BoT.— Vol. II . ] FA RISH— WESTERN A ME RICA N SOLA NUMS. 1 63 



the bases attenuate, cuneate, rounded, truncate, or cordate. 

 Often a part of this range of variability may be seen on a 

 single plant, and series of specimens can be arranged 

 readily passing by intergradations from one extreme to the 

 other. A tendency to segmentation is manifested by the 

 occasional occurrence on a specimen of a few leaves with 

 a pair, or even two pairs, of basal lobes. The leaves are 

 either smooth or papillose-roughened beneath the pubes- 

 cence, and are either entire or crenate margined, the latter 

 character appearing to be constant and of some diagnostic 

 value. 



The floral characters are practically the same throughout 

 the group, except that S. wallacei usually has a narrower 

 and deeper lobed calyx than the others. The corollas are 

 from two to five centimeters in diameter, and in color vary 

 from light to very dark violet, the centers having green 

 markings; the long, bright yellow anthers are sagittate at 

 base, and are on very short, stout filaments; the style 

 exceeds them one-half to one-third its length, is usually 

 straight, but the included portion is sometimes bent. The 

 fruit is very little known ; it may possibly afford some satis- 

 factory characters when better understood. It is a smooth, 

 globular, many-seeded berry, about two centimeters in 

 diameter, or perhaps sometimes smaller. In S, wallacei 

 it is certainly dark purple when ripe, and this color has 

 usually been assigned to the fruit of all the members of the 

 group; but according to Professor Greene^ the ripe fruit 

 of S. tmibelliferum is "yellow;" that of ^S". xanti I have 

 never seen more than a light or whitish green when 

 apparently ripe. 



Such being the generally inconstant characters of this 

 group of plants, it is evident that their satisfactory segrega- 

 tion is a matter of no little difficulty. The exercise of that 

 botanical industry which multiplies "species" by the min- 

 ute description of individuals might reap here an abundant 

 harvest. On the other hand, a rigorous insistence on sharp 



1 Man. Bay Region, p. 268. 



