PURSLANE FAMILY 471' 



Plants growing in one spot, of like aspect and habit and not differing save for marked vari- 

 ations in some one organ, may often be discovered by the field student. Extreme variability in 

 size according to soil or situation is characteristic of this species. It is also highly variable in 

 the size and shape of its basal leaves, as well as of those forming the cauline disk. Plants in a 

 colony at Palomar (Jepson 1494) were quite alike save that the individuals showed, altho in- 

 constantly, the following variations in cauline leaves: a, cauline pair completely united into a 

 perfoliate disk, and entire or toothed; b, cauline pair united into a perfoliate disk split down 

 one side ; c, cauline pair ovate or lanceolate, distinct ; d, cauline pair ovate or lanceolate, partly 

 united on one side. 



Loes. Linden, San Joaquin Co., Gunnison ; Amador Co., Hansen 35; Hazel Green, Jepson; 

 Grapevine Spr., Tulare Co., Woolsey; Panamint Mts., Hall 6971; St. Helena, Jepson; Ross 

 Valley, Jepson; Berkeley, Jepson; San Francisco, K. Brandegee; Los Gatos, Heller; Pacific 

 Grove, Tidestrom; Elizabeth Lake, Hall 3090; Elysian Hills, Los Angeles, Braunton 164; 

 Santa Ana Canon, San Bernardino Mts., E. J. Smith. 



Var. parviflora Jepson n. comb. Same as the species in habit, but more 

 slender; basal leaves filiform- linear or linear-spatulate ; calyx 1 line long; 

 petals white or rose-color. Damp shady places. General range of the species. 

 In the form in which it occurs in California this seems no more than a narrow- 

 leaf state of M. perfoliata and is here so treated; its seeds are not different. 

 Lower California. North to Washington. 



Locs. Yreka, Butler 675, 1305, 1550; Little Eiver, Humboldt Co., Tracy 3211; Redding, 

 Heller 7900; Tehama Co., Jepson; Deer Creek Ridge, w. Nevada Co., Jepson; Amador Co., 

 Hansen; Santa Clara Co., C. F. Baker 487; Girard, Kern Co., Heller 7716. 



Var. nubigena Jepson. Compact or caespitose plant with glaucescent herb- 

 age and numerous stems; leaves linear or a few spatulate at apex; racemes 

 dense; petals white or pinkish, 3 lines long. Mountain peaks, central Coast 

 Ranges. 



Locs. Mt. Tamalpais, Jepson; Mt. Diablo, Greene; Mt. Hamilton (Pitt. 2: 294). 



Var. depressa Jepson n. comb. Small and depressed, 1 to 4 or 5 inches high, 

 the plant often livid red; basal leaves rhomboidal- or broadly ovate, 2 to 6 

 lines broad, often broader than long, petioled; cauline disk split down one 

 side or its leaves only partly united, subtending sessile glomerules or sub- 

 umbellate clusters of flowers; petals twice as long as calyx. Northern Cali- 

 fornia to British Columbia. Often in pine woods. 



Locs. Humboldt Bay, Tracy 3129; Dunsmuir, Heller 7924; Siskiyou Co., Butler 676 (Oro 

 Fino), 1289 (Humbug Mt.) ; Forestdale, Baker & Nutting; Ft. Bidwell, Manning 74. 



Refs. MONTIA PERFOLIATA Howell, Erythea, 1: 38 (1893); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 186 

 (1901). Claytonia perfoliata Donn, Ind. Hort. Cantab. 25 (1796); Willd. Sp. PI. 1: 1186 

 (1798); type from N. Am. C. perfoliata var. amplectens Greene, Fl. Fr. 179 (1891), type loc. 

 middle elevations, Sierra Nevada; cauline pair of leaves united on one side only. Var. car- 

 nosa Greene, 1. c. 178, type loc. Mt. Diablo; very succulent; seed nearly orbicular. Ex. char. 

 Var. 'PARVIFLORA Jepson. Claytonia perfoliata var. parviflora Torr. Pac. R. Rep. 4 5 : 71 

 (1857). Claytonia parviflora Dougl.; Hook. Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 225, t. 73 (1834), type loc. Co- 

 lumbia River, Douglas. C. perfoliata var. angustifolia Greene, Fl. Fr. 179 (1891), type Cali- 

 fornian. Limnia parviflora Rydb. Bull. Torr. Club, 33: 139 (1906). Montia parviflora 

 Howell, Erythea, 1: 38 (1893). Var. NUBIGENA Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 186 (1901). Clay- 

 tonia nubigena Greene, Pitt. 2: 294 (1892), type Iocs. Mts. Tamalpais, Diablo, and Hamilton. 

 Var. DEPRESSA Jepson. Montia parviflora var. depressa Rob. in Gray, Syn. Fl. I 1 : 274 (1897). 

 Claytonia parviflora var. depressa Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 22: 281 (1887), type loc. "British 

 Columbia to Oregon and adjacent Idaho." Montia depressa Suksd. Deutsche Bot. Monats. 

 16: 221 (1898). M. rubra Howell, Erythea, 1: 38 (1893), type loc. Ore. and Wash. Limnia 

 rubra Heller, Muhl. 6: 84 (1910). 



8. M. gypsophiloides Howell. (Fig. 94.) Stems slender, erect or ascend- 

 ing, 2 to 9 inches high ; herbage very pale and glaucous ; basal leaves linear or 

 filiform, the flowering stems 2 to several times as long; cauline pair ovate to 

 linear-lanceolate, partially united on one side; raceme slender, elongated (half 

 the height of the plant or more), the filiform pedicels becoming 2 to 8 lines 

 long, spreading and often a little geniculate at the middle; flowers for their 



