January 31, 1910 7 



versity of Nevada. However, there was no possibility of finding 

 it on January 5, 1910, for on that date we had a temperature of 

 from six to ten degrees below zero, with six inches of snow on 

 the ground. Last year plants in bloom were brought in on either 

 the 1 2th or 22d of February, from the hills two or three miles 

 north of Reno, where they were found on a moist flat. The 

 plant used for the cover illustration was collected at Verdi on 

 March 30, 1902, by J. C. lira}-. The flowers are apparently 

 white, but may have faded. Two other collections are: Verdi, 

 February 10, 1896, F. H. Hillman; Washoe, March 10, 1895, 

 F. H. Hillman. 



Douglas first collected this species, and Hooker, who pub- 

 lished it in Fl. Bor. Am. 1: 12. pi. 5. A. 1829, g ave ^ as "com- 

 mon on the mountains around the Kettle Falls [Washington], 

 and on the Rocky Mountains, near the limits of perpetual snow." 

 The root leaves were described as roundish, entire, or obtusely 

 three-lobed at the apex; the stem leaves cuneate, three-lobed 

 nearly to the middle: His illustration shows all of the basal 

 leaves entire. Our plant is young, and accordingly the long 

 slender petioles of the basal leaves are not so well developed as 

 they would be in a more mature specimen, such as the one col- 

 lected at Verdi by Hillman. This specimen, unfortunately, is 

 not suitable for an illustration. The specimen from Washoe 

 corresponds rather to R, ellipticus Greene, Pittonia 2: no. 1890. 

 It too is a young plant, with all the leaves, both root and stem, 

 elliptical and entire. 



Hooker states that "the whole plant has a succulent appear- 

 ance, and turns almost black in drying." The fact that it be- 

 came black in drying was no doubt due to the treatment it. got, 

 and not to any inherent characteristic of the plant. Very few 

 plants blacken if properly cared for. ' Even Baptisia tinctoria 

 of the eastern states, which invariably blackens under the ordi- 

 nary treatment, can be kept green if the branches and leaves 

 are not allowed to overlap, and an undue amount of moisture 

 prevented from accumulating in the driers. 



