Physaria. CRUCIFER.E. ^*j 



* % * Stouter and often tall, mostly biennial or perennial : pedicels terete. 

 -s- Annual : petals small or usually 7ione : stamens 2 : style none or very short. 



8. L. intermedium, Gray. Erect and branching, with the habit of L. Virgini- 

 cum, I to 1 h I't^et high, puberulent or glabrous : lower leaves 1 to 2 inches lon^^, 

 toothed or pinnatihd, the upper often entire or but sparingly toothed, oblanceolate 

 or linear : petals wanting in the western form : pods smooth or rarely puberulent, 

 rounded, 1 to 1| lines broad, very shortly winged with somewhat divergent obtuse 

 teeth : pedicels spreading, 2 lines long. — PI. Wright, ii. 15. 



The more common species east of the Sierra Nevada, widely distributed through the interior 

 ranging from the Columbia Valley to Hudson's Bay and southward to Texas, New Mexico, and 

 S. California. The typical form of Texas and New Mexico has rather small petals. 



4- -{- Biennial or perennial : petals conspicuous : stamens G : style exceeding the wings. 



9. L. montanum, Xutt. Biennial, puberulent or pubescent or nearly glabrous, 

 1 1 feet high ur less : leaves pinnatihd, the oblong to lanceolate segments usually 

 more or less divided, especially on the upper side ; uppermost leaves Avith few seg- 

 ments or linear and entire : petals twice as long as the sepals : pods a line broad, 

 ovate, narrowly winged above with short acutish teeth. — Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 116 ; 

 Watson, Bot. King Exp. 29. 



In dry valleys and on hillsides from the "Snake Country" (Tolmir) through Nevada to 

 Sonora, New Mexico, and Colorado. Anderson's specimens from near Carson City are perennial 

 and approach the next. 



10. L. alyssoides, Gray. Puberulent or often glabrous and glaucous, from a 

 perennial root, diffusely branched, |- to 1 foot high : leaves linear, 2 to 3 inches 

 long, the lowest sparingly lobed with linear segments : flowers large : pods from 

 narrowly oblong or linear becoming ovate, 1 to \h lines broad, sliortly winged 

 above with acutish teeth. — PL Fendl. 10. 



In alkaline soils, from N. Nevada and C(jlorado to Northern Mexico. 



11. L. Frem.ontii, Watson. Perennial with a somewhat woody base, diffusely 

 branched, glabrous and glaucous, 1 to 1| feet high : leaves linear, 1 to 3 inches 

 long, entire or sparingly lobed : racemes rather short and few-flowered, terminal and 

 lateral : pods rounded, abruptly cuneate at base, 2 to 4 lines broad, slightly emar- 

 ginate with short very obtuse teeth. — Bot. King Exp. 30, t. 4. 



In dry deserts ; Mohave River (Fremont) ; Northwestern Nevada ( Watson, Lcnimon) ; S. Utah 

 {Parry) ; S. Colorado, Itofhrock. 



25. PHYSARIA, Nutt. 



Pod didymous, with a short narrow partition ; cells inflated, nearly globular, 



membranaceous, nerveless, several-seeded. Seeds not winged; cotyledons accum- 



bent. — Low and stellately canescent perennials ; leaves mostly entire ; the flowers 



yellow. 



Three species are known, confined to the interior of the continent, with the hal)it of J'csicarut, 

 to wliich they are referred by Bentham and Hooker. 



1. P. didym.OCarpa, Gray. Decumbent, diffusely branched : radical leaves 

 broadly spatulate, occasionally lyrate ; the cauline oblanceolate, mostly entire: flowers 

 showy ; racemes short : pods 2 to 6 lines in diameter, deeply emarginate abo\x' and 

 below, the cells usually approximate, sometimes divergent ; the partition only 1 to 

 l^ lines long. — Gen. 111. i. 162 ; Watson, Bot. King Exp. 20. Vesicaria didymo- 

 carpa. Hook. Fl. i. 49, t. 16. 



On the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada in the mountains to Colorado and nortliward to Brit- 

 ish America. 



