: [Vol. 8 
216 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
pods erect or horizontal, subsessile or shortly stipitate, subglo- 
bose, not compressed, 3-5 mm. in 
diameter, rather sparingly stellate- 
pubescent; styles slender, equal- 
ling orslightly exceeding the pods; 
septum nerved, areolae not tortu- 
ous; ovules 2-4, funiculi short, at- 
tached to the septum for less than 
one-half their lengths; seeds not 
winged. 
Distribution: Nevada and south- 
eastern California. 
Specimens examined: 
Nevada: west Humboldt Moun- 
tains, June, 1868, Watson 82 (Gray 
M as sketch Herb., TYPE, photograph Mo. Bot. 
Gard. Herb., and tracing Rky. Mt. 
Herb.); Big Creek and Kingston Canyon, Toiyabe Forest, July 
28, 1913, Hitchcock 807 (U. S. Nat. Herb.); dry ground, Bunker 
Hill, Toiyabe Forest, July 29, 1913, Hitchcock 848, 858 (U. S. 
Nat. Herb.); rocky slopes, Mt. Sabb, Palmetto Range, May- 
Oct., 1898, Purpus 5863 (U. S. Nat. Herb. and Baker Herb. at 
Pomona College). 
California: Telescope Peak, Panamint Mountains, June 23, 
1891, Coville & Funston 2025 (Gray Herb. and U. S. Nat. Herb.). 
L. Kingii was the first of a number of forms to be described 
from the region of the Great Basin that are here being treated 
as species. These are L. Wardii, L. prostrata, L. utahensis, 
and L. latifolia. The differences between them are slight and 
within their specific limits they show considerable variation. 
There is evidently here a remarkable plexus of evolution due 
perhaps to some germinal plasticity or perhaps to the topograph- 
ical character of the country that isolates races on every de- 
tached mountain range. However the presence of such an 
assemblage of minute forms may be explained, the result remains 
difficult of treatment by the taxonomist. Perhaps they were 
best regarded as varieties under one great species, but in the 
present case this might easily result in a polyphyletic group 
and so emphasize an unnatural relationship. 
Fig. 28. L. Kingit. 
x l4. Trichomes x 
