LOOSE-STRIFE FAMILY 559 



Hillside hollows or beds of former vernal pools, 5 to 2500 feet: cismontane 

 California. Widely scattered over the earth, occurring in all continents. May- 

 Sept. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada foothills: Auburn, Shockley ; Kentucky House, South Fork Calaveras 

 River, Jepson 10,039; Burson, Calaveras Co., Jepson 9944; Chinese Camp, Jepson 6317; Bowers 

 Cave, Coulterville, Jepson 14,089. Sacramento Valley: Eedding, BaTcer 4" Nutting; Corning, 

 Tehama Co., BlanJcinship ; Chico, Button. Coast Eanges: "Willow Creek, Trinity Eiver, Tracy 

 3471 ; Petrolia, s. Humboldt Co., Jepson 2146 ; Laytonville, n. Mendocino Co., Jepson 9321 ; Pud- 

 ding Creek, Fort Bragg, Ottley 1524 ; Ukiah Valley, Jepson 9283 ; Potter VaUey, Mendocino Co., 

 Purpus; Knights Valley, Sonoma Co., Jepson; Howell Mt., Jepson 14,085; Yountville, Napa 

 Valley, Jepson 14,084; Eoss Valley, Marin Co., Jepson 14,087; Eichmond, Jepson 9734; Berke- 

 ley, Jepson 6812; Newark, Jepson; Belmont, Davy 777; New Almaden, Davy 365; Gilroy grade, 

 e. side Santa Cruz Mts., Jepson 14,086 ; Pacific Grove, Jepson 14,090. S. Cal. : Eamona, Wiggins 

 2588 ; San Diego, Orcutt. 



Eefs. — Lythrum: hyssopifolia L. Sp. PL 447 (1753), type European; Jepson, Fl. "W. Mid. 

 Cal. 324 (1901), ed. 2, 272 (1911), Man. 664, fig. 652 (1925). 



2. AMMANNIA L. 



Annuals with mostly 4-angled stems. Leaves opposite, their blades sessile by 

 an auricled base. Flowers purplish, 1 to 5 in each axil. Calyx campanulate (in 

 fruit globose or nearly so), the tube 8-ribbed, 4-toothed and usually with small 

 accessory teeth in the sinuses. Petals 4, purplish, small and deciduous, or want- 

 ing. Stamens in ours 4, inserted below the middle of the calyx-tube. Capsule 

 globose, bursting irregularly. — Species about 19, all continents, but mostly in 

 warm or tropical regions, (Johann Ammann, a German botanist of the 18th 

 century.) 



1. A. coccinea Rottb. Valley Red-stem. Erect, simple or branching below, 

 Vs to 3% feet high; leaf-blades horizontally spreading, broadly linear or somewhat 

 narrowed towards the apex, 1 to 21/4 inches long, sessile by a broad auricled base; 

 flowers in whorls of 2 to 5; petals purple, roundish, % to 1 line long, fugacious; 

 calyx in flower narrowly campanulate, strongly 8-ribbed, in fruit globose-distended 

 and the ribs less obvious; capsule 2 lines long; style % line long. 



Muddy shores or river lowlands, 5 to 1500 feet : Lake Co.; Great Valley; South- 

 ern California. East to New Jersey, south to Brazil. May-June. 



Field note. — The flooding of fields in the Sacramento Valley for rice has favored the multi- 

 plication of this native species, making it much more common than it has been heretofore. By 

 rice growers both Ammannia coccinea and Eotala ramosior are considered weeds (P, B, Kennedy, 

 Univ, Cal, Agr. Exp. Sta, Bull. 356:487, 493), When mature the entire plant above ground 

 tends to be red, 



Locs. — "Willows, Glenn Co., Jepson 10,663 ; Grimes, Colusa Co., Eoy Schirber; Kelsey Creek 

 near Clear Lake, BlanMnship ; Cache Creek, Brewer 2647; lower Sacramento Eiver, Jepson 14,083 

 (Eyer Isl.), 14,082 (Grand Isl.) ; Stockton, Davy 1184; San Joaquin Bridge near Banta, Bio- 

 letti; Los Banos, M. S. Jussel; Visalia (Contrib, U. S, Nat. Herb. 4:102) ; Needles, Jepson 5192; 

 Palo Verde Valley, Jepson 5270; Ft. Yuma, Parish 8324; Los Alamitos, Orange Co., Gondii; 

 Lakeside, San Diego Co., Hall 7444. 



Eefs. — Ammannia coccinea Eottb, PL Hort, Havn. Descr. 7 (1773), locality not given; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid, Cal. 324 (1901), ed, 2, 272 (1911), Man, 665 (1925), A. latifolia T. & G. 

 Fl. 1 :480 (1840), not L, (1753), 



3. ROTALA L. 



Annuals similar to Ammannia. Flowers 1 or 2 in each axil. Petals in ours 4, 

 Stamens 4, Capsule septicidal, its valves microscopically striate transversely, — 

 Species about 32, warm and tropical regions, all continents. (Latin rota, wheel, 

 the leaves whorled in some species.) 



1, R. ramosior Koehne. Lowland Tooth-cup. Slender, 2 to 3 (or 7) inches 

 high; leaf -blades linear-oblanceolate, tapering at base and thus sometimes short- 

 petioled, 4 to 7 lines long ; flowers 1 to 3 in each axil ; petals ovate, acuminate, % 

 line long; stigma subsessile. 



Moist lowlands, 5 to 200 feet : San Joaquin Valley, Widely distributed in 

 North and South America. June-July. 



