416 BORAGINACEAE (BORAGE FAMILY) 



4. Cryptanthe flexuosa A. Nels. Pale, hispid-pubescent; stems simple or 

 several from the base, loosely branched upward, erect, or (if long) flexuous- 

 spreading, 15-30 cm. long: leaves narrowly oblong, 2-3 cm. long: fruiting 

 spike open, below with foliar bracts: sepals lanceolate-acuminate, hispid at 

 base, the tips mostly spreading, 5-8 mm. long: nutlets mottled, smooth and 

 shining, about 2 mm. long, the ventral groove nearly closed, forked at the base 

 but without areola, all maturing. C. affinis flexuosa A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 30: 

 183. 1900. Northwestern Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. 



5. Cryptanthe gracilis Osterh. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 30: 236. 1903. Slen- 

 der, erect, 10-15 cm. high, sparsely hispid: leaves rather few, oblanceolate, 

 obtuse, about 1 cm. long, sparsely hispid: inflorescence pedunculate, open in 

 fruit; the flowers small: calyx densely hispid, the lobes narrow and not thick- 

 ened, 3 mm. long in fruit: nutlet solitary, ovate-acuminate, smooth, some- 

 what triangular in cross section, about 2 mm. long, a little longer than the 

 large gynobase to which it is attached for about half its length. Known only 

 from the type locality, Glenwood Springs, Colorado. 



6. Cryptanthe Watsonii (Gray) Greene, Pitt. 1: 120. 1887. Erect, dark 

 green, slightly hispid, 12-25 cm. high; stem simple or branched from the base, 

 slender and somewhat weak: leaves narrowly oblong or spatulate, 2-4 cm. 

 long: flowers minute, relatively few, the fruiting spikes open, naked except 

 at base: sepals short, only 3-4 mm. long, the tips mostly closed; midrib not 

 thickened: nutlets narrow, sub triquetrous, about 2 mm. long, attached from 

 the base nearly to the apex, smooth and shining. Krynitzkia Watsonii Gray. 

 Northwestern Colorado and through western Wyoming. 



7. Cryptanthe crassisepala (T. & G.) Greene, Pitt. 1: 112. 1887. Very 

 rough-hispid, freely and diffusely branched from the base upward, rather 

 stout, 15-25 cm. high: leaves oblanceolate and linear-spatulate : calyx very 

 hispid with yellowish or fulvous bristles, the sepals greatly thickened at base 

 in fruit, 5-8 mm. long, inclined to disarticulate at maturity, forming a sort of 

 bur inclosing the nutlets: nutlets ovate, acute, dissimilar, 3 of them muricate- 



f-anulate, and 1 larger and smooth or nearly so, attached for half its length. 

 rynitzkia crassisepala Gray. From the Rocky Mountains eastward to 

 Kansas and Nebraska. 



8. Cryptanthe multicaulis A. Nels. Bot. Gaz. 30: 183. 1900. Few to 

 many-stemmed from the crown of the vertical taproot; stems slender, erect 

 or decumbent at base, sparingly branched, 12-24 cm. high: leaves broadly 

 linear, 2-3 cm. long; pubescence from hispid to hirsute-cilia te : spikes slender, 

 rather dense even in fruit: sepals setose-hispid, narrowly lanceolate-acuminate, 

 about 5 mm. long, the midrib not thickened: nutlets obscurely roughened, 

 ovate, subacute, 2 mm. long, the ventral groove forked at base but without 

 conspicuous open areola, usually only 3 maturing. Wyoming and probably 

 southward into Colorado. 



8. OREOCARYA Greene 



Coarse biennial herbs, with rough or hispid pubescence, alternate leaves, and 

 white or yellow flowers in crowded paniculate or thyrsoid clusters. Calyx 

 5-parted, open in fruit. Corolla salverform, 5-lobed, crested in throat and 

 bearing 5 included often dimorphic stamens. Ovary deeply 4-lobed, becoming 

 a fruit of 4 sharp-;mgled or wing-margined nutlets which are attached later- 

 ally to the pyramidal receptacle. Krynitzkia Fisch & Mey. in part. 



Flowers yellow or with yellow throat. 



Flowers yellow, in a spicate thyrsus 1. O. flava. 



Flowers yellowish, in an interrupted thyrsus . . . 2. O. alata. 



Flowers white with yellow throat ...... 3. O. flavoculata. 



I- 'lowers white. 



Tufteil or cae-pitose perennials. 



Inflorescence racemose paniculate; nutlets smooth. 



Fruiting raceme uniserial; nutlets gray .... 4. O. multicaulis. 



Fruiting raceme biflerial; nutleta' brown .... 5. O. suffruticosa. 



Inflorescence! thyr.soid or thyrsoid-glomerate; nutlets rough. 



