530 



LOASACEAE 



Befa.—MENTZELIA TRicuspis Gray, Am. Nat. 9:271 (1875), type loc. s. of St. George, s. 

 Utah, conim. C. C. Parry; Jcpson, Man. 649 (1925). Bicuspidaria iricuspis Rydb. Bull. Terr. 

 Club 30:275 (1903). NuttaUia tricuspisDav. &Uox. (by error, "Greene"), Fl. S. Cal. 240 (1923). 

 Mcntselia Iricuspis var. brcvicornuta Jtn. Univ. Cal. Publ. Bot. 7:444 (1922), type loc, Barstow, 

 San Bernardino Co., K. Brandrgce. Nuttallia iricuspis var. brevicomuta Dav. & Mox. (by error, 

 <'Muuz & Jtn."), Fl. S. Cal. 240 (1923). 



8. M. reflexa Cov. Panamint Stick-leap. Stems stout, diffusely branching 

 from the base, 5 to 8 inches high; herbage hirsute; leaf -blades ovate, coarsely den- 

 tate. % to 11/4 inches long, 

 shortly petioled or sessile; 

 flowers solitary in the upper 

 forks; calyx-lobes subulate 

 from a triangular base, 2 to 

 21 o lines long; petals about 8, 

 oblong-oblanceolate, equaling 

 the calyx-lobes; stamens 9 to 

 13; filaments somewhat di- 

 lated; capsule oblong, 3I/2 to 

 514 lines long, its pedicel re- 

 flexed at apex; seeds angular, 

 somewliat compressed, grooved 

 on eitlier face, muriculate. 



Arid hills and valleys, -280 

 to 4000 feet : Inyo Co.; eastern 

 Mohave Desert. Apr.-]\Iay. 



Locs.— Salt Flat, Death Valley, 

 J. Grinnell; Salt Spr., Death Valley, 

 Parish 10,063; Hall Canon, Pana- 

 mint Range (Contrib. U. S. Nat. 

 Herb. 4:108); Bradbury Well, 

 Black Mts., J. T. Howell 3606 ; Cal- 

 ico, Calico Mts. (Bot. Gaz. 65:339). 



Eefs. — Mentzelia reflexa 

 Cov. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 7:74 

 (1892), type loc. Surprise Canon, 

 Panamint Mts., Coville 4' Funston 

 709; Jepson, Man. 652 (1925). 



9. M. micrantha T. & G. 



San Luis Stick-leaf. Stems 

 branched from the base, 1 to 3 

 feet high, sometimes compactly 

 dichotomous and forming low 

 mounds 1 to 2 feet broad ; herb- 

 age rough-hispid, at least 

 above; leaf -blades ovate to 

 lanceolate, acute or acuminate, 



coarsely serrate or sinuate-toothed, 1 to 5 inches long, the basal 5 to 10 inches long, 

 the uppermost roundish, entire, 2 to 6 lines long; flowers congested in very com- 

 pact clusters, very small, shorter than or scarcely exceeding the short broad floral 

 leaves; petals oval or obovate, 1^4 to 2 lines long, twice as long as the calyx-lobes; 

 stamens 10 to 12, 5 of the filaments (opposite the sepals) petal-like, usually with 

 emarginate apex; capsule linear, sharply triangular, 3 lines long, 1 to 114= lines 

 wide; seeds prismatic with grooved angles, 1 line long, twice as long as broad. 



Dry chaparral slopes and canons, 600 to 3500 feet : Coast Ranges from Colusa 

 Co. to San Luis Obispo Co.; south to the San Bernardino and Santa Ana moun- 

 tains. Apr.-June. 



Fig. 248. Mentzelia peiesonh Jepson. a, habit, X V2 ; 

 h, long. sect, of fl.,- X 1% ; c, outer stamen, X 4; d, seed, 

 X 6. 



