286 



VALERIANACE^. Galium. 



of the floral ones in pairs (or even alternate), varying from roundisli-ovate to 

 oblong-lanceolate, apiculate, rigid, mostly 3-nerved : flowers yellowish-white, soli- 

 tary or in threes at the end of short branches : fruit-bearing pedicels mostly longer 

 than the long villous hairs of the fruit, at length recurved. — Proc. Cahf. Acad. ii. 

 97 (18G1); Watson, 1. c. G. hypotrichium, Gray, 1. c. (1865). 



Dry eastern portion of the Sierra Nevada ; near Conner Pass (Torrey) ; Sonora Pass {Breiocr) ; 

 Sierra Valley, &c. ; and in Nevada. 



G. STELLATUM, Kellogg, 1. c (to which is evidently to be referred G. acutissimum. Gray, 

 Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 350), extends from New Mexico through Arizona {Palmer) to Cerros 

 Island, off the coast of Lower California, and may be found within the State. It is remarkable 

 for its ovate-lanceolate rigid leaves, tapering to a pungent point. 



4_ 4_ ^_ +- With low and depressed stems thickly set ivith persistent leaves, forming 

 cushion-like tufts on the ground : flowers perfect. 



14. Gr. Andrevirsii, Gray. Csespitose on slender creeping rootstocks, glabrous : 

 leaves crowded in fours and in axillary fascicles, subulate or acerose, rigid, shining, 

 pungent, 1-nerved, or rather with a stout midrib, either naked or spinulose-ciHate 

 on the margins : flowers solitary or in threes, terminating the branchlets, very small, 

 on short or slender pedicels : corolla white. — Proc. Am. Acad. vi. 538. 



Dry hills near the coast, from the Bay of Monterey south to Fort Tejon, &c. Plant forming 

 tufts from 2 inches to a span in height ; leaves 2 to 5 lines long, half a line or less in width. 

 [The fruit, recently collected by Palmer, proves to be baccate and glabrous, showing that the 

 species is most nearly allied to G. NuUallii of the Eelbukium section.] 



Order L. VALERIANACE^. 



These are herbs, with opposite leaves and no stipules ; the distinct stamens (1 to 

 4) almost always fewer than the lobes of the corolla, and borne on its tube ; the 

 inferior ovary with two abortive or empty cells, and a single fertile one containing 

 a solitary pendulous ovule, ripening into a kind of akene. — Flowers perfect or by 

 abortion dioecious. Calyx sometimes obsolete, except its tube consolidated with the 

 ovary, sometimes with a limb composed of teeth, chaff", or bristles. Corolla tubu- 

 lar or funnelform, often irregular ; its limb 3 - 5-cleft ; the lobes imbricated in the 

 bud. Style filiform : stigmas 1 to 3 : ovule anatropous. Fruit dry and indehis- 

 cent, either one-celled, the two other cells having disappeared, or more or less 

 3-celled, two of the cells empty or mere vestiges. Seed destitute of albumen, filled 

 by the large and straight embryo : radicle superior. — Inflorescence cymose. 



A family of nine genera and about 300 species, of small economical importance, except as yield- 

 ing the officinal Yalerian (the peculiar odor and properties of which prevail in the roots of most 

 of the perennial species), mainly belonging to the temperate and frigid parts of the world, spar- 

 ingly represented in North America. Only one Valerian has thus far been detected in California, 

 but there is a peculiar genus. 



Corn Salads (Fedia or Vakriandla) are likely to occur in grain-fields, introduced from Europe, 

 but are not yet met with. 



1. Valeriana. Limb of the calyx inrolled and concealed in flower, evolute and pappus-like 



in fruit, of plumose bristles. Corolla spui'less. Stamens 3. Perennials. 



2. Plectritis. Limb of the calyx obsolete. Tube of the corolla bearing a spur. Stamens 3. 



Annuals. 



1. VALERIANA, Tourn. Valerian. 

 Limb of the calyx involute and concealed in the flowering state, evolute in fruit, 

 formed of numerous plumose bristles, resembling a pappus, deciduous. Corolla with 

 more or less cylindrical or obconical tube, which is often gibbous but not spurred at 



