34 ^ BOTANICAL GAZETTE [J^ly 



by a narrowed base, sparingly ciliate-margined as are also the 

 sepals: spike dense, 5-10''"' long ; the flowers short-pediceled : 

 calyx unequally 4-cleft, the lobes elliptic, toothed at apex : 

 corolla yellow or greenish-yellow, cleft at either side nearly to 

 the base ; the upper lip broadly obovate, with cuneate base and 

 entire or toothed summit, exceeding the calyx and the 2-3-cleft 

 lower lip by about half : stamens exserted, with purplish fila- 

 ments and yeflow anthers : mature fruits not at hand. 



This species was collected and distributed by Professor C. S. Crandall as 

 S, pianiaginea Benth. To this it is allied, but more closely to S. Ritteriana 

 Eastwood, though even from this it differs in many essential respects. Col- 

 lected at Cimarron, Montrose co., Colo., May 18, 1898. 



Synthyris Ritteriana obtusa, n. var, — Leaves very obtuse, 

 exceeding the scarcely margined petiole ; foliar bracts suborbicu- 

 lar, usually cuspidate ; floral bracts merely acute, distinctly 

 purple-veined on the inside, with a narrowed base but not peti- 

 oled : calyx parted to the base at the sides, the two lobes simi- 

 lar, orbicular or reniform, sometimes one or both from slightly 

 to deeply cleft near one side, thus giving a 3 or 4-cleft calyx or 

 unequal lobes: corollas yellowish-white, slightly exceeding the 

 calyx, the two lips parted to the base ; the upper Up rounded or 

 truncate ; the lower nearly similar or laciniately toothed or 

 lobed. 



If the above characters, which are mainly points of distinction between 

 this plant and S. Ritteriana, are not specific, they at least call attention to a 

 good variety. The specimens are those distributed by Messrs. Baker, Earle, 

 and Tracy, no. 225, as S, Ritteriana^ and bearing the note "this but a short 

 distance from the type locality where it was also observed." In spite of the 

 locality, the plant fails to measure up to the characters, and must be at least 

 varietally distinct. In case the now proposed variety must later be included 

 into the species, the description of the latter will have to be materially modi- 

 fied ; but in the absence of the type specimen I leave it as a variety, 



Gaertneria tomeatosa (Nutt.), n. comh.— Ambrosia tomentosa 



Nutt. Gen.2: 186. 18 18; Fra?iseria discolor ^xxit., Trains. Am. ?^''^^- 

 Soc. n. ser. 7:345. 1841; Xajithiditmi discolor Delpino, Studi 

 sopra Artemis 62. 1871. — That NuttalTs Franseria discolor is 

 simply his Ambrosia tomentosa seems more than probable. As 



