PEA FAMILY 329 



difusa Gray, Proc. Acad. Phila. 15:346 (1863). L. diffusus Hel. Cat. N. Am. PI. ed. 2, 7 (1900). 

 Var. VEATCHii Ottley, I.e. 228; Jepson, Man. 555 (1925). HosacMa veatchii Greene, Bull. Cal. 

 Acad. 1:83 (1885), type loc. Elide, L. Cal., Featch. Lotus veatchii Greene, Pitt. 2:148 (1890). 

 Syrmatium patens Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2:147 (1886), type loc. San Miguel Isl., Greene. Var, 

 DENDROiDEUS Ottley, I.e.; Jepson, Man. 555 (1925). Syrmatium dendroideum Greene, Bull. Cal. 

 Acad. 2:146 (1886), type loc. Santa Cruz Isl., Greene. Lotus dendroideus Greene, Pitt. 2:148 

 (1890). Var. traskiae Ottley, I.e.; Jepson, I.e. Syrmatium trasTciae Eastw. ; Abrams, Fl. Los 

 Ang. 201 (1917), type loc. Mosquito Harbor, San Clemente Isl., Trash 287. Var. brevial^tus 

 Ottley, I.e. 229; Little Tujunga Wash, San Gabriel Mts., Ottley 589; Jepson, I.e. 



28. L. benthamii Greene. Sonoma Lotus. Stems rush-like, brownish, freely 

 branched, 11/2 to 3 feet high, sometimes diffuse and forming plants 3 to 4 feet wide ; 

 herbage glabrous; leaves 2 to 71/2 lines long; stipules prominent; leaflets 3 to 5, 

 oblong or cuneate-oblaneeolate, 11/2 to 6 lines long; peduncles 2 to 7 lines long, 

 exceeding the leaves ; umbels 5 or 8 to 11-flowered ; bract of 1 or 2 leaflets, sometimes 

 lacking ; flowers 3 to 4 lines long ; calyx-teeth lanceolate, I/2 as long as the tube ; 

 corolla red, aging whitish ; pods somewhat geniculate-falcate, the body 1^2 to 4 

 lines long, the beak half to nearly as long ; seeds 2. 



Along the coast, 10 to 500 feet : Sonoma Co. to Santa Barbara Co. Apr.-Oct. 



Tax. note. — Lotus benthamii is not separable from L. scoparius by really satisfactory 

 characters and it were perhaps better genetically disposed as a variety of that species. It is 

 also very closely related to L. junceus, the only dependable character of separation seeming to 

 be the form of the calyx-teeth. In all other respects L. benthamii and L. junceus seem much 

 alike and their geographic ranges are not distinct. The habit of the two in the field may well 

 receive closer study than has been given. 



Locs. — Fort Eoss, Sonoma Co., Heller 6597; Monterey, Jepson 13,816; Pt. Lobos, S. C. 

 Broolcs; Sierra Creek, near Notley's Ldg., Monterey Co., Jepson 2611; Lucia, Santa Lucia Mts., 

 Jepson 1667; Gorda, Monterey coast, K. Brandegee ; San Simeon, K. Brandegee ; Santa Barbara 

 (T. &G. Fl. 1:324). 



Eefs.— -Lotus benthamh Greene, Pitt. 2:148 (1890) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 304 (1901), 

 ed. 2, 232 (1911), Man. 555 (1925). Hosackia cytisoides Benth. Trans. Linn. Soe. 17:366 (1837), 

 type from Cal., Douglas; not Lotus cytisoides L. (1753). Syrmatium cytisoides Greene, Bull. 

 Cal. Acad. 2:147 (1886). Hosaclia cytisoides var. rubescens T. & G. Fl. 1:324 (1838), type loc. 

 recorded as "near St. Diego," Nuttall, but doubtless Santa Barbara, since not known from the 

 San Diego region today. 



29. L. junceus Greene. Rush Lotus. Stems many from the root-crown, 

 much branched, the branches 1, 2 or 3 at a node, grooved or angular, wiry, form- 

 ing an erect broom-like tuft % to 2 feet high; herbage bright green, glabrous; 

 leaves 3 to 6 lines long ; leaflets 3 to 5, obovate to oblong or linear, 2 to 31/2 lines 

 long ; umbels 1 to 4-flowered, subsessile in the axils or on peduncles 14 to 2 lines 

 long ; bracts mostly none ; flowers 3 to 4 lines long ; calyx-teeth triangular-acute, 

 Ve to 1/5 as long as the tube ; pods short (2 to 3 lines long), fat and terete, arcuate, 

 1-seeded. 



Dry hills and ridges, 500 to 1500 feet : Contra Costa Co. to San Luis Obispo. 

 Apr.-June. 



Locs. — Moraga Eidge, Oakland Hills, Ottley 777; Gigling sta., n. Monterey Co., Ferguson 

 271; Monterey-Carmel road. Heller 6826; San Luis Obispo, Brewer 475. 



Var. biolettii Ottley. Stems more delicate and wiry than in the species, prostrate to de- 

 cumbent ; pubescence more abundant, of short appressed hairs ; leaflets oblanceolate to obovate, 

 obtuse or acute; peduncles 2% to 10 lines long; bract of 1 leaflet. — Dry ridges and burns: along 

 the coast from Mendocino Co. to Marin Co. May-Oet. 



Locs. — Fort Bragg, Ottley 1513; Pt. Arena, Davy 6021; Mt. Tamalpais. 



Eefs. — Lotus junceus Greene, Pitt. 2:148 (1890); Jepson, Man. 555 (1925). Hosachia 

 juncea Benth. Trans. Linn. Soe. 17:366 (1837), type from Cal., Douglas. Syrmatium junceum 

 Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2:147 (1886). Var. biolettii Ottley, Univ. Cal. Publ. Bot. 10:231 

 (1923) ; Jepson, I.e. 555. L. hiolettii Greene, Pitt. 2:222 (1892), type loc. above MiU Valley, 

 Marin Co., Bioletti; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 304 (1901), ed. 2, 232 (1911). Syrmatium hiolettii 

 Hel. Muhl. 9:67 (1913). 



30. L. haydonii Greene. Rock Lotus. Stems numerous, forming a thick erect 

 rush-like tuft 8 to 11 inches high, the leaves and flowers inconspicuous ; herbage 



