CALLITRICHACEAE. 247 



Introduced in Napa Valley along the railroad. 



4. E. ocellata Dur. & Hilg. Annual, prostrate, the branches 5 to 9 in. 

 long; leaves thickish, deltoid to ovate-oblong, often cordate at base, entire, 



2 to 4 lines long; involucre campanulate, nearly 1 line long, its lobes fringed; 

 glands 2 to 4, yellowish or purplish, short-stipitate, circular and discoid, with 

 or without a narrow margin; capsule 1 line long; seeds round-ovate, smooth or 

 obscurely rugose. 



Stockton, San ford, and southward through the San Joaquin Valley to South- 

 ern California. 



5. E. dictyosperma F. & M. Annual, glabrous; stems erect, 5 to 15 in. 

 high, simple or branching from the base, dichotomously branched above; 

 lower leaves alternate, oblong- or obovate-spatulate, serrulate, often retuse, 

 14 to 1V± in. long; upper and floral leaves opposite, round-ovate to oblong, 



3 to 6 lines long; inflorescence umbelliform, the rays 2 or 3 times forked; 

 involucre and glands small; capsule with warty lobes, 1 to 1% lines long. 



Throughout California but much less common than no. 6. Sacramento 

 Valley. 



E. peplus L., Petty Spurge, spontaneous within inclosures at Berkeley; the 

 involucres bear 4 crescent-shaped glands with long slender horns, and a pair of 

 wing-like crests on each lobe. 



6. E. leptocera Engelm. Annual or biennial, glabrous, branching at base, 

 10 to 16 in. high; branches decumbent at base or commonly erect, 2 or 3 times 

 dichotomous above; leaves alternate, obovate to spatulate, obtuse, sometimes 

 mucronate, entire, % to 1^4 in. long, the floral opposite or ternate, deltoid or 

 broadly rhombic-ovate, sometimes cordate at base or connate, acute, 3 to 5 

 lines long; involucre turbinate, its transversely oblong lobes denticulate; glands 

 large, crescent-shaped, the slender horns entire or cleft; capsule smooth, 1% 

 lines broad; seeds ash-colored, dark-pitted, \ x /> lines long, with a prominent 

 caruncle. 



Common in both the Coast Eanges and Sierra Nevada. 



7. E. lathyris L. Caper Spurge. Tall stout annual or biennial, 1 to 3 

 ft. high, very smooth and glaucous; stem-leaves linear or narrowly oblong, 

 thick, in 4 vertical ranks, the floral oblong-ovate and cordate; umbels of 3 or 



4 rays, once or twice forked; glands of the involucre crescent-shaped, the horns 

 short and blunt ; capsule large and smooth ; seeds wrinkled. 



Mediterranean species spontaneous about some early settlements of Alta 

 California : San Francisco ; Berkeley. Also called ' ' Gopher Plant. ' ' 



CALLITRICHACEAE. Water Starwort Family. 



Herbs growing in shallow water or in the mud of drying vernal pools. 

 Leaves opposite, entire, exstipulate, often crowded and forming a rosette at 

 the ends of the branches. Flowers monoecious, axillary and solitary, or 2 or 

 3 together in one axil, without calyx or corolla but often with two mem- 

 branous bracts. Staminate flower consisting of 1 terminal stamen. Pistillate 

 flower consisting of a 4-celled ovary with 2 filiform stigmas. Fruit 4-lobed, 

 splitting at maturity into as many nutlets. 



1. CALLITRICHE. L. 



The only genus. (Greek kallos, beautiful, and trichos, a hair, on account 

 of the slender stems.) 



Fruit sessile; flowers 2-bracted; submerged leaves notched at apex 1. C. palustris. 



Fruit on a pedicel 2 to 5 lines long; flowers bractless; leaves not notched at apex 



2. C. marginata. 



