336 



LEGUMINOSAE 



8. P. mollis Ilel. Domino Dalea. (Fi^. 206.) Stems many from the base, 

 6 to 10 inches hnifr; lierba<re liairy-pubescent, clotted with black saucer-shaped 

 glands, the leaves under a lens sometimes su{?*>:esting domino pieces; leaves % to 

 1 inch long, with 4 to 6 pairs of leaflets; leaflets obeordate to obovate or oblong, 

 lYo to 3 lines long; spikes very dense, % to 1% inches long; calyx concealed by the 

 dense clothing of hairs, 3 to 4 lines long; corolla pinkisli, sliorter than or little 

 exceeding the subulate plumose calyx-teeth; banner reniform, hardly half length 



of the keel; keel very broad and blunt at tip; 

 wings shorter than keel, notched at apex. 



Desert flats and valleys, -50 to 2500 feet : 

 Colorado and Mohave deserts; eastern Inyo 

 Co. East to Nevada. Apr.-May. 



Locs. — Calexico, Davy 8005; Dixieland, Parish 

 8311; San Felipe Narrows, Jepson 12,534; Salton, 

 Davy 8049; Borrego Sprs., T. Brandcgee; Indio, Hall 

 5792; Painted Canon, n. of Mecca, Jepson 11,637; 

 Corn Sprs., Chuckwalla Mts., Muns 4870; McCoy 

 Wash, McCoy Mts., Hall 5932 ; Palo Verde, Hall 5956 ; 

 Needles, Jones 3861; Stoddards Well, Parish 19,240; 

 Sheephole Mts. ; Daggett, Jepson 5847 ; Lavic, Jepson 

 15,479; Andrews Camp, w. Inyo Co., K. Brandegee ; 

 Surprise Canon, Panamint Range, Jepson 7134 ; 

 Funeral Mts., Jepson 6899; Inyo Mts., e. side, S. W. 

 Austin 441. 



Eefs. — Parosela mollis Hel. Cat. N. Am. PI. 

 ed. 2, 6 (1900); Jepson, Man. 559 (1925). Dalea 

 mollis Benth. PI. Hartw. 306 (1848), type loc. stated 

 as "Monterey, Coulter," but an error, since it is a 

 desert species collected without doubt in the Colorado 

 Desert. Parosela pilosa Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:64 

 (1919), type loc. Los Angeles Bay, L. Cal., Palmer 

 550. 



Fig. 206. Parosela mollis Hel. a, 

 habit, X 1/4 ; 6, fl., X 3 ; c, fl. with calyx 

 removed, X 3. 



20. PSORALEA L. 



Ours perennial herbs. Herbage heavy- 

 scented, punctate with dark dots. Leaves 3 

 or 5-foliolate; stipules free from the petiole. Flowers purple or whitish in spikes 

 or racemes. Calyx 5-cleft. Keel broad, obtuse, joined to the wings. Stamens 

 monadelphous or diadelphous; antliers uniform. Pod seldom exceeding the calyx, 

 1-seeded, indehiscent. — Species about 130, mostly sub-tropical, all continents. 

 (Greek psoraleos, scurfy or rough, the glands wart-like in some species.) 



Our species represent an interesting and suggestive group concerning which much is yet to 

 be learned regarding the habits and life-history and details of range. They differ much as to 

 glands, both as to structure and development. The calyx is non-glandular in Psoralea castorea, 

 calif orniea, douglasii and rigida, and ostensibly not glandular in P. macrostachya ; in the other 

 species markedly glandular. The banner of the corolla is orbicular in P. strobilina and P. macro- 

 stachya, oblong in the remaining species. 



A. Plants from rootstocTcs ; leaves pinnate with 3 leaflets ; pod indehiscent, the healc short or none. 



Stems prostrate; leaves and peduncles erect; flowers spicate; stamens diadelphous 



1. P. orbicularis. 

 Stems erect. 



Stamens monadelphous. 



Peduncles shorter than the leaves. 



Calyx-teeth very unequal, the lower one conspicuously exceeding the corolla ; corolla 

 purple; tenth stamen adnate about % length of column; bracts sub- 

 orbicular, abruptly lanceolate-tipped, membranous, caducous 



2. P. strobilina. 

 Calyx-teeth short, subequal, or the lower a little longer; corolla white or whitish, 

 about twice as long as the calyx ; bracts persistent. 



Jepson, Flora of California, vol. 2, pt. 3, pp. 177-336, July 20, 1936. 



