertus C. P. Sm. Kellogg Lupine. Stems stouter, longer (5 to 7 inches), the pe- 

 duncles very short or almost none ; racemes cylindrical, very dense, 3 to 9 inches long ; pedicels 

 stout, Vs to 1/2 line long; bracts usually persistent.— Mountain meadows and gravelly slopes, 3600 

 to 8300 feet: San Bernardino Mts.; Sierra Nevada from Mariposa Co. to Modoc Co. June-Aug. 



Locs.— Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts., Parish 3738 ; Fish Camp, Mariposa Co., Jepson 



