LOASACEAE. 267 



6. V. glabella Xutt. Stems erect, mostly weak, naked below or nearly so, 

 7 to 12 in. high; rootstock horizontal, often branching; herbage glabrous or 

 puberulent, bright green; radical leaves reniform-cordate, 1% to 3% in. broad, 

 on elongated (4 to 11 in.) petioles, the cauline similar or cordate, on petioles 

 4 to 5 lines long; stipules small and thin-membranous; peduncles about l 1 /* 

 in. long; petals bright yellow, more or less purple-veined, 6 lines long, the 

 lateral ones bearded; spur short and saccate; stigma beardless; capsule oblong, 

 1 lines long, abruptly beaked. 



Wet places in Coast Eange woods: Monterey and northward. Also Sierra 

 Nevada. Mar. -May. 



7. V. douglasii Steud. Acaulescent, the cluster of stems subterranean and 

 from a rather deep and short caudex-like rootstock; leaves bipinnatifid with 

 long linear or oblong segments; stipules lanceolate, entire or incised; flowers 

 usually large, on peduncles (2 to 5 in. long) equaling or exceeding the leaves; 

 petals about 6 lines long, orange-yellow, the two upper brownish purple exter- 

 nally, the others purple-veined; lateral ones beardless; capsule 3 or 4 lines 

 long, acute. — (Y. chrysantha Hook.) 



Open hillsides in the Coast Eanges and Sierra Nevada. Eeadily recognized 

 by its much dissected leaves. 



8. V. lobata Benth. Pixe A^iolet. Erect, 4 to 14 in. high, the stems 

 naked below; rootstock short, bearing many fleshy-fibrous white roots; leaves 

 1 to 2 in. long, ovate or almost round in outline, cordate or truncate at base, 

 pahnately 3 to 5-cleft or-divided, the lobes entire or somewhat repandly 

 toothed, and the lateral usually larger; inflorescence somewhat umbellate; 

 peduncles 1 to 2 in. long; petals yellow, purple on the outside; valves of the 

 capsule deeply concave-carinate. 



Coast Eanges north of San Francisco Bay, often under Yellow Pine. Mar.- 

 Apr. Var. ixtegrifolia YVats. Leaves of similar outline, crenate or with a 

 few very coarse teeth, but not at all lobed. — Howell Mt. 



LOASACEAE. Loasa Family. 



Herbs with either rough or stinging hairs, and often with white deciduous 

 bark. Leaves in ours alternate. Flowers regular, complete. Calyx-tube 

 adnate to the 1-celled ovary, its limb 5-lobed. Petals 5. Stamens usually very 

 numerous, inserted with the petals on the throat of the calyx. Placentae 2 or 

 3, parietal. Fruit a capsule, crowned with the calyx-lobes. 



1. MENTZELIA L. 



Erect annuals. Leaves in age brittle, adhering very tightly to clothing by 

 means of barbed hairs. Flowers terminal, solitary or cymose, small or showy. 

 Styles 3 or 1. Capsule dehiscent at the summit, few to many-seeded. Seeds 

 flat; endosperm scanty. (C. Mentzel, a German botanist of the 17th century.) 



Annuals; capsule linear or clavate; seeds cylindric or angular, wingless. 

 Petals mostly 2 lines long or less. 



Floral leaves broad, almost concealing the flowers; seeds much longer than broad.... 



1. M. micrantha. 



Floral leaves very much shorter than the flowers; seeds cubical 2. M. dispersa. 



Petals mostly 4 lines long or more. 



Capsule linear, hispid; petals pale yellow, 3 or 4 lines long 3. M. aflinis. 



Capsule linear-clavate to obconic. 



Petals about l / 2 in. long 4. M. gracilenta. 



Petals 1 to Wa. in. long, golden-yellow 5. M. lindlcyi. 



Biennial; capsule oblong; seeds flat, winged 6. M. laevicaulis. 



