Silene. CARYOPHYLLACE^. 221 



S. OCCidentalis, Watson. Viscid-glandular, 2 feet high : stems oue or two from a single 

 strong root, branched above : leaves lanceolate or oblanceulate, 2 to 3 inches long : flowers 

 in a very loose open panicle : calyx elongated, cyliudric, becoming clavate in fruit : petals 

 purple, 4-cleft into lanceolate segments ; blades narrowed gradually into cuueate claws, 

 tlie latter devoid of auricles ; appendages linear : capsule oblong, upon a stipe 2 lines in 

 length. — Proc. Am. Acad. x. 343; Brew. & Wats. I.e. 64. — California, without special 

 locality, Bolander ; Plumas Co., Lenimon, Mrs. Austin; Butte Co., Mrs. Didwell ; Alpine 

 Co., Hansen ; Modoc Co., Baker. 



2. Petals with a (sometimes small but) well marked bifid blade, each lobe sometimes bearing 

 a very small lateral tooth. 



O Blades nearly or quite as long as the glabrous claws. 

 S. repens, Patrin. Finely and densely puberulent : stems several from a branched and 

 creeping rootstock, leafy : leaves thinnish, lanceolate, attenuate both ways : inflorescence 

 rather dense, often thyrsoid, but sometimes more loosely paniculate : calyx purplish, 5 or 6 

 lines in length : spreading limb of the rose-purple petals 2 or 3 lines in length, with retuse 

 or entire segments ; appendages oblong, entire : carpophore very long, often equalling or 

 exceeding the fruit. — Patrin in Pers. Syn. i. .500 ; Ledeb. Ic. t. 425 ; K. Brandegee, Zoe, 

 iv. 84. (S. purpurata, Greene, Pittonia, ii. 229. — Porcupine River in the interior of N. 

 Alaska, Turner, S. Centr. Montana, Rjidberg, Flodman. (N. Asia and Caucasus Mts.) 

 O O Blades much shorter than the claws ; these pubescent below. 



S. vereciinda, Watson, 1. c. 344. Low, 6 to 18 inches in height, finely pubescent below, 

 glandular-viscid above : stems several, leafy especially near the base ; leaves narrowly lan- 



« ceolate, oblanceolate, or spatulate, to linear, acute : flowers terminal on the short branches 

 of the inflorescence or borne in 3-flowered lateral cymes : calyx soon becoming clavate or 

 obovate by the development of the broad ovoid capsule : calyx-teeth with membranous 

 ciliated margins : petals rose-colored ; claws glabrous, narrowly or more broadly auricled ; 

 blades 2-cleft into short entire or slightl}' toothed oblong segments ; appendages oblong or 

 lanceolate, blunt and often somewhat toothed at the apex. — Brew. & Wats. 1. c. 65. S. En- 

 gelmanni, var. Behrii, Rohrb. Linntea, xxxvi. 264. S. platijota, Wats. 1. c. xvii. 366, merely 

 a slender form of southern range. S. Luisana, Wats. 1. c. xxiii. 261, narrow-leaved form 

 not satisfactorily separable from the type. — Central California from Mt. Diablo (ace. to 

 Greene) and near San Francisco (first coll. at Mission Dolores by Bolander) to San Luis 

 Obispo, J. G. & 5. A. Lemmon, and southward chiefly in the mountainous regions to the 

 Cuiamaca Mts., Palmer ; fl. midsummer. (Lower Calif., Orcntt.) This species has long 

 been regarded as local, yet patient searcli has failed to show satisfactory or constant charac- 

 ters to distinguish the type from the more southern forms here included, which greatly 

 extend its range. 



S. Sargentii, Watson. Cespitose, minutely pubescent : stems numerous, slender, erect, 

 6 inches high : leaves linear or nearly so, inch or two long, a line or so in breadth ; the 

 radical crowded, covering the rootstock with their slightly enlarged and imln-icated bases ; 

 the cauline 2 to 3 pairs : calyx cylindrical, 7 lines long ; teeth short : petals white or pink ; 

 claws exserted, with broad laciniately cleft auricles ; blades short, obovate, bifid ; segments 

 each bearing a small lateral tooth : capsule well stiped, cylindrical, very slender, at maturity 

 scarcely more than a line in diameter : seeds tuberculate-crested, smooth on the faces. — 

 Proc. Am. Acad. xiv. 290. — Table Mountain, Monitor Range, N. Nevada, Sargent. Known 

 from a single specimen only. 



3. Petals with large spatulate claws ; the almost obsolete blades consisting merely of two 

 very short entire blunt or triangular teeth ; appendages 4, very small and entire : viscid- 

 glandular species of Idaho and Washington. 



S. Spaldingii, Watson. Viscid-tomentose : stems several, knotty, a foot high, very leafy ; 

 branches appre.ssed or ascending: leaves lanceolate, sessile, 1^ to 2 inches long; flowers 

 subspicate or appressed cymose-paniculate : calyx in fruit obconical, more herbaceous than 

 usual in the genus, net-veined nearly to the base ; teeth rather large, triangular-lanceolate, 

 acutish : petals greenish white, not exceeding the calyx ; claws broadly auricled ; blades 

 bifid, very short indeed, scarcely surpassing the four small appendages : capsule ovate- 



