i 1 1 8 PLUMBAGINACEAE. 



in. long or less; flowers 5, rarely 4-merous; calyx cleft into ovate-lanceolate 

 lobes; petals oblong, 7 lines long, purple with a transverse yellow band at base, 

 which is edged above by white and bounded below by a black-purple area; fila- 

 ments black-purple; anthers clavate, 2 lines long; capsule oblong, circumscissile 

 well below the summit. 



Very common on low slopes of the Coast Range hills and ascending to the 

 higher ridges; Santa Clara Co. to Napa Co. and northward into Oregon. Also 

 in the Sierra Nevada at lower altitudes. Feb. -Apr. The very short perennial 

 ciin lex produces elongated fleshy bulblets which are borne on the sides, often 

 in great quantity; these are cast off in the autumn and in the next season 

 give rise to a single leaf, flowering in the second or third season. The bulblets 

 are white and suggestive of the " rice-grain" bulblets of the Checker Lily 

 (Fritillaria lanceolata). 



2. D. patulum Greene. Shooting Star. Similar to the preceding but very 

 low, only 3 or 4 in. high and the roots much more rigid; corolla white, pale 

 eream-color or rarely pinkish; anthers 1 line long; capsule short-oblong or sub- 

 globose, circumscissile near the summit. 



Subsaline plains of the lower Sacramento Valley and southward to the Liver- 

 more Valley. Mar. 



PLUMBAGINACEAE. Thrift Family. 



Maritime acaulescent herbs with commonly hard or coriaceous stems and 

 leaves. Flowers regular, perfect, 5-merous throughout. Calyx tubular or funnel- 

 form, plaited. Petals with long claws barely united into a ring at base. 

 Stamens opposite the petals, adnate to the base of the claw. Ovary superior, 

 5-angled at summit, containing a single ovule which hangs from an elongated 

 funiculus arising from the base of the cell. Styles 5. Fruit a utricle or achene, 

 borne in the base of the persistent calyx. Seed with endosperm ; embryo straight. 



Leaves narrowly linear; inflorescence head-like 1. Armeria. 



Leaves broad; inflorescence paniculate 2. Statice. 



1. ARMERIA Willd. Thrift. 



Leaves narrowly linear, sedge-like, in a close tuft. Scape naked, terminating 

 in a globose head of flowers. Heads composed of numerous crowded clusters, 

 each cluster subtended by a scarious bract, the outer bracts forming an invo- 

 lucre, the two outermost united and forming a reversed sheath to the summit 

 of the scape. Flowers in a cluster pediceled or subsessile, subtended by bractlets. 

 Calyx scarious, funnelform. Corolla of 5 apparently distinct long-clawed petals, 

 each with a stamen on its base. Styles filiform, united at the very base. (Latin 

 name of a Pink, transferred to Thrift.) 



1. A. vulgaris Willd. Sea Pink. Leaves flat or revolute-channeled ; scapes 

 9 to 18 in. high, few or solitary; flowers dull pink or flesh-color; calyx-tube 10- 

 aerved, the nerves densely hispid; limb of the calyx more or less erose. — (Statice 

 armeria L.) 



Common on the sandy beaches or fields near the sea along the California 

 coast or about San Francisco Bay. May-June. 



2. STATICE L. Marsh Rosemary. 



Leaves broad, fleshy, in a radical tuft. Flowers secund, in short spikes or 

 clusters terminating the many branchlets of a branching scape. Calyx hairy 

 mi the angles below. Styles wholly distinct. (Greek statike, astringent.) 



1. S. limonium L, var. californica Craw Root % to 1 in. thick, reddish, 



