56 MINNESOTA STUDIES IN PLANT SCIENCE 



Ovary superior; carpels elliptic-oblong or ovoid, united to below the 

 middle; gland a somewhat constricted, yellowish to purplish girdle above 

 the base of the carpels; follicles ovoid, constricted more or less at the base, 

 the sides marked with more or less prominent longitudinal lines or ribs; 

 strongly contracted above into slender divergent beaks. Stigmas small, 

 globose. Filaments subulate. Sepals oblong, lanceolate-oblong, to ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute to obtuse, becoming strongly reflexed. Corolla irregular, 

 white, or yellowish-tinged; upper three petals sagittate, the two lower 

 oblanceolate or merely lanceolate. Seeds elliptic-fusiform, carinate, marked 

 with deeply pectinate, longitudinal ridges. Hairs multiseriate, with globose, 

 multicellular glands. Leaves basal, rosulate, alternate, with elliptic to 

 oblanceolate, deeply and coarsely to shallowly dentate blades, contracted 

 below into broad and flat to slender, petiole-like bases. Scapes solitary or 

 tufted, stout to slender, erect or assurgent, more or less branched above or 

 from near the base, in some forms prolifically, mostly coarsely glandular 

 pubescent. Inflorescence paniculate or paniculate-cymose, often diffuse, 

 with few to numerous flowers, these in the western species replaced to a 

 greater or less degree with bulbils. Perennial herbs from short, slender, 

 fibrous-rooted caudices. 



The species comprising this section form a clearly defined natural group, 

 exhibiting striking similarities in the characters of the floral organs. The 

 similarities in the carpels and capsules are so close that it is difficult to dis- 

 tinguish one species from another on these characters. 



One of the marked characteristics of this section is the complete 

 hypogyny. In addition there is a prolific production of bulbils in the 

 western species. Only two of our American species, namely S. leucanthe- 

 mifolia and 6'. ferruginea, attain any appreciable size, and these two are also 

 very similar in vegetative characters, herbarium collections of the latter 

 having been often referred to the former. Their capsules and seeds can be 

 distinguished with difiiculty. 



All the species appear to be calclphobe. With the exception of S. 

 foliolosa and 6". ferruginea they do not present contiguous or overlapping 

 ranges but occupy separate belts along the periphery of the continent. 5". 

 foliolosa is circumpolar in its range, with an isolated island of it on Mt. 

 Katahdin, Maine, the only locality from which it is known south of extreme 

 Arctic America (Fernald, in Rhodora 2:167). It is probable that it tran- 

 sects the limit of the range of 5". ferruginea on the Bering Sea coast of 

 Alaska. The most extended range is that of S. ferruginea, namely from the 

 coast of Alaska, along Bering Sea, to Montana and Oregon. 6^. hryophora 

 occupies a limited alpine region of the Sierra Nevada of California, radiating 

 from Lake Tahoe. According to Harshberger (15) it is unknown from the 

 Cascades. It is no doubt an offshoot of 5". ferruginea, with which it once 



