458 NYCTAGINACEAE 



short; involucre 5 or 6-flowered, campanulate, 8 to 10 lines long, cleft nearly 

 half way into acute lobes ; calyx bright or pale purple, funnelform, V/ 2 to 1% 

 inches long, the limb 1 to iy 2 inches across; fruit light brown, marked by 10 

 vertical lines of a darker color, not tuberculate. 



Kern Co. and Argus Mts. south to San Diego Co. May-June. Very hand- 

 some when in full flower in the desert washes, single plants often forming 

 masses of rose-color the size of a wagonwheel. 



Locs. Cottonwood Creek, Inyo Cs., Purpus 3024; New York Mts., Jepson 5446; Bakersfield, 

 Davy 1889 ("opens at 6 pm"); Caliente, K. Brandegee; Antelope Valley, Hall 6259; Palm 

 Canon, Jepson 1376. The following are glabrous or nearly so (var. glabratum Jepson n. 

 comb.) : Vandeventer Flat, San Jacinto Mts., Hall 2162; San Felipe, Brandegee. 



Kefs. MIRABILIS FROEBELLII Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. 1: 124 (1885). Oxybaphus froebellii 

 Behr, Proc. Cal. Aead. 1: 69 (1855), type loc. Warner's Ranch, San Diego Co., Froebel. 

 Mirabilis multiflora var. pubescens Wats. Bot. Cal. 2: 2 (1880). Quamoclidion froebellii 

 Stand. Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 12: 359 (1909). Var. GLABRATUM Jepson. Q. froebellii 

 subsp. glabratum Stand. 1. c., 360, type loc. Providence Mts., T. Brandegee. 



3. M. tenuiloba Wats. Stems branching, woody at base, 1 to l 1 /^ feet 

 high; herbage short pilose and glandular; leaves ovate, acute, truncate or 

 subcordate at base, 1 to 2 inches long, sometimes broader 4han long, shortly 

 petioled ; involucres subcylindric, 4 to 6 lines long, cleft to the middle or below 

 into lanceolate or linear lobes ; calyx white, hairy ; fruit broadly ovoid, smooth, 

 brown. 



Colorado Desert and its western borders. Lower California. 



Locs. West Canon, Parish 6072; Signal Mt., T. Brandegee; Coyote Sprs. and Mountain 

 Wells, ace. Standley. 



Refs. MIRABILIS TENUILOBA Wats. Proe. Am. Acad. 17: 375 (1882), type loc. western edge 

 of the Colorado Desert, Wright. 



4. M. californica Gray. WISHBONE BUSH. Stems erect or ascending, 

 many from the base, repeatedly forked, woody below, forming a bush 1 to 

 l!/2 feet high; herbage roughish puberulent to almost glabrous, the inflo- 

 rescence glandular-pubescent ; leaves ovate, mostly acute, subcordate or rounded 

 at base, % to 1 inch long, shortly petioled; involucres 2 to 3 lines long, in 

 terminal clusters or solitary in the axils, each involucre on a short peduncle ; 

 involucral lobes oblong- ovate, obtuse or acute, equaling or a little exceeding 

 the tube ; calyx rose-color or reddish, 4 to 6 lines long, narrowly campanulate, 

 its spreading lobes deeply cleft into 2 somewhat diverging segments; fruit 

 ellipsoidal, sometimes obscurely striate longitudinally, often lineate-mottled 

 transversely, iy 2 to 2 lines long. 



Coast region from the Santa Lucia Mts. south to San Diego Co. Fl. Jan.- 

 June. Variable in pubescence and apparently in shape and marking of fruits. 

 Flowers open from middle of afternoon until next morning. 



Locs. San Diego, T. Brandegee; Del Mar, Jepson 1605; Playa del Rey, Abrams 2504; Santa 

 Monica, J. Q. Adams; Santa Catalina Island, Trash, with peculiar flowers (Erythea, 7: 141); 

 Santa Cruz Island, T. Brandegee; San Bernardino Valley, Parish, Jepson 5543; Saugus, Davy; 

 San Luis Obispo Co., Summers. 



Var . glutinosa Jepson n. comb. Herbage short- villous and glandular ; 

 leaves round-ovate, obtuse or acute, sometimes almost renif orm ; calyx white. 

 Colorado and Mohave deserts north to Inyo Co. Nevada. 



Locs. Red Hill, Bishop, Heller 8248; Pampa Sta., Kern Co., Heller 7644; Palm Canon, 

 Jepson 1390 ; San Felipe Creek below Banner, T. Brandegee. 



Var. retrorsa Jepson n. comb. Herbage bright green, minutely and re- 

 trorsely scabrous, often sparingly so, especially on the stems; calyx white. 

 Mohave Desert, north to Washoe Co., Nevada. 



Loes. Barstow, Jepson 5371, 5375; Victor, Hall 6206. 



Var. aspera Jepson n. comb. Herbage retrorsely pubescent or sometimes 

 villous; leaves broadly ovate, obtuse or acute, subcordate at base, shortly 

 petioled; calyx purplish -red; fruit subglobose, brown, longitudinally 10- 

 striate, the striae of lighter color. Dry hills, Mohave Desert. 



