160 SMITH: STUDIES IN THE GENUS LuPINUS—VIII 
with brown or dark gray mottling;* tap root slender and much 
shorter than the stems. 
Like Lupinus sparsiflorus Benth., this is a composite species 
exhibiting conspicuous and often confusing variations, apt to 
be misunderstood and treated as “new species.’’ Its resem- 
blance to L. sparsiflorus was noted by Bentham, who character- 
ized the latter as: 
Flores iis L. nani subsimiles, omnes alterni v. rarius } inc inde aproxi- 
mati. 
Should the opposing characters of flowers verticillate versus 
flowers non-verticillate at any time fail, the two species may 
be easily separated by the decided difference in the ciliation of 
the keel. Apparently their ranges do not ovezlap, unless, 
verhaps, in Ventura County. 
5 
Fic. 79. Lupinus NANUS Douglas. 1. C. P. Smith 1170, Pacific Grove 
(CPS); 2. E. Hoisholt 104 (CPS); 3. C. P. Smith 3369, Olema (CPS); 
4. C. P. Smith 1384 (CPS); 5.A. A. Heller, April, 1902, Santa Rosa 
(5)3:6.-C.: P. Smith 3276 (CPS). 
Though Bentham’s original characterization of L. nanus is 
brief, he has given enough description to make recognition of the 
typical form a reasonable possibility. Extracts from his des- 
cription follows: 
Annuus humilis pilosiusculus, caulibus decumbentibus parum ramosus 
foliolis 5-7 spathulatis . . . floribus subverticillatis 
* At Felton, Santa Cruz County, a peculiar strain was found in which 
the seed varied from pale bluish-white or flesh-colored, unmarked, through 
various patterns and shades to a practically solid black, the color or pattern 
being quite constant for each individual plant, 
