BUCKWHEAT FAMILY 



411 



Fig. 76. ERIOGONUM DEFLEXUM Torr. 

 volucre, x 5; 6, flower, x 10. 



a, in- 



19. E. deflexum Torr. SKELETON WEED. (Fig. 76.) Stems 1 or several 

 from the base, glabrous and green, 5 to 13 inches high, divaricately branched, 

 the internodes short and branching, intricate, or sometimes simpler with 

 elongated branchlets; leaves in a basal rosette, round-obcordate, whitish tom- 

 entose, y 2 to 1^ inches long, the petioles half to twice as long; involucre 

 campanulate or broadly turbinate, i/ 2 to 1 line long, with 4 short broad obtuse 



lobes, on pedicels y to 1 (or rarely 2) 

 lines long, more or less deflexed; 

 calyx white, or turning pink, gla- 

 brous, y 2 to 1 line long, the outer seg- 

 ments elliptic or elliptic-ovate, very 

 obtuse, cordate at base, the inner nar- 

 rowly ovate-acuminate, shorter than 

 the outer, half as wide. 



Desert washes and flats, Colorado 

 and Mohave deserts north to Inyo 

 Co. Nevada, Arizona. 



Locs. Caleb, Parish 8290; Calexico, 

 Abrams; Chuckawalla Mts., Mrs. F. Ste- 

 phens; Palo Verde Valley, Hall 5953; Eiver- 

 side Mts., Jepson 5235; Victor, Jepson 5613. 



Eefs. ERIOGONUM DEFLEXUM Torr. in Ives, Eep. Colo. Eiver, Bot. 24 (1860), type loc. 

 Three Point Bend, Chocolate Mts., Colorado Eiver, Newberry. E. brachypodum T. & Gr. Proc. 

 Am. Acad. 8: 180 (1870), type loc. Kingston Spr., Kingston Mts., Eemy ; differs only in being 

 slightly glandular hairy; ranges into southern Nev. Various Calif ornian specimens in Cali- 

 fornian herbaria are labeled as E. hoolceri Wats. (Proe. Am. Acad. 14: 295, 1879, type Iocs. 

 Wahsatch Mts. and w. Nev.), as E. insigne Wats. (Proc. Am. Acad. 14: 295, 1879, type loc. 

 Bed Creek, s. Utah, Palmer 431 in 1877), or as E. parryi Gray (Proc. Am. Acad. 10: 77, 1874, 

 type loc. s. Utah, Parry 239). This Calif ornian material is, however, not sufficiently distinguish- 

 able by the diagnoses referred to and we must at this time regard the specimens in question as 

 variants of E. deflexum. 



II. SUBGENUS Oregonium. 



Involucres cylindric or cylindric-turbinate, 5-toothed, 5 or 6-nerved or angled, always sessile, 

 solitary or congested in heads, always erect; bracts on the flowering branches in 3s, connate at 

 base; calyx not at all or little accrescent, not stipe-like at base; ovary and filaments mostly 

 glabrous; annuals, perennial herbs, or shrubs; mostly of deserts or arid foothills. 



20. E. nidularium Cov. (Fig. 77.) Stems 1 or many 

 from the base, repeatedly and regularly dichotomous, 

 the forks short, making a dense mass of intricate branches 

 which in well- grown plants curve in at maturity and 

 suggest resemblance to a bird's nest; whole plant cob- 

 webby-tomentose, often reddish in age, 3 to 8 inches 

 high ; leaves roundish ovate to orbicular and subcordate, 

 3 to 6 lines long, the petioles 1 to 2y 2 times as long; in- 

 volucres sessile in all the forks and along the branches, 

 y 2 line long; calyx red, white or yellowish, glabrous, 

 % to 1 line long; outer segments somewhat quadrate, 

 dilated at the truncate apex, the sides incurved; inner 

 segments similar but narrower ; ovary glabrous, scabrous 

 on upper part. 



Desert area: San Bernardino and Inyo cos. Nevada. 



Locs. Victor, Jepson 5620; Barstow, Jepson 4836, 5391; Lanfair, Maye L. Tennent; New 

 York Mts., Connor; Lone Pine Creek, Hall 4- Chandler 7197 ; White Mts., Seller 8306. 



Plants 6 to 8 inches high often develop 15 to 25 stems from near the base, which fork and 

 refork 4 to 10 times and produce 1000 to 1200 terminal branchlets. As the forks grow they 

 become intricately interlocked and it is impracticable to divide the plant except by tearing it 

 forcibly apart. 



Eefs. ERIOGONUM NIDULARIUM Cov. Contrib. IT. S. Nat. Herb. 4: 186 (1893), type loc. 

 Panamint Mts., Coville 963. E. plumatella of Bot. Cal. 2: 31 (1880). 



Fig. 77. ERIOGONUM NID- 

 ULARIUM Cov.; flow- 

 er, x 12. 



