Contributions to West American Botany. 03 
above title as herbarium material and available literature increases. 
While much still remains to be done by the systematic botanist, 
it is believed that our flora offers a wider field for observations in 
other directions and of greater value to botanical science. 
HOSACKIA (SYRMATIUM) HAyDon!.—Suffrutescen!, six inches 
to a foot or more high, the slender stems woody at base, at first 
slightly spreading, then recurving inward and slightly intertwin- 
ing, forming a loosely-compact bush, glabrous or nearly so 
throughout: leaflets three or less, oblong, obtuse, one to two mm. 
long: flowers single or more rarely in pairs, short pedunculate, 
two mm. long: calyx of equal length, the teeth narrowly subulate, 
erect, a half to one-fourth as long as the tube: pod but slightly 
incurved, usually twice the length of the persistent calyx, one 
seeded: seed dark olive-green, two and a half mm. long, slightly 
curved. , 
I take pleasure in dedicating this delicate species to Mr. Marion 
D. Haydon, in return for his hospitality and tor his directing my 
attention to various forage plants whose valuable qualities had. 
previously been unsuspected. Collected in April, 1889, growing 
among the rocks in a canyon leading into the Colorado desert, 
on the old stage line from San Diego to Ft. Yuma. With H. 
glabra, Torr., this plant is commonly known as the deer weed, 
but its smaller growth will render it less valuable for cultivation 
and it is apparently too limited in its distribution to assume im- 
portance as a wild forage plant. 
STAMINODIA AND STAMENS.—In examining a large number of 
the flowers of Hookera minor, Britten, in the field this spring, 
I was somewhat surprised to find numerous specimens in which 
the staminodia were changed to perfect, fertile stamens, The 
first instance noticed was in a flower evidently injured by some 
insect. but so many examples were found later, where the stam- 
inodia were partially or wholly changed into anther-bearing 
stamens that I cannot ascribe it to the work of insects. This 
illustrates how little value can be placed in this genus on the un- 
reliable characters of the stamens and staminodia. 
HooKkeERA OrcuTTIUI.—Greene, Bull., 6, Cal. Acad. Sci. 138. 
This species has been well characterized by Prof. Greene and is 
a very distinct species. Having examined a large number of the 
flowers in the field this season, I can speak positively of the ab- 
sence of any traces of staminodia in any that I collected, and only 
three stamens were ever present. I first collected this species in 
1882 in a valley about thirty miles north of San Diego, 
and later in the unusually wet seasons of 1884 and the present 
year. I found it abundant on our mesas, often associated with 
H. minor, Brit. The bulb is large, witha thick, fibrous envelope. 
