26 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



I^ecanora subcarnea, Ach. Catalina. (Trask.) 



" Schleicheri, Nyl. Earth, Catalina. 



" obpallens, Nyl. Earth, Catalina. 

 Rinodina radiata Tuck. Catalina. 



" sophodes, Nyl. On caudex of Cotyledon, Catalina. 



Two New Plants from Sovitherrv CaLlifornia.. 



BY S. B. PARISH. 



ASTRAGAI^UvS BRAUNTONII. 



Perennial ; the whole plant canescent with a short, soft pub- 

 esence ; stems lignescent at base, 1-1.5 m. long, erect or reclin- 

 ate ; stipules membranous, acutely-triangular, erect and adr 

 pressed; leaflets 15-20 pairs, oblong 2-5cm. long; flowers and 

 fruit reflexed, in cylindrical compactly many-flowered spikes, 

 which are borne at the summit of the stem, and on short leafy 

 branches below ; calyx teeth slender, as long as the (3mm.) 

 campanulate tube; corolla light purple, nearly icm. long; pod 

 sessile, coriaceous, oblong, icm. long, beaked, slightly curved, 

 deeply grooved on the dorsal and 'prominently ribbed on the 

 ventral suture, two-celled by the nearlv complete infolding of 

 the dorsal suture for the lower two-thirds seminiferous part, but 

 leaving an oval orifice at the upper end of each cell, splitting 

 at maturity, and the two cells separately deciduous ; seeds 2-3 

 in each cell. 



In the Santa Monica range apparently rare. Above Santa 

 Monica, "in sterile clay soil,"' Dr. H. E. Hasse, June 25, 1899, in 

 ripe fruit, and May, 1902, (type) in flower and immature fruit. 

 Near Sherman, growing in washed decomposed granite at 

 2,000 ft. alt."., June 18, 1901, Messrs. Ernest Braunton and 

 George B. Grant. Type in Hb. Parish. Plate I. 



This interesting species may associate with the flora of Los 

 Angeles county the name of one of its most diligent explorers. 

 In its gross aspect the plant resembles A. pycnostacliyus, Gray, 

 an inhabitant of the adjacent maritime meadows, but differs 

 entirely in flower and fruit characters. The peculiar manner 

 in which, at maturity, the cells split apart at the apex and per- 

 mit the seeds to escape through the subapical orifices, after- 

 wards falling away separately, does not occur in any other 

 Astragalus of this region. 



