284 LILIACEAE 



2. B. laxa Wats. Grass Nut. (Fig. 49a, b.) Scape 1 to 214 feet high, 

 rigid and stoutish, from a usually deep-seated edible eorm ; umbel S to 48- 

 tlowered; pedicels 1 or mostly 2 to 3VL' inches long; perianth violet-purple, rarely 

 white, 11/4 to 1% inches long, funnel-form, clavate at base, its segments shorter 

 than the tube ; stamens 6, all anther-bearing ; filaments inserted in 2 rows high 

 on the perianth-tube, 2 lines long; anthers ovate-lanceolate with a 2-lobed base, 

 114 lines long; ovary on a slender stipe iv, to % inch long. 



Show.y and beautiful species, common in adobe fields or on adobe hillsides : 

 Coast Ranges, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara cos. north to Humboldt and Tehama 

 COS., thence south in the Sierra Nevada foothills (500 to 4600 feet) to Tulare Co. 

 Apr. -June. 



Very variable in stature, size of umbels and color of flowers; in rich ailobe sometimes 

 gigantesque and with large flowers, in sterile clays sometimes dwarfed and with small umbels 

 and small flowers, sometimes with very pale flowers as in the Kaweah River region, or with white 

 flowers in wet places. At the beginning of anthesis the style and the ovary on its long stipe 

 lie along the lower side of the perianth ; after the anthers shed their pollen the style arches 

 and stands in the center of the tube. Sheep are fond of this plant; they run along eagerly 

 cropping it, leaving the grass in which it stands. Called Wally-Basket in Tuolumne Co. 

 Ithuriel 's Spear is a parlor name. 



Locs. — Coast Ranges: Near Monterey, ace. Mary S. Clemens; Los Gates, Heller 7389; 

 Berkeley Hills, Helen Berg fried; Mt. Diablo, Jepson 7569, 8332; Inverness, Jepson •5.')7; St. 

 Helena, Jepson 2428 ; Araquipa Hills, Solano Co., Jepson. 523 ; Knoxville ridge, ne. Napa Co., 

 Jepson 9046; College City, Colusa Co., Alice King; Mt. Sanhedrin, Lake Co., Hall; Fort 

 Seward, Humboldt Co., Tracy 4453; Eureka, Tracy 3711 (white-flowered); Crane Creek, w. 

 Tehama Co., Jepson. Sierra Nevada: Oroville, Heller 10708; Avery Sta., Calaveras Co., A. L. 

 Grant; Columbia, Jepson 6349; Limekiln Creek, Tulare Co., Jepson 2802; Nelson, Middle Tule 

 River, Jepson 4865. 



Var. Candida Jepson n. comb. Pedicels abruptly bent at summit so that the flowers all 

 face horizontally in one direction; flowers white, sometimes blue. — Sierra Nevada footliills, 

 Fresno Co. to Kern Co. 



Refs.— Brodhea l.vxa Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 14:237 (1879); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 

 ed. 2, 101 (1911). Tritelia lax^i Benth. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. ser. 2, 1:413, pi. 15, fig. 2 

 (1835), type from Cal., Dmtglas; Lindl. Bot. Reg. t. 1685 (1835). Hool-era laxa Ktze. Rev. 

 Gen. 2:712 (1891). Tritelia angustiflora Heller. Bull. S. Cal. Acad. 2:66 (1903), type loc. 

 Tiburon, Heller 5728. Var. CANDrD.\ Jepson. Tritelia Candida Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 2:139 

 (1887), t\'pe loc. foothills east of Fresno, J. R. Scupliam. Brodiaea Candida Baker, Gard. 

 Chron. 20':239 (1896). 



3. B. peduncularis Wats. Scape erect, I14 to 3 feet high; innbd 3 to 15- 

 flowered, the pedicels slender, 2i/o to 4 or even 7 inches long ; perianth pale rose- 

 purple or nearly white, 6 to 9 lines long, the segments longer than the tube, 

 widely-spreading: ovary yellow, its stipe li/o to 3 lines long. 



Low wet ground, mostly near the coast ; Marin Co. north to Humboldt Co., 

 east to Lake Co. June-July. 



Biol. Note. — The underground organs have a peculiarity in vegetative multiplication w-hich 

 is peculiar to this species. The corms develop offsets ending in bulblets, the offsets produced 

 through the bulblet (as it were) in the form of a short point (J. P. Tracv). 



Locs.— Tiburon, H. A. Walker 1725; Point Reyes, Davii 6688; Bodega, Chandler 676; 

 Moore's Creek, Howell Mt., Tracy 2213; Indian Valley, Lake Co., Jepson 8988; Eureka, Tracy 

 1920. 



Refs. — BRODi.iEA PEDUNCULARIS "Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 14:237 (1879); Jepson, Fl. W. 

 Mid. Cal. od. 2, 102 (1911). Tritelia peduncularis Lindl. Bot. Reg. sub t. 1685 (1835), type 

 from Cal., Dongla^s. Hoolcera peduncularis Ktze. Rev. Gen. 2:712 (1891); Jepson, I.e. ed. 1, 

 117 (1901). 



4. B. gracilis Wats. Scape 2 to 10 inches high; leaves narrow (1 to 2 lines 

 wide) ; bracts short, lanceolate; umbel 13 to 29-flowered; flowers dull or saffron 

 yellow, 5 to 7 lines long, on pedicels 4 to 10 lines long; perianth-segments with 

 a bro\\'n streak outside, the narrow tube equaling or shorter than the .segments ; 

 anthers blue, very small ; filaments .slender, elongated, sub-equal ; ovary ovate, 

 equaling stipe. 



Granite sand spots on domes and granite ridges : Sierra Nevada, Mariposa 

 and Tuolumne cos. and Plumas Co., 8000 to 9000 feet. 



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