104 POLYGONACEAE. 



Stems glabrous or glandular. 



Leaves glabrous, slightly ciliate on the mar- 

 gins. 

 Involucres glabrous. 1. C. thurberi. 



Involucres hirsute. 2. C. leptoceras. 



Leaves hirsute. 3. C. calif ornica. 



Stems villous pubescent or hirsute, not glandular. 

 Bracts not foliaceous. 



Leaves tomentose beneath. 4. C. staticoides. 



Leaves not tomentose beneath. 5. C. procumhens. 



Bracts more or less foliaceous. 



Procumbent; silky-pubescent. 6. C. fernandina. 



Erect; villous pubescent. 7. C. parryi. 



\. C. thurberi (Gray) Wats. Somewhat glandular-puberulent, 

 usually about 1 dm. high, branching from the base; leaves 2.5 cm. 

 long, glabrous, slightly ciliate; bracts oblong, more or less united, 

 2-6 mm. long; involucres glabrous, chartaceous, triangular-pris- 

 matic, obscurely reticulated, 4-6 mm. long, 1-2 mm. broad, with 3 

 broad straight awned spurs at base and 3-5 broad short erect teeth; 

 flowers 1 or 2 on slender pedicels, pubescent at base, nearly 2 mm. 

 long; segments oblong-spatulate, obtuse or emarginate, the alternate 

 ones slightly shorter. 



Occasional on dry sandy plains, mostly farther inland than our 

 range. 



2. C. leptoceras (Gray) Wats. Very slender and nearly gla- 

 brous; leaves and bracts as in the last; involucre 4-6 mm. long, 

 somewhat hirsute, deeply 4-6-cleft, the coriaceous turbinate base 

 surrounded by as many rigid usually uncinate awn-like spurs; lobes 

 rigid, narrow, unequal, attenuate into straight rigid somewhat 

 divergent Awits; lowers 2 or 3, occasionally exserted, villous-pubes- 

 cent, 1 mm. long; segments narrowly oblong to ovate, nearly equal. 



On dry sandy plains from San Gabriel eastward. 



3. C. califomica Gray. Hirsute and glandular, 3 dm. high or 

 less, often reddish; bracts 1-2 cm. broad, lateral or rarely perfoliate, 

 lobed; involucres on contracted branchlets and often clustered in 

 the axils, 4-6 mm. long, obtusely angled, 2-3-toothed and 2-3- 

 sided; segments of the perianth obovate, entire, villous-pubescent 

 on the midvein. 



Common on sandy soil along the coast and in the interior valleys. 



4. C. staticoides Benth. Erect or decumbent, rather stout, 1-4 

 dm. high, with spreading branches, villous-pubescent, often purplish, 

 leaves all basal, tomentose beneath, oblong, obtuse, 2.5-6 cm. long; 

 bracts not acerose; involucres in rather close cymes, 3-6 mm. long, 

 the alternate teeth larger, nearly equal; flowers nearly sessile, 4-5 

 mm. long, glabrous or sparsely villous on the midvein, cleft to near 

 the middle; segments oblong, entire, the alternate ones about half 

 as long and narrower; stamens inserted at base. 



Very common and general. May-July. 



5. C. procumbens Nutt. Slender, procumbent, branching from 

 the base and diffuse, villous-pubescent, often yellowish; leaves 



