Arenaria. CARYOPHYLLACE^E. gg 



1. The 3 valves of the capsule 2-cfeft or parted: seeds not appendaged at the hilum: 

 cespitose perennials, mostly scarious-bracted. AREXARIA proper. 



1. A. COngesta, Xutt. Smooth, glaucous, 4 to 12 inches high: leaves very 

 narrowly subulate, scabrous on the margin, often pungent, the lower 1 to 2^ inches 

 long, the cauline ^ to 1 inch long : flowers in 1 to 3 dense subumbellate fascicles, 

 with large dilated membranous bracts : sepals ovate-oblong, strongly concave, scari- 

 ously margined, obscurely 3-nerved, 1^ to 2^ lines long, acute : petals narrowly 

 oblong, nearly twice as long as the calyx : stiymas capitellate : capsule equalling the 

 calyx. Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 178; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 39. Brewerina suffru- 

 tescens, Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 620. 



Var. subcongesta, Watson. Flowers less densely fascicled and somewhat 

 cymose. A. Fendleri, var. subcongesta, Watson in Bot. King Exp. 40. 



In the mountains from Washington Territory to Colorado ; at Summit in the Sierra Nevada 

 (Bolander) ; above Carson City, Anderson. The variety in the northern Sierra Nevada (Lemmon), 

 and eastward. The typical form has the flowers nearly sessile in close heads. Brewerina suf- 

 frutescens, Gray, is a form somewhat woody at base and with the flowers upon longer nearly equal 

 pedicels. The remarkable character of capitellate or somewhat capitellate stigmas it has in com- 

 mon with A. Fendleri, and they are also found in A. capillaris and A. Frunklinii. 



2. A. capillaris, Poir. More or less glandular-pubescent above, erect, 3 to 12 

 inches high : leaves linear-subulate, ^ to 2 inches long, pungent ; the cauline few, 

 short and erect : flowers few, in an open cyme ; bracts small, lanceolate : sepals 

 ovate, acute, 1| to 2 lines long, 3-nerved, membranously margined : petals half 

 longer : capsule somewhat exceeding the calyx. Including A. nardifolia, Ledeb. 

 (Hook. Fl. i. 98, t. 32), and some other Asiatic forms. A. formosa, Torr. Bot. 

 Wilkes Exp. 243 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 39. 



In the mountains from the British boundary southward ; Donner Pass (Torrey) ; Silver Moun- 

 tain, at 11,000 feet altitude, Brewer. The more typical glabrous form seems not to occur here. 



3. A. pungens, Xutt. Pubescent throughout, cespitose, 2 to 3 inches high : 

 leaves linear-subulate, 3 to 5 lines long, pungent, crowded : flowers in an open 

 cyme, leafy-bracted : sepals lanceolate, acuminate, pungent, 1^ to 3 lines long, rather 

 obscurely 3-nerved : petals about equalling the calyx : the capsule shorter : seeds 

 very few, smooth. Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 179 ; Watson, 1. c. 



In the Sierra Nevada, above the Big Tree Grove (Bolander) ; Silver Mountain, at 11,000 feet 

 {Brewer) ; above Carson City (Anderson) ; and eastward to Colorado. 



A. FRANKLINII, Dougl., is of similar habit, but stouter and less pubescent ; stems leafy at base : 

 flowers fascicled in a rather close cyme : sepals 3 to 5 lines long, smooth and shining, scariously 

 margined, as also the large bracts : petals as long, and capsule shorter. Oregon to Colorado, 

 and perhaps to be expected in the mountains of California. 



2. The 3 valves of the capsule entire : seeds not appendaged at the hilum : low 

 annuals with foliaceous bracts (the Californian species). ALSIXE. 



4. A. Douglasii, Torr. & Gray. Sparingly pubescent with spreading hairs or 

 glabrous, slender, much branched, 3 to 6 inches high : leaves filiform, to 1 inch 

 long : flowers rather large, on long slender pedicels : sepals oblong-ovate, acute, 

 3-nerved, 1^ lines long : petals obovate, 2 lines long or more : capsule globose, 

 equalling the calyx : seeds large, flat, smooth, acutely margined. Fl. i. 674. 



Dry hillsides, throughout California, The very similar A. TENELLA, Nutt., of Oregon and 

 Washington Territory, is distinguished by narrower and more strongly nerved sepals, oblong 

 capsule, and small minutely roughened seeds. 



5. A. Calif ornica, Brewer. Glabrous, very slender, branching, 2 to 6 inches 

 high : leaves lanceolate, 1 to 2 lines long, obtusish : flowers small, on slender pedi- 

 cels : sepals oblong-ovate, acute, 3-nerved, 1 to 1 1 lines long ; petals spatulate, 

 about a half longer : capsule oblong : seeds small, sharply muriculate. Bolauder, 

 Cat. 6. A. brevifolia, var. (1) Californica, Gray, Proc. Calif. Acad. iii. 101. 



Sonoma County to Santa Cruz and eastward ; Auburn, Bolander. 



