534 LOASACEAE 



Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 323 (1001), cd. 2, 268 (1011), Man. 652 (1025). Acrolasia rjracilcnta Rydb. 

 Bull. Torr. Club 30:278 (1003). M. alhicaulis var. gracilenia Wats. Bot. King 114 (1871). 

 M. pectinata Kcll. Proc. Cal. Acad. 3:40, fig. (1863), type loc. hills above Visalia, JIutchings. 

 Acrolasia pectinata Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 30:278 (1903). M. alhicaulis var. pectinata Urb. 

 & Gilg, Nova Actxi Acad. Nat. Cur. 76:29 (1900). M. gracilcnta var. pectinata Jepson, Man. 

 652 (1925). Acrolasia catalinensis Millsp. Field Mus. Publ. Bot. 5:177 (1923), type loc. Avalon, 

 Santa Catalina Isl., M. L. Pendleton 1303 (ex char.). Var. nitens Jepson. M. nitens Greene, 

 Fl. Fr. 234 (1891), type loc. near Benton, Mono Co., SlwcTclcy. Acrolasia nitens Rydb. Bull. Torr. 

 Club 30:278 (1903). Var. eremopiiila Jepson. M. lindleyi var. eremophila Jepson, Man. 650 

 (1925), type loc. Big Pine, Inyo Co., Hall ^- Chandler 6680. 



15. M. alhicaulis Doiigl. Kuiia. Stem slender, branched from the base, 3 

 to 12 (or 15) inches high; herbage roiigh-hispidiilose, or the stems glabrous, com- 

 monly verj" white; leaf-blades linear-lanceolate, sessile, entire to deeply pinnatifid, 

 or sometimes, especially the upper, broader, ovate or broadly oblong and entire 

 or shallowlj' toothed, 1 to 4^/2 inches long; flowers in terminal cymes; bracts oblong, 

 ovate or spatulate, entire or few-toothed, usually small in proportion to the cap- 

 sule; calyx-lobes a little shorter than tlie petals; petals yellow, spatulate or obovate, 

 llii to 3I/0 lines long; filaments all filiform; capsule linear-clavate, 6 to 9 lines long; 

 seeds irregularly angled with obtuse margins, microscopically but markedly mu- 

 riculate, % line long. 



Mesas and cafions, 2000 to 7400 feet: east side of the Sierra Nevada from 

 Nevada Co. to Injo Co.; IMohave and Colorado deserts. South to Lower Califor- 

 nia, east to Colorado, north to eastern Washington. Mar.-July. 



Note on variation. — In this group the variation in leaves and floral structures is so extreme 

 that it is exceedingly difficult to delimit Mentzelia alhicaulis as a species. The original plant of 

 Douglas has lanceolate deeply sinuate-pinnatifid leaves, flowers solitary or in loose clusters, "not 

 bracteolate", petals about two lines long. The California plants, although rarely agreeing 

 closely with this description, may properly be regarded as conspecific. Leaves vary from lance- 

 olate and pinnatifid to broadly ovate and entire or shallowly few-toothed, or to linear and entire, 

 and there is often great variation upon a single plant (Black Canon, White Mts., Bur an 550). 

 The foliaceous bracts, usually not concealing the capsules to any extent, sometimes become more 

 prominent (Himters ranch. Hall 4' Chandler 7140), thus approaching very nearly M. congesta. 

 The petal length varies from 1% lines to 3^^ lines. Characters are so inconstant for the group 

 that larger-flowered forms are only arbitrarily referred to M. gracilenta var. nitens. The capsules, 

 typically few in loose clusters and narrowly long-cylindrical, are sometimes broader and shorter 

 (the form A. montana Dav.), or more congested and proportionately broader (Adelauto, Parish 

 11,819), as in the form M. veatchiana Kell. Occasionally, as in the form Acrolasia desertorum 

 Dav., the seeds from the upper broader portion of the capsule are irregularly angled, while those 

 from the lower narrower portion are regularly prismatic with grooved angles. 



Locs. — East side of Sierra Nevada or its easterly valleys: Truckee, Sonne; Mono Lake, 

 Ottley 1054a; Bishop, comm. W. A. Chalfant; Lloyd Mdws., Tulare Co., Jepson 4904; Argus 

 Peak, Inyo Co., Chandler 6899 ; Hanaupah Caiion, Panamrnt Range, Jepson 6979. Mohave Desert 

 and bounding ranges : Lavic, J. Grinnell; Yermo, Jepson 15,871 ; Barstow, Jepson 5390 ; Kramer, 

 Jepson 5347; Amargo, Jepson 15,576; Mt. Pinos, Hall 6577; Mt. Markham, San Gabriel Mts., 

 Peirson 120. Colorado Desert: Cottonwood Spr., Cottonwood Mts., Jepson 12,606; Coachella, 

 Schellenger ; Borrego Spr., Jepson 8879; Wagon Wash, near Sentenac Canon, Jepson 8946; Box 

 Canon, Blair Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 8652 ; Vallecito, Jepson 8601. The following have 

 the rather broad capsules in dense clusters (as in the original M. veatchiana but with narrower 

 more pinnatifid leaves): Bishop, E. Brandegee; Kernville, T. Brandegee; Tehachapi Peak, 

 Dudley 350; Lancaster, K. Brandegee; Signal Mt., Colorado Desert, T. Brandegee. 



Refs. — Mentzelia albicaulis Dougl.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1:222 (1834), type loc. Columbia 

 River, Douglas, as synonym; Jepson, Man. 651 (1925). Bartonia albicaulis Dougl.; Hook. I.e. 

 M. albicaulis var. genuina Urb. & Gilg, Nova Acta Acad. Nat. Cur. 76:28 (1900). Acrolasia 

 albicaulis Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club 30:277 (1903). If. veatchiana Kell. Proc. Cal. Acad. 2:99, 

 fig. 28 (1863), type loc. Virginia City, Washoe Co., Nev., Veatch. Acrolasia veatchiana Rydb. 

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

 Nat. Cur. 76:28 (1900). M. gracilenta var. veatchiana Jepson, Man. 652 (1925). Acrolasia 

 montana Dav. Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 5:18 (1906), type loc. Mt. Pinos, Ventura Co., Hall 6511. A. 

 desertorum Dav. I.e. 5 : 12, type loc. Signal Mt., Colorado Desert, T. Brandegee. 



2. EUCNIDE Zucc. 



Herbs or bushes armed with stinging hairs and barbed pubescence. Leaves 

 alternate, their blades ovate, petioled, coarsely toothed. Flowers yellow, pediceled, 



