434 HYDEOPHYLLACEiE. 



shape and size, not onl}' on plants which are very much unlike in 

 habit, etc., but that a wide range of variation is also found in series of 

 specimens which agree in habit, leaves, and shape of corolla. 



2. N. insignis Dougl. Baby Blue Eyes. Diffusely spreading, 

 the stems 2 or 3 in. to 1 ft. long; herbage pubescent with subappressed 

 hairs; leaves mostly f to IJ or 2 in. long, pinnately lobed, the lobes 

 elliptic-ovate with narrow deeply incurved sinuses; peduncles 1 to 2^ 

 (rarelj' 5) in. long; calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate; corolla bright blue 

 or the center white or the whole corolla pale, often dotted towards 

 the center; scales 2 to each stamen, each pair consisting of vertical 

 lamellae beginning at the base of the filament, thence slightly di- 

 vergent, slightly free at apex, very hairy; anthers short-sagittate; 

 styles cleft J the way down; ovary very hii-sute. 



Low and moist places on the plains of the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin, westward through the Coast Eange valleys to sandy fields 

 in the vicinity of the sea. Mar.-Apr. 



Var. intermedia (N. intermedia Bioletti). Corolla f to 1 in. 

 wide, bright blue to white, distinctly blue-veined, more or less punc- 

 tate with dull purple dots; scales extending nearlj- to the sinuses. — 

 North Coast Ranges; Contra Costa and Alameda Cos. 



Var. atomaria (N. atomaria P. & M.). Corolla white, closely 

 dark-spotted nearly to the edge; scales narrow and long-hairy, — 

 Springy places among the hills. 



3. N. venosa. Stems 4 or 5 in. long, diffusely branching; herbage 

 sparsely hairy; leaves pinnately parted into ovate divisions which are 

 entire or cleft and mucronate at apex; corolla 8 to 10 lines broad, its 

 lower half of velvet-purple color, the upper portion white with many 

 nearly parallel longitudinal purple veins which are more or less 

 branched and confluent within the margin; scales of the corolla con- 

 spicuously long-hairy. 



Known only from specimens collected by Mrs. Peckinpah in the 

 mountains west of Yountville, 1898. It is to be noted that there are 

 garden forms which are very suggestive of this species. 



N. MACTTLATA Benth. is a strikingly handsome species of the foot- 

 hills and middle altitudes of the Sierra Nevada, the white petals with 

 a large deep violet blotch at the summit. 



4. N . aurita Lindl. Pukple Nbmophila. Stems 4-angled, IJ to 

 4 ft. long, succulent, weak, pubescent, the angles'armed with scat- 

 tered short reflexed bristles and the whole herbage pubescent and 

 rough-hispidulous; leaves 2 to 3 in. long, deeply pinnatifid into 

 several oblong or lanceolate, mostly retrorse lobes, with broad auricled 

 bases; flowers in the axils of leaves or above in a leafless raceme; 

 calyx-appendages rather small; corolla dark violet, 8 to 11 lines 

 broad; scales partly free, in pairs at the base of each stamen and partly 

 encircling the filament, truncate at summit and finely denticulate; 

 ovules 4; seeds globose, reticulate, the spaces pit-like. 



In shady places, disposed to climb by aid of its somewhat 

 hooked prickles and forming tangles among low shrubs or brushwood. 

 Common southward: Santa Monica Oaiion, Barber, 1898; near 



