Contribulions to W'est American Botany. (->3 



above title as herbarium material and available literature increases. 

 While much still remains to be done by the systematic botanist, 

 it is believed that our flora offers a wid'er field for observations in 

 other directions and of greater value to botanical science. 



HosACKiA (Svrmatium) H avdoni.— Suffrutescent , six inches 

 to a foot or more high, the slender stems woody at base, at first 

 slighdy spreading, then recurving inward and slighdy intertwin- 

 ing, forming a foosely-compact bush, glabrous or nearly so 

 throughout: leaflets three or less, oblong, obtuse, one to two mm. 

 long: flowers single or more rarely in pairs, short pedunculate, 

 two mm. long: calyx of equal length, the teeth narrowly subulate, 

 erect, a half to one-fourth as long as the tube: pod but slightly 

 incurved, usually twice the length of the persistent calyx, one 

 seeded: seed dark olive-green, two and a half mm. long, slighdy 

 curved. 



I take pleasure in dedicating this delicate species to Mr. Marion 

 D. Haydon, in return for his hospitality and tor his directing my 

 attention to various forage plants whose valuable qualities had 

 previously been unsuspected. Collected in April. 1889, growing 

 among the rocks in a canyon leading into the Colorado desert, 

 on the old stage line from San Diego to Ft. Yuma. With H. 

 glabra, Torr.,'this plant is commonly known as the deer weed, 

 but its smaller growth will render it less valuable for cultivation 

 and it is apparcndy too limited in its distribution to assume im- 

 portance as a wild forage plant. 



Staminodia and Stamens.— In examining a large number of 

 the flowers of Hookcra minor. Britten, in the field this spring, 

 I was somewhat surprised to find numerous specimens in which 

 the staminodia were changed to perfect, fertile stamens. The 

 first instance noticed was in a flower evidendy injured by some 

 insect, but so many examj^les were found later, where the stam- 

 inodia were partially or wholly changed into anther-bearing 

 stamens that I cannot ascribe it to the work of insects. This 

 illustrates how little value can be placed in this genus on the un- 

 reliable characters of the stamens and staminodia. 



HooKERA Orcuttil— Greene, Bull., 6, Cal. Acad. Sci. 138. 

 This species has been well characterized by Prof. Greene and is 

 a very distinct species. Having examined a large number of the 

 flowers in the field this season, I can speak positively of the ab- 

 sence of any traces of staminodia in any that I collected, and only 

 three stamens were ever present. I first collected this species in 

 1882 in a valley about thirty miles north of San Diego, 

 and later in the unusually wet seasons of 1S84 and the present 

 year. I found it abundant on our mesas, often associated with 

 H. minor, Brit. The bulb is large, with a thick, fibrous envelope. 



