PURSLANE FAMILY 465 



Var. caudicifera Jepsoii n. eomb. Alpine perennial, all the parts much re- 

 duced; caudex branching, the branchlets short and densely leafy, bearing one 

 terminal scape-like stem i/o to 2 inches high; leaves 3 to 6 (or 10) lines long; 

 flowers glomerate-capitate. — Sierra Nevada, 8000 to 13,000 feet ; north to Wash- 

 ington and east to Wyoming. 



Locs. — Mt. Whitney, Jepson 1073; Mt. Dana, Jepson 3288; Dana Fork, Tuolumne River, 

 Jepson 3261; Macomb Eidge, Yosemite Park, Jepson 4.560; Mt. Shasta, Jepson. 



Rets. — Calypteidium umbell.^tum Greene, Bull. Torr. Club, 13: 144 (1886). Spraguea 

 umbellata Torr. PI. Frem. 4, pi. 1 (1853), type loc. "forks of Nozah River," n. Sierra 

 Nevada foothills west of Lassen Peak, Fremont; Hook. Bot. Mag. t. 5143 (1859). 



This species is the type of the genus Spraguea Torr. 1. c, a genus which was invalidated by 

 the discovery of Calyptridium quadripetalum Wats. The latter species is an undoubted Calyp- 

 tridium and yet it is most interestingly related to Spraguea on account of its scorpioid flower- 

 imbricated spikes and scarious orbicular round-reniform sepals. Calyptridium umbellatum is 

 variable but scarcely as much so as the following synonymy would indicate. C. nudum 

 Greene, Pitt. 1: 64 (1887), type loc. Donner Lake, Sonne. C. monospermum Greene, Erythea, 

 3: 63 (1895), type loc. Big Cottonwood Mdws. near Mt. Whitney, Koch. Spraguea pulchella 

 Eastw. Bull. Torr. Club, 29: 79 (1902), type loc. Pea Ridge Road, Mariposa Co., Congdon; 

 petals oblong to linear, acute; ovary 1 or 2-ovuled. — E.x. char. S. eximia Eastw. 1. c. 30: 486 

 (1903), type loc. Sulphur Banks, Lake Co., Agnes Bowman; stamens not quite as long as petals. 

 — Ex. char. 



Var. CAUDICIFERA Jepson. Spraguea umhellata var. caudicifera Gray in Patterson, Check- 

 list N. Am. PI. 14 (1892). S. multiceps Howell, Erythea, 1: 39 (1893), type locs. Mt. Hood 

 and Mt. Adams. 



2. CALANDRINIA H.B.K. 



Ours low fleshy annuals with alternate entire leaves and ephemeral red or 

 rose-colored flowers, rarely varying to white. Flowers in a leafy raceme or in 

 a panicle. Sepals 2, persistent. Petals 5, rarely more or less (3 to 7). Stamens 

 5 to 14, rarely 3, seldom of the same number as the petals. Style-branches 3. 

 Capsule 3-valved from the apex. Seeds numerous, black and often shining. — 

 (J. L. Calandrini, Swiss botanist.) 



Calandrinia has its greatest development in the southern hemisphere. There 

 are about 60 species on the Pacific Coast of the two Americas, chiefly in Chile, 

 and 16 species in Australia. C. caulescens, C. breweri and C. maritima are per- 

 haps introduced into California from the southward. The var. menziesii of the 

 fir.st named, in particular, behaves strangely like an immigrant. 



Flowers in a raceme or mostly so ; seeds with a strophiole. 



Herbage green ; calyx green ; racemes erect ; pedicels clavate-thiekened and a little angled ; 

 seed black and shining, apparently smooth but microscopically papillate, the 

 strophiole white, minute. 

 Capsule enveloped by the fruiting calyx, the latter as long or nearly; branches mostly 



ascending or erect ; common 1. C caulescens. 



Capsule nearly twice as long as the fruiting calyx; branches mostly trailing; rare. . . . 



2. C. breweri. 

 Herbage glaucous; calyx and bracts black-veined or -mottled; racemes a little drooping 



at apex, the pedicels filiform; seed roughish, with a large strophiole; rare 



3. C. maritima. 

 Flowers in an umbellate panicle; seeds without a strophiole; Colorado Desert... 4. C ambigua. 



1. C. caulescens II. B. K. Stems spreading or ascending, 6 to 12 inches high ; 

 leaves narrowly oblanceolate to linear, acute, 1 to 2 inches long, somewhat suc- 

 culent ; flowers short-pediceled ; pedicels erect ; sepals ovate, apiculate or short- 

 acuminate, glabrous or somewhat hispidulous on the margins or midribs ; petals 

 5, red, obovate, obtuse, 2 to 4 lines long ; stamens 3 to 6, sometimes more ; cap- 

 sule ovate, short-pointed, enveloped by the sepals which are nearly or quite as 

 long. 



Humboldt Co. and southeastern California; Arizona; south to Bolivia. 



Var. menziesii Gray. Rp:d Maids. (Fig. 02.) Stems 1 to several or many 

 from the base, simple or s{)aringly branched, diffuse, or erect and simple, '/o 



