A. ELEGANS. 301 



September 29, 1906, Wooton and Standley (NY, US); Arizona: Tucson, Thornber 131, 

 197a (UC, form intermediate to subspecies fasciculata) ; Santa Cruz Valley, Tucson, 

 August 16, 1901, Thornber (UC, minor variation 2, var. thornberi Jones); southern 

 Arizona, near the Mexican Boundary, August 7, 1884, Pringle (US, same variation); 

 Maricopa, Hall 11202a (UC, collected with 11202b, which is minor variation 2, variety 

 thornberi Jones); Phoenix, Griffiths 44^0 (US); Yuma, September 8, 1907, Harter (Gr, 

 NY, US); Needles, eastern California, Eastwood 5966 (SF); Guayinas, Sonora, Palmer 

 122 (Gr, NY, UC); Gila River, northern Sonora, May, Schott (NY, type of Obione radi- 

 ata, minor variation 8) ; plains near Chihuahua City, Pringle 670 (Gr, NY) ; near Durango 

 City, Palmer 497 (UC). 



266. Atriplex ELEGANS FASCICULATA (Watson). — Plant commonly small, 0.5 to 3 dm. 

 high, rarely more; leaves 0.5 to 2 cm. long, entire; fruiting bracts with a very narrow her- 

 baceous border which is minutely toothed or nearly entire. (A. fasciculata Watson, 

 Proc. Am. Acad. 17:377, 1882.) Southern California, from central Inyo County south 

 across the Mojave and Colorado Deserts to the borders of Lower California and western 

 Arizona; abundant on the Colorado Desert. Type locality, near Fish Ponds, Mojave 

 Desert. Collections: California: between Keeler and Darwin, Inyo County, Coville 

 and Funston 903 (DS, US); type collection, May, 1882, Parish 1351 (Gr, US); Manix, 

 San Bernardino County, Parish 10368 (UC); Barstow, Mojave Desert, Brandegee (UC); 

 Rabbit Springs, Mojave Desert, Parish 5010 (DS, UC) ; Borregos Springs, western edge of 

 Colorado Desert, May 28, 1894 and May, 1899, Brandegee (UC); Cameron Lake, Colo- 

 rado Desert, March 29, 1901, Brandegee (UC); Cariso Creek, Colorado Desert, April, 

 1905, Brandegee (US); alkaline soil, about 60 m. below sea-level, Mecca, Colorado 

 Desert, Parish 8452 (DS, type of A. saltonensis Parish, minor variation 4); Niland, 

 Imperial Valley, Parish 10869 (UC); Blue Lake, Imperial Valley, Davy 8019 (UC); 

 bottom lands along the Colorado River, near Paloverde, Hall 5924 (UC); Calexico, 

 Imperial County, Davy 7992 (UC); low hill near Volcano Lake, northern Lower Cali- 

 fornia, MacDougal 196 (NY); Phoenix, Arizona, Eastwood 6147 (SF); Agua Caliente, 

 Arizona, March 3, 1894, Carlson (SF); near San Xavier Mission, south of Tucson, 

 Arizona, Harris I4I8I (US). 



MINOR VARIATIONS AND SYNONYMS. 



1. Atriplex eleqans var. fasciculata Jones, Contr. West. Bot. 12:76, 1908. — A. elegans subsp. fasci- 

 culata. 



2. A. ELEGANS var. thornberi Jones, 1. c. — Characters as in subspecies typica, except that each fruiting 

 bract bears 2 prominent lacerate appendages on the face near the base. The margin also is more deeply 

 toothed than usual. The presence of appendages is a more important character in this species than in most 

 Atriplexes, where it is knowTi to be extremely variable. Of 12 herbarium sheets examined, all have either 

 uniformly smooth or uniformly crested bracts, with three exceptions, in which both forms were found on the 

 same plant. At Tucson and at Maricopa, both in Arizona, the two forms grow intermingled, but apparently 

 with no intergradation or with any mi.xing of the two kinds of bracts on the same plant. The three exceptions 

 just mentioned are: (1) a sheet in the M. E. Jones Herbarium from Tucson (August 17, 1903, Jones) in which 

 some of the bracts are smooth on the faces e.xcept for the strong midrib while others on the same stem are 

 prominently two-crested; and (2 and 3) two sheets in the United States National Herbarium from Phoenix 

 (priffilhs 4410 and 6198) in which the bracts are mostly crested, but a few on the same stems without crests 

 (fig. 42,/, g). The type locality of variety thornberi is Tucson, Arizona. 



3. A. F.\scicuLATA Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. 17:377, 1882. — .4. elegans fascic ilata. 



4. A. saltonensis Parish; Muhlenbergia 9 : 57, 1913. — This is a common depressed form of subspecies /as- 

 ciculata, in which the short stems are subdecumbent and the leaves only 0.5 to 1 cm. long. The type specimens 

 are 1 to 1.5 dm. long. Although fasciculata is often larger and more nearly erect than saltonensis, the two 

 types are not very different. The type of the former, as at the Gray Herbarium, is 1 dm. high, the leaves 

 are 0.8 to 1 .3 cm. long, and the two main branches spread horizontally from the summit of the taproot to a 

 distance of 1.5 cm., from which distance they are abruptly ascending. The type locality of saltonensis is in 

 alkaline soil a little north of Mecca, California. 



