LIBRARY 



NEW y (n ., K 



Volume 5 November 17, 1909 



MUHLENBERGIA 



THE NEVADA LUPINES— I 

 By a. a. Heller 



The only connected account of the Nevada members of this 

 interesting genus is that by Watson in the Botany of the King 

 Report 53-58. 1 87 1. He enumerated seventeen different forms 

 as occurring in Nevada, four of which were described as new 

 species and one as a new variety. One was designated as an 

 unnamed species from the East Humboldt mountains, and one 

 as an unnamed variety. Some of the names used by him clearly 

 do not belong to any of our Nevada plants, but these will be 

 mentioned in their proper places during the course of this study. 



Since 1871 three Nevadan species have been described, L. 

 Shock Icy i Wats., L. malacopJiyllus Greene, and L. miccnsis Jones, 

 and two others appear in this paper. 



All three of the sections treated by Watson in Proc. Am. 

 Acad. 8: 517-548. 1873, are represented in Nevada, as are also 

 the minor groups. 



Only the sections Lupinellus and Platycarpos will be treated 

 in this first paper. It seems best to me to study the annuals 

 first and arrange them all in sequence, rather than divide them 

 as Watson did. L. )?iicc?isis Jones is excluded from this paper, 

 since it proves to be not a member of the Platycarpos group. 



A number of years experience in the field has convinced 

 me that the principal characters are to be found in the flowers 

 and calyx. True, there are often important characters in the 

 pods and seeds, but a fruiting specimen alone is very hard to 

 determine unless one has a very good idea of what it ought to 

 be. In certain groups the seeds of a number of species appear 

 to be practically the same in shape and coloring, but the pods 

 are more apt to vary in the kind and degree of pubescence. 



