Collomia. POLEMONIACE/E. 4S7 



Sierra Nevada, from Mariposa Co. to Shasta, at 5,000 to 10,000 feet, thence far northward and 

 eastward ; on the westward slope mainly the var. diffusa. A variable species. 



4. P. caespitosa, Nutt. Forming dense and cushion-like tufts 3 or 4 inches 

 high: leaves short (2 to 5 lines long), from aceiose-subulate to oblong-linear, rigid, 

 erect or -ascending and usually imbricated, completely covering the short stems, their 

 educes ciliate with short bristly hairs, otherwise glabrous: flowers as in the preced- 

 ing but smaller. — Jour. Acad, f'hilad. vii. t. 6. 



Higher Sierra Nevada : on Silver Mountain at 11,000 feet (Brewer), tin- var. condensate : a 

 very compact, small-leaved and small-flowered form, which has been confounded with P. Hoodii. 

 The species, in several forms, extends eastward tu the Rocky .Mountains. 



+- +■ Leaves hoary with soft pubescence or cobwebby wooi: flowers white. 



5. P. canescens, Torr. & Gray. Forming broad and mostly compact mats, a 

 few inches high, gray or whitened by the woolly pubescence: leaves acerose or slen- 

 der-subulate, ascending or somewhat spreading, rather rigid, 3 to 5 lines long : tube 

 of the corolla longer than the calyx; the lobes obovate, entire or emargtuate. — 

 Pacif. R. Rep. ii. 8, t. 6. 



Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada on the borders of the State (Bloomer, Watson), and through 

 tie- interior country to Utah ami Wyoming. 



P. muscoibes and P. bryoides, Nutt, are smaller species, in dense moss-like tufts, with the 

 downy leaves compactly imbricated in four ranks, natives of the interior and Rocky Mountains. 



2. COLLOMIA, Xutt. 



• 'alvx .Velcft. ( 'orolla salverform or tubular-funnelform ; the throat commonly 

 enlarged. Stamens usually more or less exserted, with slender filaments, unequally 

 inserted in or beneath the throat of the corolla. Ovules and seeds solitary or several 

 in each cell. Seed-coat simple, when wetted producing copious mucilage (whence 

 the gen, -rir name), which is usually filled with long uncoiling spiral threads. — 

 Chiefly annuals (North American, and one or two extra-tropical South American), 

 mostly glandular-viscid ; with alternate haves, or the lower opposite, either entire', 

 incised, or pinnately compound : flowers cymose-clustered or panicled, or scattered. 



§ 1. Corolla salverform, or villi the throat or upper part of the tube somew/i"' 

 larged: seeds solitary in each cell, or 2 or 3 in Hie last species. 



* Leaves simp!,- and sessile, entire, <>/• the lower occasionally few-toothed or incised. 



+- Calyx-tubi obconical or top-shaped : leaves all but the lowest alterti 



1. C. grandifiora, DougL Erect, a fool or two high, rather stout: leaves 

 linear, oblong lance 'late, or the uppermosl almost ovate (2 or '■'< inches long) : flowers 

 capitate-crowded at the summit and in the upper axils : calyx-lobes obtuse : corolla 

 buff or salmon-color tan inch long and the oblong lobes I lines long), showy. — 

 Lindl Bot. Reg. t. 1171 : Book. Bot. Mag. t. 2894. 



Sierra Nevada and liigher foot-hills, from San Diego Co. northward ; thence to Oregon and tie' 

 Rocky Mountains. 



2. C. linearis, Xutt. More branched, and when old spreading, a -pin to a fool 

 or more in height : lower haves linear, upper lanceolate: flowers capitate-crowded 



as in the foregoing, but smaller: calyx-lobes triangular-lai olate and very acute: 



corolla yellowish-whil • brownish-purple, slender, half an inch hoe' or less; the 



oval lobes about a lino long. Gen. i. 126; Lindl. Bot. Reg., t. 1166; Hook. Hot. 

 Mi i. 2893. 



Var. subulata, Gray, Diffuse!) n Ii branched, n span or so in height, more 



viscid: leaves acute: flowers fewer in the clusters, ami some scattered "> aearlj 



