626 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Arenaria congesta var. aculeata (Watson, Bot. King 



40). 

 Arenaria congesta var. macradenia (Watson, P. A. A. 

 17, 367, in part Robinson P. A. A. 29, 296). 

 The character of the sepals even in Parish's type 

 specimen in the National Herbarium fails, for the sepals 

 are oblong-ovate, barely acute, with many nerves, and 

 are not more acute than Watson's type of A. acideata in 

 the National Herbarium. Watson's specimen has slender 

 stems and knotty joints, while the more southern speci- 

 mens in my collection do or do not have the joints con- 

 spicuous; the sharpness of the leaves varies greatly. 

 There is no crucial character separating these three 

 recognized species. 



Arenaria Nuttallii var. gracilipes. 



No. 5951. August 29, Brigham Peak, Utah, near 

 Marysvale, 11,500° alt., in gravel, on exposed slopes 

 above timber line. 



No. 5770c. August 7, Fish Lake, Utah, 10,800" alt., 

 on exposed ridges. 



Sepals ovate to lanceolate, acute, sometimes slightly 

 pungent, with narrow hyaline margin, midvein rather 

 prominent, i^" long; leaves channeled as in the type, 

 fasciculate, usually arched outward, blunt, or sometimes 

 abruptly tipped with a short awn, 2-4" long; stems many, 

 very slender from the erect tap-root, sometimes 18' long 

 and filiform, making a loose mat on the ground; flowers 

 widely spreading or reflexed; petals shorter than the 

 sepals; leaves scarcely connate; pubescence variable but 

 glandular-hairy throughout; the season's flowering stems 

 usually 2-5' long, rarely longer, spreading; bracts like 

 the sepals and leaves, narrowly linear, thick. I also refer 

 to this variety the following specimens in the National 

 Herbarium: Cascade Mountains, Oregon, Howell; 



