62 



POLEMOXIACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



7. Gilia acerosa (A. Gray) Britton. Needle-leaved 

 Gilia. Fig. 3478. 



G. rigidula var. acerosa A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8: 280. 1870. 

 Gilia acerosa Britton, Man. 761. 1901. 



Perennial, from a woody base, 4'-?' high, glandular-pubes- 

 cent, bushy-branched, the slender branches erect-ascending. 

 Leaves i' long or less, pinnately parted into 3-7 acicular en- 

 tire segments; flowers scattered, on slender pedicels i' long 

 or less; corolla rotate, about 10" wide, its lobes rounded at 

 the apex, abruptly contracted at the base; filaments filiform; 

 anthers oblong; capsule about as long as the calyx-tube. 



Rocky and gravelly soil, Kansas to Texas, Mexico and New 

 Mexico. April-Aug. 



4. LEPTODACTYLON H. & A. Bot. Beech. Voy. 369. 1841. 



Low perennial herbs, somewhat woody, with alternate deeply pinnatifid or palmatifid 

 leaves, their segments subulate and spinescent, the rather large flowers terminal, clustered or 

 solitary. Calyx 4-S-lobed, the lobes spinescent, the sinuses not scarious but membranous. 

 Corolla funnel form, 4~5-lobed, the lobes somewhat spreading. Stamens short. Capsule at 

 length distending the calyx-tube, many-seeded. [Greek, referring to the deeply divided 

 leaves.] 



Three or four species, natives of western North America. Type species : Leptodactylon cali- 

 fornicum H. & A. 



i. Leptodactylon caespitosum Nutt. Tufted Sharp-leaved Gilia. Fig. 3479. 



L. caespitosum Nutt. Journ. Acad. Phila. II. i : 157- 1847. 



Gilia pungens caespitosa A. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 8 : 

 268. 1870. 



Gilia caespitosa A. Nelson, Bull. Torr. Club 25 : 546. 

 1898. Not A. Gray. 



Much branched and tufted from a thick buried 

 woody base, 3'-s' high. Leaves densely fascicled 

 and imbricated, 3~5-parted, 4" long or less, the seg- 

 ments subulate, spinulose-tipped, glabrous, or the 

 margins ciliate; bases of the old leaves persistent; 

 calyx about half as long as the corolla-tube, 4-lobed, 

 the lobes subulate ; corolla white or yellowish, sal- 

 verform, the tube about 6" long, the limb 4-lobed ; 

 stamens 4. 



Dry bluffs, western Nebraska and Wyoming. June- 

 Sept. 



Leptodactylon pungens Nutt. [Gilia pungens (Torr.) Benth.], of western North America, illus- 

 trated in our first edition, where the above species was regarded as a variety of it, is not known 

 to occur within our area. 



