346 BOBAGINACEAB. 



somewhal flattened on the back, rugose and papillate, strongly carinate at apex, 

 the dorsal carina continuous to the base or obsolete below the middle; scar 

 short-stipitate; sepals at length brownish and often spreading. 



Very common on the plains of the Sacramento and inner South Coast Kanges. 

 Apr.-May. Very robust specimens frequently show strictly virgate branches 

 nearly or quite 2 ft. long, flower-bearing throughout their entire length. The 

 very short stipe is evident only as a narrow constriction between the elevated 

 scar and the body of the nutlet. 



5. A. calif ornica (F. & M.) Greene. Similar in habit to A. stipitata; flow- 

 ers 1 to iy 2 lines broad; nutlets ovate, carinate ventrally and a little past the 

 apex dorsally, usually grayish; scar not raised; rugae mostly oblique and 

 branched. — (Eritrichium calif ornicum DC.) 



Coast Eange and interior valleys: Eussian River; Solano Co. and southward 

 to Hollister. Var. stricta Jepson. Slender, strictly erect, almost simple, 

 5 to 7 in. high, somewhat succulent; spikes very dense. — Calistoga. Var. 

 subglochidiata Gray. Branches succulent, often prostrate; calyx-lobes ac- 

 crescent; nutlets with minute muriculations and sharp-edged transverse rugulae 

 commonly tipped with a tuft of penicillate bristles. — Colusa Co. to the San 

 Joaquin Valley. 



6. A. trachycarpa (Gray) Greene. More or less diffuse or decumbent; 

 racemes leafy throughout or nearly so; calyx-segments spreading; corolla small, 

 1 to iyo lines broad; nutlets broadly ovate, transversely rugose and papillate or 

 muricate, carinate ventrally and dorsally; dorsal rugosities commonly simple, 

 and keel mostly dentate-interrupted. 



Sonoma Co., southward to Hollister and the San Joaquin plains. Papillae 

 of the nutlet sometimes slender and rough, apparently passing into less bristly 

 forms of A. greenei. 



7. A. greenei (Gray) Greene. Diffusely branched from the base, the 

 straggling branches commonly 1 ft. long or more; herbage strigulose-pubescent ; 

 leaves linear-oblanceolate ; racemes simple, leafy or bracteate below, the flowers 

 scattered; nutlets 1 line long, ovate, rather densely covered with slender barbed 

 prickles; prickles *4 to y 2 line long, quite distinct at base. 



Abundant in fields of the upper Sacramento Valley and southward to the 

 lower San Joaquin. 



3. CRYPTANTHE Lehm. Nievitas. 



Annuals with the white flowers nearly always sessile and scorpioid-spicate. 

 Calyx 5-parted to the base, as long as the corolla-tube; segments more or less 

 hispid or with hooked bristles, in fruit usually closely embracing the nutlets, 

 eventually deciduous. Nutlets 4, sometimes 3, 2 or 1, smooth, papillate, or 

 muriculate, never rugose; face of nutlet with a ventral groove from the apex 

 to the scar near the base, usually continued beyond the scar as a fork and 

 either open (areolate) or closed. Nutlet attached to the subulate gynobase 

 from the scar halfway or wholly to the apex along the groove. (Greek kruptos, 

 hidden, and anthos, flower, perhaps on account of the minute flowers in some 

 species.) 



Nutlets papillate or muricate, 4 (or 3). 



Fruiting calyx at least twice as long as the nutlets, these with obtuse lateral angles.... 



1. C. a »i big it a. 

 Fruiting calyx surpassing a little and somewhat comment over the acutely angled 

 nutlets. 



Plants erect, commonly branching; nutlets about 1 line long 2. C. muriculata. 



Plants erect, branching but very strict; nutlets smaller J. C. jonesii. 



Plants diffuse, very slender; nutlets [ /i line long 4. C. micromeres. 



