BOTANICAL NOTES. 263 



says: "Quite distinct from the true musk plant, being of 

 more than twice the size, scentless, and possibly only an- 

 nual; certainly never rooting at the joints." Elsewhere he 

 says the seeds are white. 



I observed it this year on Howell Mountain, Napa Count}^ 

 strongly musk-scented, rooting at every joint in contact 

 with the damp earth, undoubtedly perennial by a great mass 

 of creeping rootstocks, and its seeds exactly as in the 

 typical form, and similar observations have been recorded 

 by Mr. C. E. Orcutt, of San Diego, and others. 



The musky odor of this variet}', and perhaps of the type, 

 varies in different plants and at different hours, being appar- 

 ently very much stronger in the early morning when covered 

 with dew^ 



Var. LONGiFLORUS Gray. if. moniliformis Greene. — Dr. 

 Gray was certainly in error in dividing moniliformis and 

 retaining a part of it under that name; for as all the forms, 

 whether glabrous or pubescent, have, at least occasionally, 

 moniliform rootstocks and similar flowers, they will have 

 to go together under the same name, whatever it is decided 

 to be, 



M. DENTATUS Nutt. in forms from the Sierra Nevada 

 seems to approach 31. luteiis much more nearly than it does 

 any variety of i!£ moschatus. 



M. ScouLERi Hook., is still insufficiently known. 



M. LUTEUS L. 31. gnttatus DC. 31. rivularis & variegatus 

 Lodd. 31. Smithii Lindl. 31. Tilingii Kegel; 31. micro- 

 phyllus Benth. 31. Geyeri Torr. 31. glaucescens, Hallii, 

 nasuius & arvensis Greene. 



Any classification of the forms of 3Iimulus luteus and 

 related species, on the basis of " annual" or "perennial," 

 is not only entirely Avrong, but very mischievous, leading 

 directly to the inordinate multiplication of names. It is, 

 at best, feebly perennial by what may be termed successive 



