Aquilegia. RANUNCULACEJE. g 



Var. pusillus. Stems very slender or filiform, weak and ascending or procum- 

 bent, 3 to 6 inches long : leaves reniform, crenately 5-lobed or parted. 



Coast-ranges and foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada. This species is easily recognized by its slen- 

 der habit, minute flowers, and roughened akenes. Like our other annuals it is very variable, 

 and at first sight some of the forms seem strikingly unlike others. 



In addition to the preceding species, R. fascicularis, Muhl, has been reported from the State, 

 but Professor Gray (Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 373) thinks the species is not found west of the 

 Rocky Mountains. " What has been so called from California is probably It. Californicus, 

 Benth." 



R. CHILENSIS, DC., occurred in the collections of Captain Beechey's voyage, from California 

 (Bot. Beech. 134). The species has procumbent stems, hispid petioles, cordate -orbicular, 3 - 5-lobed 

 leaves, the lobes dentate. This species has not been found in the State since, and it is probable 

 that the specimen may have got into the Califomian collection from the Chilian, or else that the 

 species was once introduced but failed to survive. 



R. MURICATUS, L. , a low coarse annual species from Europe, with large very rough akenes, 

 and flat stout recurved beaks, has been reported from " the streets of San Francisco " (Bolander's 

 Catalogue, 3). 



6. CALTHA, Linn. 



Sepals 5 to 12, deciduous, colored, and looking like petals. Petals none. Stamens 

 numerous. Pistils 5 to 12, each with several ovules, becoming follicles in fruit, 

 which at ripening are spreading, flattened, and several-seeded. Glabrous perennial 

 herbs, with broad cordate undivided leaves. 



A small genus of about 9 species, belonging to the cooler parts of both hemispheres. 



1. C. leptosepala, DC. Stems erect, 1 -flowered and scape-like, 3 to 12 inches 

 high, and exceeding the leaves ; leaves all radical, cordate. 



Swamps near head of King's River, at 8,000 feet (Brewer), near Lassen's Peak, Lemmon ; also 

 alpine stations from New Mexico and the Rocky Mountains to Alaska. Califomian specimens 

 have the leaves 2 or 3 inches across, cordate-orbicular, margins nearly entire ; sepals greenish- 

 white, 6 to 10 lines long, and 4 or 5 lines broad, and rather blunt. Rocky Mountain speci- 

 mens have sepals usually narrower, often bluish ; the leaves ovate, cordate, and more or less cre- 

 nate. Sometimes the stems bear a second and smaller flower, and the species appears to pass 

 into C. biflora. 



7. ISOPYRUM, Linn. 



Sepals usually 5, white and petal-like, deciduous. Petals, in our species none 

 (in foreign species 5, minute). Stamens 10 to 40. Pistils usually 3 to 6, but in- 

 definite ; becoming follicles in fruit, which are several-seeded, oblong or ovate, and 

 pointed with the persistent style. Smooth, slender herbs, with 2 - 3-ternately 

 compound leaves, and axillary or terminal flowers. 



Species 7, belonging the North Temperate zone of both continents. 



1. I. occidentale, Hook. & Am. Stems several-flowered : follicles 7-9-seeded. 

 Bot. Beech. 316. 



Near Forest Hill, on light soil among shrubs (Bolander), (where Douglas found it is not stated). 

 A glabrous herb, 6 to 10 inches, branching above, its delicate habit suggesting Thalictrum. 

 Root of thickened fibres. Leaflets 4 to 8 lines long and cut into 2 or 3 broad, blunt lobes, glau- 

 cous beneath. Flowers 6 to 9 lines in diameter, white. Follicles or pods 6 lines long and 2 wide, 

 flattened, obliquely pointed, transversely veined. 



8. AQUILEGIA, Tourn. COLUMBINE. 



Sepals 5, regular, colored and petal-like, deciduous. Petals 5, all alike, with a 

 short, spreading lip, and produced backwards into a long tubular spur. Stamens 

 numerous, the outer ones long and exserted, the inner ones reduced to thin scales. 

 Pistils 5 ; styles slender ; ovaries several-ovulecl, becoming pointed several-seeded 



