240 LINACEAE. 



Flowers about 3 lines long, on straight pedicels 3. L. spergulinum. 



Flowers about 2 lines long, <>n nodding pedicels 4. L. micranthum. 



Pedicels Bhort and flowers in rather close clusters. 

 Flowers white, pink or rose-purple. 



Stem paniculately branched; sepals glabrous S. L. calif ornicutn. 



Stem shortly branched a1 t"i'- sepals pubescent 6. L. congestion. 



Flowers yellow 7. L. breweri. 



1. L. lewisii Pursh. Blue Flax. Stems several from a woo.lv crown, 

 erect, thickly clothed with Leaves, simple below the corymbosely branched sum- 

 mit ; herbage glabrous; leaves linear-lanceolate or linear, acute, 5 to 9 lines 

 long; flowers in terminal loose and somewhat corymbose clusters, or racemose 

 on the branches; corolla blue, 6 to 9 lines in diameter; pedicels % in. long 

 or more; sepals ovate, 3 to 5-nerved; capsule globose, acute, 4 or 5 lines long, 

 eventually dehiscent by 10 valves, the valves often with a brown midnerve. 



(cast Eanges, rare; Sierra Nevada and far northward. 



L. digynum Gray. Stem slender, simple below, corymbosely forked above, 

 5 to 8 in. high; flowers short-pedicelled; petals yellow, not appendaged; carpels 

 2, the false septa complete. — Northern California and northward. 



2. L. adenopyhllum Gray. Stem 11 to 14 in. high, unbranched below, re- 

 peatedly forked above ami forming a widely branched panicle; leaves alter- 

 oate or the lowest opposite, lanceolate, \ f - 2 in. long or less, the margin con- 

 spicuously glandnlar-ciliate ; flowers yellow or yellowish white, about 2 lines 

 long, on very slender pedicels 1 to 5 lines long; appendages of the petals 

 broad and confluent, somewhat pubescent; filaments abruptly dilated and 2- 

 toothod at base; capsule as long as the lanceolate sepals. 



Open hills: Lake and Mendocino cos. 



L. clevelaxdii Greene. Kepeatedly dichotomous, 8 to 12 in. high, glabrate; 

 leaves oblong, 5 lines long, without stipular glands; flowers minute, on fili- 

 form pedicels Bometimes an inch long; petals yellow, 1 line long or less, 2- 

 t out lied, 3-appendaged ; capsule somewhat longer than the sepals. — Lake and 

 Mendocino cos., in the geographical gap of L. micranthum, between Mt. 

 Tamalpais and .Mt. Diablo on the south, and Hy-am-pum on the north. 



3. L. spergulinum Gray. Stems more or less dichotomously paniculate, 

 11 to 18 in. high; leaves linear; pedicels filiform, rigid, straight, 3 to 10 lines 

 long; flowers pinkish white, 3 to 3Vj lines long; sepals ovate, nearly 1 line 

 long; petals 2 toothed, with 3 appendages, the middle one ligulate and the 

 lateral often reduced; capsule ovoid, acute, nearly twice as long as the sepals. 



North ('oast Ranges: Lake mid Mendocino cos. 



4. L. micranthum Gray. Freely branched above the base bul the branches 



Commonly rather closely ascending, 5 to JO in. high, somewhat soft pubescent 



toward the base; leaves linear-oblong, obtuse, 3 to 6 lines long; flowers white 



01 pinkish, commonly 2 lines lung, somewhat nodding on filiform pedicels; 

 fruiting pedicels 2 to 4 lines long; sepals ublongdanceulat e, the inner spar- 

 ingly glandular-ciliate; petals commonly 1 to rarely 2y 2 lines long, 2-toothed, 

 mostly without appendages; capsule ovoid, equal to the sepals. 



Mt. Diablo; Mt. Tamalpais; I ly am piun : Sierra \e\ada. 



5. L. californicum Benth. Glabrous and glaucous plants 10 in. to 2 ft. 

 high, paniculately branched, with angled or striate branches; leaves linear, 

 5 to l- linos long, with prominenl stipular glands; flowers white or pinkish; 

 sepals lanceolate, with sparingly glandular-ciliate inner margins; petals 2 to 3 

 lines long, 3-appendaged, the median appendage rounded and hairy; capsule 



OVOid, acute, a little shorter than the BOpals. 



Napa Co. southward through the Mt. Diablo Bange to the San Carlos Range. 





