EVENING PRIMROSE FAMILY. 277 



flowering from the very base, the branches often with sparse foliage, or the 

 foliage strict. 



4. B. cleistogama Curran. Commonly with stout rigid whitish branches 

 or rarely simple, 4 to 8 in. high, pilose-pubescent, somewhat glandular, glauces- 

 cent ; leaves linear or lanceolate, 1 to l*/> in. long, remotely denticulate; flowers 

 axillary along the branches, the earliest fertilized in the bud and never ex- 

 panding, the later light pink; petals 2 lines long, bifid; capsule 4-sided, 

 sharply angled, sharply pointed, the septal lines on each side distinct, 5 lines 

 long, hard coriaceous, very tardily dehiscent, if ever. 



Elmira, Mrs. K. Brandegee; Antioch; between Oakdale and La Grange, 

 Jepson. The shallow vernal pools of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys 

 are quickly dried up in the first month of summer. After the water has dis- 

 appeared these pool-beds support a peculiar flora, one species being the plant 

 here described. 



6. CLARKIA Pursh. 



Annuals with brittle stems and alternate leaves. Flowers showy, in ter- 

 minal racemes (nodding in the bud). Calyx-tube above the ovary short, ob- 

 conical, its lobes reflexed in flower, or remaining united and turned to one 

 side. Petals 4, purple or rose-color, with claws, the limb entire or lobed. 

 Stamens 8, those opposite the petals often sterile and rudimentary. Ovary 

 4-eelled; style elongated, the stigma with 4 broad lobes. Capsule linear, or 

 attenuate above, straight or somewhat curved, coriaceous, with very smooth 

 sides, somewhat 4-angled, 4-valved. Seeds numerous, angled or margined. The 

 lower leaves in this and in the two succeeding genera often disappear very 

 earlv. (Captain Clarke of the Lewis & Clarke party, first expedition across 

 the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, 1806.) 



Claw short and broad, much shorter than limb of petal, often toothed... 1. C. rhomboidea. 

 Claw about as long as limb of petal, not toothed 2. C. elegans. 



1. C. rhomboidea Dougl. Erect, 1 to 3 ft. high, more or less branching, 

 finely puberulent ; leaves oblong to ovate, the blades entire, % to 1*4 in. long, 

 on petioles % i n - l°ng, more or less; calyx-tube above ovary iy 2 lines long; 

 calyx-lobes narrowly linear, carinate; petals rose-purple, often purple-dotted 

 toward the base, rhomboidal, 3 to 5 lines long, the limb with a short broad 

 often toothed claw; filaments with whitish hairy scales at base, those alter- 

 nating with the petals with longer scales ; capsule sessile or very shortly 

 pediceled, commonly somewhat curved, 1 in. long. 



Sierra Nevada and Coast Eanges, from the foothills to middle altitudes. 

 May-July. 



2. C. elegans Dougl. Habit similar to the preceding; herbage often red- 

 dish; leaves narrowly ovate, sometimes repand-denticulate, short-petioled; 

 calyx-lobes broadly linear, plane; petals about 8 lines long, the limb about 



^equaling the narrow entire claw, often spreading laterally in pairs; each 

 filament with a reddish densely hairy scale at base, most developed opposite 

 the short stamens; anthers of long stamens bright crimson, 3 lines long; 

 anthers of short stamens commonly white; capsule usually curved, sessile, 7 

 to 12 lines long, often hairy. 



Sierra Nevada and Coast Eanges, foothills and middle altitudes. Common. 

 May -July. 



C. xantiana Gray, of the upper San Joaquin at Fort Tejon, is like C. 



