558 LYTIIKACEAE 



Capsule bursting irregularly, its walls not striate; leaves sessile by an auricled base 



2. Ammannia. 



Capsule septicidally dehiscent, its valves densely and very finely striate transversely ; leaves 



tapering at base or shortly petioled 3. Rotala. 



1. LYTHRUM Tj. Loose-strife 



Slender herbs with 4 or 5-angled stems. Leaves in ours alternate, their blades 

 sessile. Flovrers solitary in the axils, purple or whitish. Calyx cylindric or sub- 

 cylindrie, 8 to 12-ribbed, its 4 to 6 teeth thin, erect, smaller than the greenish acces- 

 sory ones which are at first spreading and later erect. Petals 4, 5 or 6, the stamens 

 in ours as many. Capsule oblong or cylindrical, 2-celled. — Species about 26, all 

 continents. (Greek luthron, blood, applied either on account of the color of the 

 flowers or the styptic properties of certain species.) 



Flowers distinctly pediceled; corolla 2 to 3 lines long, bright purple; perennial.. 1. L. calif ornicum. 

 Flowers subsessile ; corolla V^ to 1 line long, pale purple or almost white. 



Perennial, stoloniferous 2. L. adsurgens. 



Annual, not stoloniferous 3. L. hyssopifolia. 



1. L. califomicum T. & G. California Loose-strife. Stems erect, panicu- 

 lately branching above, 2 to 3 or even 6 feet high; leaf -blades linear-lanceolate, the 

 lowest ovatish-oblong, % to % or II/2 inches long; flowers distinctly pediceled; 

 calyx narrowly vase-shaped or in fruit clavate, 2^2 to 3I/2 lines long, its teeth 

 sharply acute; petals 2 to 3 lines long, bright purple. 



Low and marshy lands or about foothill springs, 5 to 4000 feet: throughout 

 California, mostly cismontane. May- Aug. 



Locs. — ^Putah Creek, near Winters, Jepson 14,099 ; Alamo Creek, Vacaville, Jepson 14,098 ; 

 Suisun Marshes, Jepson 14,101; Jarvis Ldg., near Newark, Jepson 14,100; Milpitas, B. J. Smith; 

 Palo Alto, C. F. Baker 173 ; lone, Braunton 1011 ; Bouldin Isl., lower San Joaquin Eiver, K. Bran- 

 degee; San Luis Obispo, Boadhouse ; Three Eivers, Culbertson 4227; Delano (10 mi. w.), Davy 

 2423; Tehachapi, H. L. Bauer; Piute Creek, e. Mohave Desert, N. C. Wilson; Mono Flat, Santa 

 Barbara Co., A. L. Grant 1692; Ballona Creek, Los Angeles Co. coast, Airams 2962; Pacoima 

 Canon, San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 291; San Bernardino, Parish; Elsinore Lake, Parish 4395; 

 Eseondido, Chandler 5381; "Witch Creek, Alderson; Cuyamaca Mts., Wiggins 2677. 



Eefs. — Lythrum californicum T. & G. Fl. 1:482 (1840), type from Cal., Douglas; Jepson, 

 Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 324 (1901), ed. 2, 271 (1911), Man. 664 (1925). L. sanfordii Greene, Pitt. 

 2:12 (1889), type loc. Stockton, Sanford. 



2. L. adsurgens Greene. Wallow Poly. Stems several from the root-crown, 

 decumbent or assurgent, 1 to 3 feet long; herbage pallid, slightly succulent; calyx 

 cylindric, 2 to 2i/^ lines long, 12-ribbed, the ribs in maturity widened and thickened 

 below; accessory teeth minute, subulate; petals pale purple or almost w^hite, mi- 

 nute (1/^ to % line long). 



Low wet spots or beds of former winter pools of valleys and mountain flats, 5 

 to 2500 feet: Siskiyou Co.; Sacramento Valley; south to the Santa Clara Valley. 

 May-Aug. 



Tax. note. — Lythrum adsurgens is more depressed than is L. hyssopifolia. The succulent 

 stems are a feature of L. adsurgens, but sometimes they are not succulent nor markedly angled, 

 and sometimes again they are not stoloniferous. In several respects it seems like a robust peren- 

 nial state of L. hyssopifolia. Howell (Fl. Nw. Am. 217) says it ranges north to Puget Sound. 



Locs. — Yreka, Butler 404; Chieo, Heller 11,471; College City, Alice King; Howell Mt., 

 Chandler 7100; Cannon, Solano Co., Jepson 14,096; Petaluma, Palmer 2399; Lagunitas, Marin 

 Co., Jepson 2480d; Berkeley, E. A. Walker 430; Black Mt., Santa Clara Co. (Muhl. 3:76). 



Eefs. — Lythrum adsurgens Greene, Pitt. 2:12 (1889), type loc. West Berkeley, Greene; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 324 (1901), ed. 2, 272 (1911), Man. 664 (1925). 



3. L. hyssopifolia L. Grass Poly. Stems erect, slender and simple or with 

 several branches from below the middle, 4 to 9 inches or even 2 feet high; herbage 

 pale, glabrous; leaf -blades linear to oblong, 3 to 7 lines long; flowers subsessile in 

 the axils; calyx 2 lines long; petals % to 1 line long, pale purple or whitish. 



