348 



BORAGINACEAE. 



bearing toward the base a dcflexed tuft of bristles; nutlet 1, rostellate- 

 aeuminate at apex, the groove enlarged below but not forked. 



Common on low dry gravelly hills of the inner Coast Ranges; Sierra Nevada. 



7. C. leiocarpa ( F. & M.) Greene. Commonly branched from the base, 

 with many erect or ascending branches, 5 to 13 in. long; branches mostly simple 

 below, branching above, and bearing many spikes which are often more or less 

 congested; spikes leafy-bracted, rarely bractless, the terminal longer and in- 

 terrupted, the lateral short and glomerate; sepals short-linear, hispid-bristly; 

 outlets usually 4, rarely 1, narrowly ovate, acute, % line long, the ventral groove 

 not forked, or scarcely so. — (Eritrichium leiocarpum Wats.) 



Sandy lands near the coast: San Francisco northward and southward. June. 

 Stems sometimes short and caespitose, nearly always from a rather strong tap- 

 root. Bristles often pustulate-dilated at base. Nutlets mottled transversely 

 on the ventral side and longitudinally on the back. 



8. C. torreyana (Gray) Greene. Erect, branched from the middle and 

 sometimes from the base; spikes commonly elongated, loose below, frequently 

 geminate; nutlets ovate, acute, the groove forked at base, the fork sometimes 

 minute. 



N.i pa Valley, Torrey ; common in the Sierra Nevada, at least northward. 



4. PLAGIOBOTHRYS F. & M. Pop-corn Flower. 

 Bather slender annuals with mostly soft pubescence, the hairs often rusty 

 when young, especially on the calyx. Leaves mostly in a radical tuft. Racemes 

 Spike-like, elongated, loose and sometimes leafy. Pedicels very short or almost 

 none, filiform, persistent. Corolla short, white, with crests or processes, at the 

 mouth of the throat (or the crests absent?). Nutlets ovate, carinate on both 

 sides towards the apex and often also laterally margined, on the back rugose 

 or roughened; insertion above the base or median, the scar raised and rounded 

 and leaving a corresponding depression on the receptacle or gynobase. (Greek 

 plagios, on the side, and bothrus, pit or excavation, the first known species 

 having a hollow scar.) 



Scar of nutlet raised and rounded with a distinct hole or excavation in the middle of it; 



erect plants I. P. rufesccns. 



Scar of nutlet solid. 



Nutlets glassy, either papillate-scabrous or almost smooth; very slender erect plants.... 



2. I', tenellus. 

 Nutlets grayish or brownish, rugose or granulate. 



Calyx in fruit circumscissile below the middle, the upper portion falling away; erect 



plants 3. P. nothofulvus. 



Calyx persistent, not circumscissile; plants witli diffuse, straggling or prostrate 

 branches 4. /'. canescens. 



1. P. rufescens F. & M. var. campestris Jepson. Branching, 1 to 2 ft. 

 high, hispid-hirsute; leaves linear or lanceolate; racemes very loose, leafless 

 and spike-like but the flowers distinctly pediceled; fruiting calyx 2 to 3 lines 

 long, the segments nearly distinct, lanceolate, persistent, more or less reddish 

 even in age; nutlets 1VL> lines long, nearly 1 line wide in the middle, abruptly 

 beaked, the transverse rugae more ox Less interrupted and often dot-like or 

 granulate; scai raised and ring like, bordering ;l deep circular excavation. — (P. 

 campesl ris < Ireene. | 



Low foothills Of the <'oast Ranges in Solano Co., and northward. Apr. -May. 



2. P. tenellus Gray. Branching from or near the base, the branches ereel 

 mi- ascending, ."» to 7 in. high; herbage puberulenl or the Leaves hispidulous; 

 Leaves of the radical tuft oblong, acute or obtuse, \-> to 1 in. long; cauline 



