December 20, 1909 T 53 



like appearance viewed from the back; wings inflated and open 

 below, the opening ovate, nearly 3 mm. wide, the upper edges 

 meeting; keel not protruded from the open wings, rather strongly 

 curved, 3 mm. wide for about two-thirds its length, then taper- 

 ing to the acute apex: pods yellowish, 1 cm. long, 6 mm. wide, 

 oblique at either end, ventral margin with a fringe of long hairs: 

 seeds grey, wrinkled, about 2 mm. in diameter. 



Sheet 20973 in the U. S. National Herbarium bears a spe- 

 cimen of this species. On the label is the legend "Lupinus 

 brevicaulis fide S. W. Locality, Great Basin, Nevada. Col- 

 lector, J. G. Lemmon, 1875." Written above the label is 

 "Shockleyi W. M. E. J." 



The species has nothing in common with either L. brevi- 

 caulis or L. Shockleyi, being equally far removed from both, as 

 may be seen from the descriptions, key, and illustrations, differ- 

 ing totally in appearance and having no characters in common 

 with them other than that it is a lupine of the Platycarpos sec- 

 tion. 



Mr. Lemmon's locality is rather vague, and it is quite prob- 

 able that he really collected the plant on the Mojave desert, Cal- 

 ifornia, where the type was collected, and where it has been 

 found at a number of stations. But it should be looked for in 

 southwestern Nevada. I have seen it at the upper end of Owen's 

 valley near Benton, not far from the Nevada line, and it may 

 occur in the region adjacent to Death valley. 



Mule Ears 

 This common name for Wyethia mollis Gray, as used by 

 the Editor of Muhlenbergia in the issue for September (5: 131) 

 is, it seems to me, a better form than that which is cited in the 

 writer's Flora of Western Middle California, 541. 1901, where 

 the form Mule's Ears is indicated as the common name equiva- 

 lent of Wyethia glabra Gray. Both forms are doubtless used 

 by the folk and applied indifferently to any Wyethia species 

 with broad, pointed leaves, including the species Wyethia hele- 

 nioides Nutt. — Wn.i.is L. JEPSON. 



