532 LOASACEAE 



1 to 2 linos loiif;; petals yellow, often i'adin<r whitish, 2V2 to 3 lines lonfr; capsule 

 linear, subterete, 9 to ll'lines lonp, % to 1 line wide, hispid with short stiff white 

 hairs; seeds very short-prismatic, somewhat irregularly or obliquely truncate at 

 each end, with frrooved anjjles. 



Open hill slopes and plains, 25 to 5000 feet: inner South Coast Range; San 

 Joaquin A'alley; south through the Mohave Desert to the San Jacinto Range and 

 its bordering valleys. South to Lower California, east to Arizona. Mar.-May. 



Variation note. — Mcntzelia affmis very closely simulates certain phases of M. albicaulis and, 

 with certainty, is distinguishable only by the characters of the mature seed. In the San Joaquin 

 Valley it is probably an introduction from Southern California since the period of American 

 occupation. In 1889 it appeared at Sanders, Fresno Co., and by 1898 had become a troublesome 

 weed in wheat fields (Erythea 1:158), attaining a height of three feet. 



Locs.— San Joaquin Valley: Antioch, Davy 918; Tracy, C. F. Baker 2781; bctw. Mossdale 

 School and Atlanta, San Joaquin Co., Jcpson 14,045; Tipton, Tulare Co., Jepson 11,594; Delano, 

 Kern Co., Julia A. Bettys; Bakcrsfield, Davy 1742. Inner South Coast Range: San Carlos Creek, 

 Jepson 2732; Zapato Chino Creek, sw. Fresno Co., Jepson 15,389; Elkhorn Scarp, se. San Luis 

 Obispo Co., Jepson 16,227. Tehachapi Mts. : Keene, MacFadden. S. Cal. : Barstow, Jepson 5833 ; 

 San Bernardino, Parish; Riverside, Jepson 1234; Hemet, C. F. Baher 4141; Cathedral Canon, 

 Palm Sprs. of San Jacinto, Hall 5766. 



Eefs.— IMentzelia affinis Greene, Pitt. 2:103 (1890), type loc. Lathrop, San Joaquin Co.; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 322 (1901), ed. 2, 268 (1911), Man. 651 (1925). Acrolasia aflinis Rydb. 

 Bull. Torr. Club 30:278 (1903). M. albica2iUs var. veatchiana Urb. & Gilg, Nova Acta Acad. 

 Nat. Cur. 76:28 (1900) in part. Acrolasia viridescens Hel. Muhl. 2:98 (1905), type loc. Kern, 

 Kern Co., Heller 7604. 



12. M. congesta T. & G. Ventana Stick-leaf. Stems branching from near 

 the base, 4 to 26 inches high; herbage hispidulous; leaf -blades ovate to lanceolate, 

 pinnatifid or coarsely few-toothed, 1 to 21/2 inches long, sessile or the lower shortly 

 petioled ; flowers clustered at the ends of the branches, subtended by conspicuous 

 bracts; bracts broad, toothed, 4 to 6 lines long, with a large circular white-mem- 

 branous center; calyx-lobes % to l^/^ lines long; petals golden-yellow, 3 to 6 lines 

 long; filaments all filiform; capsule clavate, 4 to 6 lines long, 1 line wide; seeds 

 irregularly angled, minutely tuberculate, 1/2 to % line long. 



Washes, caiions or mountain valleys, 4000 to 9000 feet : east side and high east- 

 erly canons or valleys of the Sierra Nevada from Inyo Co. to Sierra Co. East to 

 Nevada, north to Oregon. June-July. 



Locs. — Argus Peak, Inyo Co., Purpus 5475 ; Lloyd Mdws., Tulare Co., Jepson 4897 ; Volcano 

 Creek, Jepson 964; Bishop, Almeda Nordyke; Mammoth, Mono Co., K. Brandegee; Bubbs Creek, 

 Fresno Co., Jepson 783; Mono Lake, Ottley 1054; Dog Creek Canon, Sierra Co., Sonne. Nev.: 

 Glenbrook, w. Washoe Co., K. Brandegee. 



Var. davldsoniana Mcbr. Much less branched; leaf -blades mostly entire; flower clusters 

 smaller ; calyx-lobes about half as large ; bracts narrower, oblanceolate or spatulate, entire above 

 or shallowly toothed, 4 to 4% lines long. — Montane ridges and flats: San Jacinto and San Gabriel 

 mountains; Sierra Nevada in Tulare Co. 



Locs. — Onstatts Valley, San Jacinto Mts., Hall 2225 ; Rock Creek, San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 

 472; Bonita Mdw., Tulare Co., Hall 4- BabcocTc 5203. 



Refs. — Mentzelia congesta T. & G. Fl. 1:534 (1840), type loc. "Rocky Mts. on Levns 

 River", Nuttall; Jepson, Man. 650 (1925). Trachyphytum congestum Nutt. ; T. & G. I.e., as 

 synonym. ^croZasia co7i£?e.s/a Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 30:277 (1903). Var. davidsoniana Mcbr. 

 Contrib. Gray Herb. 56:28 (1918). Acrolasia davidsoniana Abrams, Bull. Torr. Club 32:538 

 (1905), type loc. Mt. "Wilson, Los Angeles Co., Abrams 2580. M. davidsoniana Abrams, Fl. Los 

 Ang. ed. 2, 235 (1917). 



13. M. lindleyi T. & G. Golden Bartonia. Stem slender, simple or branch- 

 ing, 6 inches to 2 feet high; leaf -blades ovate to narrowly lanceolate, pectinately 

 pinnatifid with entire or toothed lobes, or coarsely toothed, 2 to 3 inches long; 

 flowers axillary and terminal; calyx-lobes 5 to 9 lines long, broadly lanceolate, 

 acuminate; petals obovate, abruptly acute, golden yellow with vermilion base, 9 

 to 15 lines long; stamens numerous, about % as long as the petals; filaments very 

 slender, about 15 of the outer ones with somewhat dilated bases; capsule linear- 



