Plectritis. VALERIAN ACE^E. 287 



the base : the limb about eqtfally 5-lobed. Stamens 3. Abortive cells of the ovary 

 small or obscure, obliterated in the akene-like fruit. Perennial herbs, with strong- 

 scented mostly thickened rootstocks or roots, simple or pinnate leaves, and white or 

 flesh-colored flowers in a terminal often panicled cyme. The flowers in some species 

 are either dimorphous or polygamo-dioecious. The roots of several are used in 

 medicine. The only species yet detected in this State is, 



1. V. sylvatica, Richardson. Minutely pubescent or nearly glabrous : root- 

 stock creeping : root-leaves entire and spatulate or oval, or sometimes 3-parted : 

 stem-leaves mostly pinnately divided into 3 to 1 1 broadly lanceolate or oblong-ovate 

 unequal entire or toothed leaflets : flowers all perfect : corolla short and broad : 

 stigma almost entire. 



Wet places in the Sierra Nevada, &c., from the Yosemite to Donner Lake, thence eastward 

 and northward through the Continent. This has been thought to be the European V. dioica, or 

 too near it ; but the stigma is not 3-cleft, and no form is known with included stamens and long 

 style. At the north it sometimes has smaller flowers with less protruded stamens ; but then the 

 style also is short. 



V. EDULIS, Nutt., is common in the Rocky Mountains and eastward ; and it may be found in 

 the northeastern part of California. It is well marked by the long lanceolate or linear leaves or 

 lobes of the leaves, with minutely downy margins ; and the flowers are dioecious. 



2. PLECTRITIS, (Lindl.,) DC. 



Limb of the calyx obsolete or none. Tube of the corolla very gibbous, spurred 

 at the base ; the short limb more or less bilabiate ; upper lip 2-cleft, lower 3-cleft. 

 Stamens 3. Ovary triangular, with empty cells at two of the angles : style slender : 

 stigma somewhat capitate. Fruit winged on each side of the fertile cell by the 

 remains of the open and enlarged sterile cells, the wings incurved, making the fruit 

 saucer-shaped. Annuals, nearly glabrous (except that the fruit is -often puberu- 

 lent), with slender erect stems, oblong or spatulate entire or barely sinuate-toothed 

 leaves, the cauline ones sessile ; the dense contracted cymes in the axils of the upper 

 small leaves and terminal, forming an interrupted spike or head. Flowers small, 

 rose-color, subtended by pairs of subulate bracts, perfect. Stamens and style some- 

 times exserted, sometimes more or less included in the same species. 



There is a Chilian species referred to this genus by Bentham and Hooker, which has wingless 

 fruit. The two genuine species, confined to the western side of North America, are just alike in 

 herbage, and to be distinguished only by the flowers. 



1. P. congesta, DC. Corolla about a quarter of an inch long; its spur much 

 shorter and smaller than the tube ; the limb distinctly bilabiate. 



Moist soil, less abundant than the next ; common in Oregon and extending into Utah. Vary- 

 ing from a span to a foot or two in height. 



2. P. macrocera, Torr. & Gray. Corolla considerably smaller ; its thick spur 

 about the length of the body, so that it appears as if attached at the middle ; the 

 limb smaller and less evidently bilabiate. Torr. & Gray, Fl. ii. 50. P. brachy- 

 stemon, Fisch. & Meyer, Ind. Sem. Petersb. 1835. 



Common in low grounds, towards the coast and in the valleys. Fischer & Meyer's name is 

 the older, but is misleading, as the length of the stamens is not a specific character, and they 

 omitted all mention of the real distinctions of the species. 



ORDER DIFSACE.ZE, the Teasel or Scabious Family, has no indigenous 

 representatives in America, and no truly naturalized species in California. But 

 DIPSACUS FULLONUM, the Fuller's Teasel, has been met with in waste grounds 

 near old settlements. It is proper to mention it, but it hardly needs to be described. 



