15S CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO. li 



an inch long, white at first and becoming purplish toward the tip on the ^ 

 outside, widely spreading and evanescent- They seem to be mostly 5. 

 The foloicles so far seem 2, or rarely 3. The stamens about 20. In all 

 the forms of this species the leaves afe about half an inch long and 

 elliptical, and soft and spongy and very smooth, and entire and acute or 

 acutish, they have a tendency to be a little enlarged above or below, 

 enough so as to be called oblanceolate or lanceolate at times, but the 

 normal form is elliptical. There is a peculiar feel of the leaves that is 

 also noticeable in Paeonia, which is evidently a related genus. The 

 stamens seem to vary somewhat but never les^ than 15, nor over 30. TJiis 

 year the species is. in full bloom, February 24, 1929, at Whitewater, Cali- 

 fornia, which is smnewhat below 1 ,000 feet altitude. The ecological 

 locality is friable and very recent volcanic flows, of about the consistency 

 of Cretaceous sediments, on slopes along with Juniperus Califomica, 

 Eriogonum fasciculatum, Eriocoma cuspidata, Nemophila and Phacelia, 

 and Echinocactus acanthodes. The stems are almost black toward the tip, 

 rigid, short-branched above, subspinose, tortuous, tufted, 2-3 feet high 

 and scraggly. The flower buds are depressed-globose, and S-angled, and 

 cuneate at very base. The disk is flat, fleshy or leathery, and 6 mm* 

 wide, and on it arise unevenly the 15-25 stamens, whose filaments are 

 round and capillary and about 4 mm. long and erect- The broadly linear 

 yellow anthers all attached about two-tjiirds the way down to the fila- 

 ments, and the cells are divaricate mostly at the base almost to the middle, 

 they split from the bottom upward but not to the tip. The stigmas are : 

 (fepTTssed'-capitate and almost sessile and with a furrow parallel to the 

 septum. The follicles are sometimes 3. Flowers fully an inch wide to 

 an fncB and a half. The petals are attached to the disk just inside the 

 angle of* the calyx lobes. Calyx lobes round, much cupped, greenish- 

 white, very obtuse^ very closely reflexed in anthesis, about 4 mm. long. 

 The petals are very thin and entire and' roimded at tip. The leaves of 

 tSre Whitewater form m flower are closely fascicled, the outer ones obo- 

 vatfe;. the inner ones oblanceolate, frequently the outer ones are retuse. 

 The whole plant fs perfectly smooth. The pedicles are about half an inch 

 long; and' single. X think Robinson is right in referring C. parviflora to 

 Ffgerbvii, for the specfes is decidedly variable. I think this is the first 

 trnie that the flowers have ever been studied fresh. 



NOTES ON CARYOPHYLLACEAE 



ifirenaria quadrivalvis R. Br. seems the same as A. verna. 



Atenaria oblusiloba Rydberg is A. Sajanensis. 



AVenaria aequicaulis Nelson 13 A. verna var. hirta, and seems the 

 same a-s A', propinqua Rydberg. 



Arenaria macrantha is Sajanensis. 



STelfaria was published in 1753, L. 272. Alsine was proposed by 

 Tbumefdrt 126 but no species published. The same in L. Gen. No. 380. 

 Then Alsine was displaced by Stellaria in L. Gen. No. 568. The first 

 species referred to Alsine was media (L. 272), Kew Index states that 

 Alsine. niaiia LT Js. not" SteHaria'c media but Spergularia media and if that 



