18 Contributions from the Gray Herbarium 
LAPPULA CALIFORNICA (Gray) Piper, Bull. Torr. Club. xxix. 546 
(1902). Mr. A. A. Heller has distributed recently under his number 
12426 a Lappula secured by him June 22, 1916 in Siskiyou County, 
California, the label of which bears this inscription: ‘‘ Lappula 
bella Macbride, Cont. Gray Herb. ii. 48: 39. 1916.” If Mr. Heller 
had wished to collect the species most distantly related to L. bella 
he should have selected L. californica, which, as a matter of fact is 
nicely represented by his number 12426! L. californica is very 
common in pe ai sae 
/ Mertensia Eastwoodae M. alaskana Eastw. Bot. 
Gaz. xxxiii. 287 802), not as aiden Britton, Bull. N. Y. Bot. 
Gard. ii. 181 (1901 
In Contrib. Gray ‘Ty n. ser. xlviii. 7 (1916) the above species 
were listed as segregates of M. paniculata, with the statement, ‘ if 
I may judge from character alone, these are not worthy specific 
rank.’’ Since then, however, I have examined a specimen pre- 
served at the Missouri Botanical Garden which purports to be a 
part of the type collection of M. alaskana Eastw. and shows that 
Miss Eastwood’s species is not, in reality, very closely related to 
M. paniculata. Indeed the pubescence on the pedicels is closely 
appressed, a characteristic which suggests M. pratensis and its 
allies but from which it is at once recognizable by its narrow acu- » 
minate leaves and pectinately-rugose fruits. M. alaskana Britton 
on the other hand is a segregate of M. paniculata as is shown by 
Miss Eastwood’s no. 94 from Dawson Slide which agrees exactly 
with the original diagnosis. It is to be distinguished from M. pani- 
culata by the glabrous or only ciliate sepals and the somewhat 
narrower, glabrous (or very slightly pubescent beneath) leaves. 
Numerous collections from different localities are needed to prove 
the value of the presence or absence and position of pubescence 
as a character for distinguishing species in this group. 
MERTENSIA GRANDIS Woot. & Standl. Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 
. xvi. 165 (1913). In Contrib. Gray Herb. n. ser. xlviii. 8 (1916) 
this species was referred to M. franciscana Heller. Recently, how- 
ever I have examined co-type material (Metcalfe, no. 1319) of M. 
grandis as preserved at the Missouri Botanical Garden and I now 
doubt the wisdom of my reduction. The species is indeed very 
near M. franciscana but the corollas are rather of the type of 
M. pratensis, except that they are even larger. Since the species 
