BUTTERCUP FAMILY 531 



Greene I.e., type loc. Witch Creek, San Diego Co., AUler.ioii. Var. caesium Jepson. T. caesium 

 Greene, Fl. Fr. 309 (1892), type loe. Sierra footliills, Greene; cf. K. Brandegee, Zoe, 4:81 

 (1893). 



5. T. occidentale Gray. Leaflets 1 to 2 inches long ; acheue.s few, lanceolate 

 or oblong-laiiueolatc. acuminate, scarcely oblique, 3 to 4 lines long, % to 1 line 

 wide, tlie sitles with 3 i)romiuent ribs or nerves. 



Moist sliady places, extreme northern California. North to British Columbia, 

 thence east to tlie Atlantic. Rare with ns. 



Locs. — Plumas Co. (ace. Syn. Fl. l':16); Wooley Creek, w. Siskiyou Co., Butler 359. 



Eef. — TH.4.LICTRUM 0CClDENT.4iE Grav, Proe. Am. Acad. 8:372 (1872), type from Ore., 

 E. HaU. 



ll>. MYOSURUS L. 

 Dwarf annuals with entire tufted basal leaves and naked 1-flowered scapes. 

 Flowers wliitish or yellowish, small (li/l> to 2 lines broad). Sepals 5, spurred 

 at base. Petals 5, with a nectar-bearing hollow at the summit of the slender claw. 

 Stamens 5 to 20. Achenes numerous, crowded on a long and slender spike- 

 like receptacle. Ovules attached near the summit of the cell. — Species 7, all 

 continents. (Greek mus, a mouse, and oura, a tail, in alhision to the curious 

 receptacles. ) 

 Flowers raised on scapes; achenes with an appressed beak. 



Back of achene narrow, its keel ending in a straiglit or spreading subulate beak 



1. M. aristatus. 

 Back of achene rhomboidal, flattish, its low keel ending in a sliort or nearly obsolete 



beak 2. M. minimus. 



Flowers sessile in a close cluster on the ground, or shortly scapose; achenes with a spreading 

 beak 3. M. alopeeuroides. 



1. M. aristatus Benth. Scapes several, % to 1% inches liigh ; leaves mostly 

 shorter tb.an the scapes; petals present or wanting; spike-like receptacles 2 to 4 

 lines long; achenes thin-walled, the narrow back continued into a subulate 

 straightish or spreading beak. 



Mountains of the western United States. Occurring in extreme northern 

 California; also in Bear Valley, San Bernardino Mts. (ace. Parish). 



Var. lepturus Jepson n, comb. More slender, 1 to 3 inches high ; carpels beakless or very 

 short-pointed; carpel-spike 3 to 8 lines long. — Range of the species: Livermore and Sacra- 

 mento valleys (ace. Greene, Fl. Fr. 296). 



Eefs. — Myosurus aristatits Benth. in Hook. Lond. Jour. Bot. 6:458 (1847), type loc. 

 Camas Prairie, Coeur d'Alene. Ida., Geycr 332; (cf. a paper by Tidestrom on this species, 

 Torreya 16:228-230, fig. 1,-1916). .¥. apefalv-x of N. Am. authors, not of Gay; Parish, 

 Zoo 4:161 (1893). Var. leptubus Jepson. M. apctahis var. h'pturtis Gray, Bull. Torr. Club 

 13:2 (1886), based on spms. from n. Cal., Lcmmoii, and Ore., Howell. 



2. M. minimus L. Mouse Tail. Scapes 2 to 6 inches higli, the slender 

 spike-like receptacles i/^ to 1%, commonly about 1 inch long; leaves linear- 

 filiform, 1 to 2 inches long ; mature achenes with somewhat rhomboidal back and 

 very low keel ending in a straight appressed or rarely obsolete tip. 



Low ground : inner Coast Ranges ; Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys ; far 

 eastward. Back of achene broader than in the preceding. 



Locs. — Tulare, Davy 3083; Mt. Eden. Alameda Co., K. Brandegee; lower San Joaquin, 

 Bioletti; Vaeaville, Greene; Haas Slough, Solano Co., Jepson; Pixie Mts., Lassen Co., M. S. 

 Baker; Modoc Co., E. M. Austin. The plant from Livermore Valley (Greene), cited by Huth 

 as the type of M. breviscarpus var. californicus Huth in Engler, Bot. Jahrb. 16:28.5 (1893) 

 probably should be listed here. 



Var. apus Greene. Spike-like receptacles nearly or quite sessile in a cluster amongst and 

 shorter than the leaves. — Lower San Joaquin Valley; San Diego Co.; Lower California. This 

 variety is referred to M. sessilis Wats, (tyjic loc. Umatilla ('o., Ore.) by Huth (Engler, Bot. 

 Jahrb. 16:285, — 1893). We have. seen no specimens of M. sessilis from Oregon. 



Var. filifomiis Greene. Scapes 1 to 6 inches high; receptacles not tapering, very slender, 

 almost thread-like. — San Francisco and Antioch, ace. Greene. 



