ANALOGIES AND AFFINITIES. 299 
leave without special mention; but I gladly take up instead, 
the defense of two or three familiar Californian species which 
Nuttall discovered, named and described, but which subse- 
quent authors -have not been able to retain even as varieties 
or forms; certain annual species of Hosackia. 
On page 326 of the old Flora of North America he 
published the five following: H. microphylla, nudiflora, 
strigosa, rubella and maritima. Of these only maritima and 
strigosa have been adopted by subsequent authors, maritima 
having been rested by them upon its somewhat succulent herb- 
age more than anything else, while the other four have been 
reduced to one, under the name of strigosa ; but microphylla, 
it seems to me even the herbalist who never saw the living 
plants, might have been expected to retain, on account of the 
minute leaflets and the corollas, which are much larger than 
in any of the others, as well as of different shape. But the 
typical strigosa, along with nudiflora and rubella no closet 
student could learn to regard as distinct species, or even as 
nameworthy varieties. Having collected, a few seasons since, 
very mature and good specimens of three of these plants, 
in my search for possible characters over and above the 
apparently insufficient ones upon which Nuttall had founded 
them, I detected, what few men ever look for in closely 
related species of Leguminose, and what was still more sur- 
prising in plants not thought worthy of varietal rank, very 
decided seed-characters. 
My three species were H. strigosa, rubella and maritima. 
The seeds of the latter I observed to differ from the others 
in being perfectly smooth; those of rubella were slightly 
roughed in a sort of minutely tuberculate fashion; that of 
strigosa was not only roughened in the same way, but had 
a curious narrow linear depression, or furrow, running 
across one side. In a dry bed of my garden I planted 
seeds of all three side by side. On the appearing of the 
cotyledons above ground I beheld with great satisfaction 
such differences as I shall now describe. Those of H. mari- 
tima were of a light green, perfectly smooth and of ovate 
