340 LEGUMINOSAF 



Santa Ana Mts., E. A. Zumbro 418; Palomar Mt., Jepson; Mission Valley, San Diego, T. 

 Brandegee. 



Eefs. — PsoRALEA MACROSTACHYA DC. Prod. 2:220 (1825), type cited as from "Nootka", 

 Vancouver Isl., an undoubted error, the specimen communicated by Lagasca having come most 

 probably from San Diego or possibly Monterey; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 295 (1901), ed. 2, 233 

 (1911)," Man. 560 (1925). Lotodes macrostachyum Ktze. Kev. Gen. PI. 1:194 (1891). Hoita 

 macrostachya Rydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:9 (1919). 27. rhomboidea Eydb. I.e., resting on P. macro- 

 stochya var. rhomhifolia Torr. U. S. Expl. Exped. 17:269 (1874), type loc. "upper Sacramento", 

 Braci-enridge. Eoifa longiloba Eydb. N. Am. Fl. 24:10 (1919), type loc. "southern California", 

 Parry rf- Lcmmon. H. villosa Eydb. I.e., type loc. Burkes Sanitarium, Sonoma Co., Heller 5761. 



8. P. calif ornica Wats. Stems 5 to 8 inches lonj^:, ascending or prostrate, tufted 

 on the often branched root-crown; taproot cylindric, 2 to 10 lines in diameter, 

 arising from a deep-seated fusiform root; pubescence silky and appressed; leaves 

 palmately compound; leaflets 5 or 6, orbicular-obovate, cuneate at base, V2 to 1 

 (or 11/4) inches long; stipules scarious, lanceolate; racemes very much shorter than 

 the leaves, dense, % to 1 inch long, on short peduncles; bracts obovate, a little 

 shorter than the pedicels; calyx silky -villous, 6 lines long, the linear-acuminate 

 lobes a little shorter than the petals; petals blue, the banner greenish-yellow, blue- 

 tipped; pods oblong, narrowed to a lanceolate beak, thin-walled, villous; seeds 

 dark brown, 2 lines long or more. 



Stony mountain slopes or summits in opens of wooded country, 1500 to 5300 

 feet: inner Coast Ranges from Glenn Co. to Mt. Diablo and Mt. Pinos; southern 

 Sierra Nevada in Kern Co.; Santa Barbara Co.; San Bernardino Mts. South to 

 Lower California. May-July. 



This, a widely distributed species, is a relatively rare plant. It may sometimes be found on 

 landslips. The odor of the herbage is said to be disagreeable. The banner at base shovrs a 

 pair of somewhat sac-like distensions. 



Locs. — Mud Flat, w. Glenn Co., Heller 11,548; Snow Mt., n. Lake Co., T. Brandegee; Mt. 

 Diablo, Jepson 9657; Cedar Mt., s. of Livermore, Elmer 4466; Lorenzo Creek, s. San Benito Co., 

 Bettys; Sacramento Creek, upper San Benito Eiver, Jepson 12,205; Alcalde, peaks w. of (Zoe 

 4:172) ; Lockwood Valley, Mt. Pinos; San Bernardino Mts., n. base. Parish 1284. Kern Co.: 

 Hot Sprs., Kernville, T. Brandegee ; betw. Caliente and Bodfish, Peirson 10,686. 



Eefs.— PsoRALEA CALIFOENICA Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 12:251 (1877), type loc. McGinnis 

 Eanch near head of Salinas Eiver 25 miles from San Luis Obispo, Palmer; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. 

 Cal. 295 (1901), ed. 2, 234 (1911), Man. 561 (1925). Pediomelum caUfornicum Eydb. N. Am. 

 Fl. 24:21 (1919). Lotodes caUfornicum Ktze. Eev. Gen. PI. 1:194 (1891). Psoralea monticola 

 Greene, Erythea 3:98 (1895), type loc. summit of Mt. Diablo, Greene. 



9. P. castorea "Wats. Main stem erect, very short (mostly ^ to 1 or 2 inches) , 

 closely set with peduncled racemes and at very base with leaves on petioles 1 to 4 

 inches long, also sometimes bearing at base proliferous ascending or spreading 

 stems 1 to 4 inches long; herbage white-pubescent; leaflets 5, rarely 3 or 4, obovate- 

 rhomboid, obtuse, % to 1% inches long; racemes oblong, 1 to 1^/2 inches long; 

 bracts palmately 3-lobed or entire, inconspicuous, non-glandular, persistent; flow- 

 ers 4 lines long; calyx a little shorter than the corolla (but accrescent in fruit), its 

 lower lobe elliptic, the others subulate; tenth stamen free. 



Sandy desert valleys or washes, 1500 to 2500 feet : central and eastern Mohave 

 Desert. East to Arizona and Colorado. May. 



Biol. note. — The main stem or shoot axis is generally short, erect, % to 2 inches high. It is 

 borne on the crown of a slender vertical rootstock which, 3 to 4 inches below the surface, arises 

 from a fusiform root or storage organ i/^ to 1^/4 inches in diameter and 3 inches or more in depth. 

 The short erect epigaeous axis is somewhat crowded with peduncled racemes, and at base bears 

 long-petioled leaves and often also produces, later, proliferous-like spreading or ascending stems 

 2 to 4I2 inches long which bear terminal clusters of racemes. In this way Psoralea castorea tends 

 to follow the general habit of various desert species in widely removed families which produce 

 first a single terminal flower or single inflorescence on the very short main axis, and only under 

 favorable conditions and at a later time supplementary flowers or inflorescences which proliferate 

 from beneath the initial flowering. The fifth leaflet is sometimes borne on a distinct rachis. 



Locs. — Victorville, comm. Ethel Rockwell; Barstow; Daggett, Hall 6154; Calico Mts., Lem- 

 mon; Otis, Parish 9725. 



