130 POLYGONACEAE. 



furrows, with pink scarious margins and straight or uncinate awns; calyx- 

 Begmenta apiculate, the alternate often emarginate; hairy on the back. 



Santa Cruz Mts. Var. diffusa Parry; has all the cauline leaves reduced to 

 narrow or very small bracts and the margins of the involucre usually white. 



5. C. polygonioides T. & G. Dichotomously branched, forming mats 5 to 

 10 in. across; bracts in pairs, oblanceolate or obovate, resembling the leaves of 

 the radical rosette and becoming smaller towards the ends of the branches; 

 involucres ob-pyramidal, without scarious margin, solitary or in 2s or 3s. the 

 tube 1 to iy 2 lines long, the 3 larger segments as long and with alternating 

 short ones at base. 



Napa Range, eastern Alameda Co., Sierra Nevada, and southward to South- 

 ern California. 



6. C. pungens Benth. Somewhat slender, villous-pubescent, the branches 

 prostrate or at first erect, 2 to 15 in. long, sub-dichotomous ; leaves spatulate 

 or oblanceolate, % to l 1 /* in. long, opposite petioles of the cauline leaves 3 

 lines long, those of the radical 9 lines or less ; bracts linear or subulate, acerose ; 

 involucres clustered on short lateral branchlets 2 to 3 lines long, unequally 

 toothed, the alternate shorter; teeth of the involucre scarious margined, 

 strongly uncinate; calyx narrowed at base, cleft about % the way down; seg- 

 ments equal, oblong, erose-denticulate at summit, mucronulate; stamens .9, 

 unequal, filaments plainly adnate to the lower part of the tube; styles slender, 

 equaling the stamens. 



Sand hills, San Francisco Peninsula southward to Monterey. 



7. C. clevelandii Parry. Plants prostrate, branched from the base, 4 to 

 16 in. broad, hairy pubescent; radical leaves ovate-spatulate, cauline leaves 

 narrow and pungent; involucre with unequal divergent uncinate teeth; outer 

 calyx-segments shortly cleft, broadly ovate, erose, the inner narrow and laci- 

 niate; stamens 3. 



Eastern Napa Co.; Lake Co. 



8. C. uniaristata T. & G. Stems prostrate, 2 to 6 in. long, with a short, 

 soft pubescence; leaves broadly spatulate, the bracts oblanceolate, cuspidate; 

 involucres numerous but rather loosely cymose on the branches or sometimes 

 densely clustered; involucral teeth not margined but awned; one awn long and 

 straight, the others very short and hooked; flowers cream-colored; outer seg- 

 ments of the calyx entire, obovate, the inner % as long, oblong, erenate ; 

 stamens 6. 



Mt. Diablo and through the South Coast Eanges, especially toward the 

 interior. 



4. OXYTHECA Nutt. 



Slender annuals with the internodes more or less covered with stipitate 

 glands and a repeatedly dichotomqus inflorescence. Leaves in a rosette at 

 base. Bracts foliaceous and more or less connate, often in 3s. Involucres few- 

 flowered, more or less distinctly pedicellate, campanulate or turbinate, 3 to 

 5 cleft, the teeth bearing a bristle or awn, or awnless. Flowers mostly exserted. 

 Calyx-segments equal, glandular-pubescent on the outside. Stamens 9. Achene 

 commonly lenticular. (Greek oxus, sharp, and theke, case, in allusion to the 

 spiny involucre.) 



1. O. hirtiflora (Gray) Greene. About 6 in. high, glandular-puberulent ; 

 Leavefl oblong-spatulate, with scabrous eiliate margins and :i broad red mid- 

 vein; bracts hispid; involucres awnless, turbinate. \ •_> line long, deeply and 

 unequally 4-lobed, on erect or nodding pedicels 1 to 3 lines long; flowers 



