76 Muhlenbergia, Volume 5 



STANLEYA VIRIDIFLORA 

 By A. A. Heller 



4. S. viridiflora (Nutt. inss.): "erect, glabrous; leaves cune- 

 ate-obovate, acute, entire, the radical ones with a few runcinate 

 teeth towards the base; petals linear, and, as well as the calyx, 

 herbaceous. 



"Bare shelving hills on Ham's fork of the Colorado of the 

 west, and in other parts of the Rocky Mountains, towards the 

 sources of Lewis's River; also on the head waters of the Platte. 

 July-Aug. — Root very stout and cylindrical, penetrating deeply 

 into the earth; the taste bitter and nauseous. Stem simple, 3-4 

 feet high. Radical leaves clustered, about a span long, occa- 

 sionally almost pinnatifid at the base; cauline ones entire, rap- 

 idly diminishing in size upward, so that the superior part of the 

 stem is naked. Raceme very long (sometimes 2 feet in length), 

 crowded with flowers. Calyx and corolla greenish-yellow, and 

 not showy. Sepals long and linear. Petals linear; the lamina 

 scarcely longer than the claw. Anthers very long and linear. 

 Immature fruit smooth; the pedicel about half an inch long: 

 stipe about an inch in length, nearly as long as the silique." 

 Xittl. 



The above is the description of Sianleya viridiflora Nutt. 

 in Torrey and Gray's Flora 1: 98. i#3& This description is 

 so far the best one of the species. In the Synoptical Flora 1 : 

 Part 1, 105, under the generic kev, the petals of Stanleya are 

 said to be "long and narrow, spatiilate, slender-clawed.'? On 

 page 178, the generic description says "cream-colored or yellow 

 flowers," and on the same page, under the description of S. vir- 

 idiflora "flowers greenish," is all that is mentioned concerning 

 .the flowers. We are left to infer that the flowers of all the spe- 



are "long and narrow, spatulate, slender-clawed,!' and that 

 there is no more to be said about them, except to note variations 

 in color. 



The note at tin- end of the description of S. viridiflora in 

 the Synoptical Flora says that "the suggested S. collina of Jones, 



1. c. [Zoe .'»: 283] appears to be the typical form of the spivics." 



