1921] Smiley: Flora of the Sierra Nevada of California 189 



4. CALTHA 



1. Caltha Howellii Greene, Pitt., vol. 4, p. 79. 1899. 



C. biflora Howell, PL N.W. Am., vol. 1, p. 20. 1897, not of DC. 

 C. leptosepala var. Howellii E. Huth, Helios, voL 9, p. 68. 1892. 



Type locality. — "Cascade Mountains." 



Range. — Sierra Nevada and the southern Cascades and mountains 

 of Siskiyou County. 



Zone. — Hudsonian, and not rarely in the Canadian. 



Specimens examined. — Plumas County, 7,000 feet, Mrs. Austin, 

 June, 1879 ; Slide Mountain, Washoe County, Nevada, 8,600 feet, 

 Heller 10960; about Marlette Lake, east of Lake Tahoe, 2,460 m., 

 Baker 1298 ; Frog Lake, near Castle Peak, C. F. Somie, July 25, 1886 ; 

 near Heather Lake, Tahoe, Setchell and Dobie, July 6-21, 1901 ; 

 Castle Peak, trail from Soda Springs, 7,500 feet. Smiley 462 ; Pyramid 

 Peak, Tahoe, W. S. Atkinson in 1900 ; same locality, wet ledge on east 

 side, 9,200 feet, Smiley 127; Peregoy's, above Yosemite, Congdon, 

 June 5, 1897 ; Cathedral Pass trail, Yosemite, Dudley, July 21, 1901 ; 

 Cloud's Rest, Brandegee, June, 1883; slopes of Alta Peak, Tulare 

 County, Dudley 1526a; Avalanche meadow, near Mt. Silliman, Tulare 

 County, Dudley 1526; Hockett's meadow, Tulare County, Culbertson 

 (B4379) ; Eagle Lake, Tulare County, 10,500 feet. Hall and Babcock 

 5360 ; meadows about Alta Lake and Mountain Lake, Tulare County, 

 9-10,000 feet, Dudley', 990; Hockett's meadows by the river, Tulare 

 County, Dudley 1869. 



The acaulescent forms of Caltha growing in western alpine or sub- 

 alpine regions appear to me to be divisible into two groups : the round 

 leaved forms (C. malvacea Greene, I.e., p. 75, and C. Howellii), and 

 the oblong leaved species (C leptosepala DC, Syst., vol. 1, p. 310; 

 C. chionophila Greene, I.e., p. 80, and C. rotundifolia Greene, I.e.) ; 

 the first group is strictly west coast, coming south from Oregon to the 

 southern Sierra Nevada ; the other alliance belongs to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains from British Columbia to New Mexico, with outlying species in 

 east Oregon and in the central part of the Great Basin. C. hiflora DC. 

 (Syst., vol. 1, p. 310) is only found in the northwest from Alaska to 

 Washington. 



