306 PITTONIA. 



leaves oblong-knceolate or ovate, sessile, 3 to 5 Hues long ; 

 flowers from the axils of the leafy stems in clusters of two or 

 three; calyx deeply 4-cleft, stamens 4 ; fruiting bracts orbicu- 

 lar, compressed, 2 lines long, the margins crenate-dentate. 



One of the smallest of the genas. It is very likely to be 

 passed over, as the gray-scurfy herbage is of much the same 

 color as the bare saline washes on which the plant grows. 

 The leaves are sessile, and rarely a few of the lowest seven 

 lines long ; they are also sometimes sub-cordate at base. The 

 fruiting bracts are large for the size of the plant and are a 

 trifle broader than long. This is a vernal species. My si)eci- 

 niens from Collinsville were obtained May 18 of the present 

 year and bore mature fruit. 



A. rEUTicuLOSA. Perennial, suffrutescent, 4 to 13 inches 

 higli ; erect, branched from the base, the stems simple below^, 

 with terminal branchlets ; herbage gray-scurfy ; leaves sessile, 

 lanceolate or narrowly oblong, | to | of an inch long ; stami- 

 nate flowers in dense globose clusters on the terminal branch- 

 lets, naked or nearly so ; pistillate flowers chiefly below^, from 

 the leaf-axils; calyx deeply five cleft, occasionally unequally 

 parted and one lobe reduced ; fruiting bracts orbicular, 1^—2 

 lines broad, the margins partly free, the sides tooth-crested ; 

 seed nearly a line broad. 



In alkaline soil near Little Oak, Solano Co., Aug. 16, 1892. 

 The plant is an erect, suffrutescent, monoecious perennial 

 characters sufficient to distinguish it from any other Airiplcx 

 of middle California. The stems are terete. The globose 

 clusters of staminate flowers are in a terminal simple or 

 sometimes slightly branched spike. Tlie only species to 

 which it is at all related is A. hracleosa of Watson, first 

 collected on Pos^ Creek in the region of the upper San Joaquin. 

 That however is an annual, a much larger plant, with thinner 

 and larger leaves, and furrow^ed stems. 



