asperifolijE. 259 



5 — 6 in. high; glabrous, or nearly so, all except the floral leaves opposite: 

 spikes dense, 1 — 2 in. long: flowers very small, white, with yellow 

 centre: calyx segments closed over the immature fruit: nutlets light 

 gray, vitreous-shining, long-ovate, about % line long, with numerous close 

 transverse rugosities; insertion supra-basal, the scar linear with dilated 

 base and about one-third the length of the nutlet. — Near the warm 

 springs at Calistoga; plentiful, and probably local. April, May. 



4. A. diffusa, Greene. Pubescence light, closely appressed: branches 

 procumbent, a foot or less in length, loosely racemose from the base, the 

 raceme leafy to the middle at least; lowest pedicel % i n - l° n g> the 

 others hardly a line: calyx widely spreading, corolla small: nutlets dark 

 brown, broadly ovate, incurved, % line long, ventrally carinate down to 

 the supra-basal oblong-lanceolate scar, the back with rather sharp 

 granulations and rugas, the latter favosely confluent. — Open hills, only 

 toward the sea. April, May. 



5. A. liumistrata, Greene. Stout and succulent, the branches mostly 

 prostrate, a foot long, racemose throughout: pedicels short and stout, 

 commonly deflexed: calyx-lobes linear-spatulate, in fruit greatly enlarged 

 (4 — 6 lines long) and turned to one side, standing vertically in a row: 

 nutlets ovate-lanceolate, % line long, straight, carinate ventrally down 

 to the nearly or quite basal rounded scar, the back with minute muri- 

 culations and sharp-edged transverse rugulse which are commonly tipped 

 with a tuft of minute penicillate bristles. — Low subsaline plains of the 

 interior, on the lower San Joaquin, etc. April, May. 



6. A. trachycarpa (Gray), Greene. Size and habit of the last, but 

 more branching and decumbent rather than procumbent, commonly 

 more slender, rough with a coarser and somewhat spreading pubescence: 

 racemes less open, leafy almost throughout: segments of calyx linear, 

 widely spreading: corolla very small: nutlets ovate, straight, carinate on 

 both sides, the dorsal keel and nearly straight transverse rugas dentate- 

 interrupted; scar suborbicular, nearly basal. — Habitat of the last. 



7. A. (Jreenei (Gray). Habit, pubescence and inflorescence of the 

 last, but a coarser, larger plant; nutlets a line long, ovate, straight, 

 carinate ventrally down to the nearly basal ovate scar, the back covered 

 with coarse granulations and stout barbed prickles %—}4 l me high, these 

 distinct at base or more or less confluent into walled reticulations, the 

 latter sometimes strongly developed and the prickles themselves corre- 

 spondingly reduced or even nearly obsolete. — Very common on low 

 plains of the interior. May. 



8. A. Chorisiana (Cham.), Greene. Freely branching, the branches 

 10 — 18 in. long, at length reclining: racemeB elongated, loose, leafy 

 below; pedicels filiform, 4—8 lines long: calyx little accrescent, the 

 spreading segments about a line long: corolla 3 — 5 lines wide: nutlets 



