RANUNCULACEAE 513 



concave, mostly petal-like, unless at base or on the outside. Petals 10 to 20, 

 small and thick, bearing more or less resemblance to staminodia. Stamens 

 numerous, densely imbricated around the ovary, at length recurving; anthers 

 linear; filaments very short. Ovary 10 to 25-celled, the stigmas radiating 

 upon its truncate or disk-like summit. Fruit coriaceous-baccate. Species 

 about 25, all continents, but chiefly in the tropics. (Latin name of the water- 



my.) 



1. N. polysepala Greene. INDIAN POND LILY. Leaves 6 to ll 1 /^ inches 

 broad, 7 to 141/2 inches long, rounded at apex, the lobes rounded and the nar- 

 row or closed sinus y% to y 2 the length of the blade ; calyx yellow or brownish 

 red, subglobose or somewhat cup-shaped, 3 (or when fully expanded 4 to 5) 

 inches in diameter; sepals 9 to 12; petals 12 to 18, nearly or quite concealed 

 beneath the many stamens; anthers dark red; stigmatic rays 15 to 24; fruit 

 ovate or subglobose, 1 to iy 2 inches in diameter, with short constricted neck 

 and convex disk. 



Ponds, central California, more especially near the coast or in the high 

 mountains. North to Alaska and east to the Rocky Mts. The seeds are an 

 important source of food supply to the Klamath Indians. 



Locs. Coast Eanges, near the coast: east of Santa Cruz (ace. Anderson, Nat. Hist. Santa 

 Cruz, 35); Mountain Lake, San Francisco (Zoe, 2: 338); Olema, Brewer 1481; Santa Rosa, 

 Chcsnut; Soldiers Eidge, Yollo Bolly Mts., Jepson; Arcata, Jepson 1920; Mad River near 

 Vances, Chandler; Log Lake, w. Siskiyou, Butler 1667; Sisson, Jepson. Sierra Nevada, 4500 

 to 7500 ft. : Eagle Peak Mdws., Yosemite, Hall 9192 ; Hetch-Hetchy to Hog Ranch, Jepson 

 3489; Lake Tahoe, Blasdale ; Big Meadows, Plumas Co., E. M. Austin; Susan River, Honey 

 Lake Valley, Davy 3336. Klamath Marsh, Ore., contains about 10,000 acres of solid growth 

 (Coville) . 



Refs. NYMPHAEA POLYSEPALA Greene, Man. Bot. Bay Reg. 8 (1894). Nuphar polysepalum 

 Engelm. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 2: 282 (1865), type loc. Osborn's Lake, Colo., Parry; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 193 (1901). 



NYMPHAEA ADVENA Soland. in Ait. Hort. Kew, 2: 226 (1789), loc. class. Atlantic States. 

 Leaf lobes acutish; sepals usually 6; anthers yellow. Calif ornian plants from Stockton and 

 Clear Lake have been referred to this species by Greene (Fl. Fr. 288) and by Jepson (Fl. 

 W. Mid. Cal. 192; Erythea, 1: 13). These are probably mere forms of N. polysepala. The 

 implied opinion of Gerritt & Miller (Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 16: 88) that we have only one 

 species may well be provisionally accepted. 



2. BRASENIA Schreb. 



Leaves peltate, oval, floating, long-petioled from fleshy creeping rootstocks. 

 Flowers small, dull purple. Sepals and petals 3 or 4. Stamens 12 to 18 with 

 filiform filaments. Carpels 4 to 18, distinct, becoming indehiscent clavate 

 pods. Species 1. (Derivation unknown.) 



1. B. schreberi Gmel. WATER SHIELD. Leaves iy 2 to 4 inches long; petals 

 linear, about 6 lines long. 



Lakes and slow streams: central California and northward. North Ameri- 

 ca, Asia, Africa, Australia. 



Locs. Little Kern Lake, Kern Canon, 6200 feet, Jepson 4924; Stockton, 35 feet (Fl. Fr. 

 288) ; Lakeport, Jepson; Pit River near Ft. Crook, Brewer 2188. 



Refs. BRASENIA SCHREBERI Gmel. Syst. Veg. 1: 853 (1796); Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. ed. 

 2, 164 (1911). B. peltata Pursh, Fl. 389 (1814). 



RANUNCULACEAE. BUTTERCUP FAMILY. 



Herbs with alternate or basal leaves (excepting the opposite-leaved climber 

 Clematis). Flowers with the parts all free and distinct, commonly perfect, 

 solitary, or in terminal racemes or panicles. Sepals usually 5, always more 

 than 2, often petal-like. Petals usually 5, often more, sometimes minute or 

 altogether wanting. Stamens indefinite, usually numerous. Pistils several, 

 superior, always 1-celled, bearing a single style. Fruit a follicle or achene, 



