BUR-REED FAMILY 47 



1. TORREYA. 



1. T. calif ornica Torr. Californian Nutmeg. Leaves 

 rigid, linear or tapering, bristle-tipped, 1 to 2 in. long, dark 

 green above, yellowish green beneath. Fruit elliptic, green, 

 becoming streaked with purple, V/i to 1% in. long, the pulp 

 thin and resinous. 



The California Nutmeg is a handsome tree 20 to 90 ft. 

 high, with compact dark-green foliage. Along the road 

 from El Portal one sees small, bushy specimens and a few 

 good-sized trees, always growing well apart from each 

 other, but a short distance up Cascade Creek there is a 

 splendid group of six or seven shapely trees. It does not 

 reach Yosemite Valley, but is found at Hetch Hetchy and 

 at the Mariposa Grove. 



Taxus brevifolia Nutt., the Western Yew, has been re- 

 ported from the Merced Canon. It is a small tree with 

 linear leaves in flat sprays and scarlet, berry-like fruits. 



SPARGANIACEAE. Bur-reed Family. 

 Marsh and aquatic herbs with cylindric stems from root- 

 stocks. Flowers in heads near the summit, the uppermost 

 heads containing only stamens, the lower only pistils. 



1. SPARGANIUM. Bur-reed. 

 1. S. simplex Hudson. Stem 1 to 2 ft. high. Leaves rib- 

 bon-like, exceeding the stem, }£ in. or less wide. Heads 2 

 to 4 of each kind. — Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite, Johnson Lake, 

 Tuolumne Meadows, etc. 



NAIADACEAE. Pondweed Family. 

 Our only representatives of this family are certain un- 

 determined species of Potamogeton (Pondweeds). They are 

 aquatics with jointed, mostly rooting stems, only the float- 

 ing leaves flat and firm; flowers small, with sepals stamens 

 and ovaries 4 each. Complete specimens with mature seeds 

 are much desired. 



JUNCAGINACEAE. Arrow Grass Family. 

 Marsh herbs with leaves all basal and flowers inconspicu- 

 ous. Our single species has a calyx of 6 greenish sepals, no 

 corolla, 6 stamens, and 3 to 6 simple pistils united around 

 a central axis. 



1. TRIGLOCHIN. Arrow Grass. 

 1. T. maritima L. Leaves densely clustered on the root- 

 stock, very narrow, 2 to 6 in. long, fleshy, with papery 



