680 MISC. PUBLICATION 4 2 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



katchewan to Alaska, south to New Mexico, Arizona, and California. 

 The taxonomy of the forms closely related to G. amarella L. is con- 

 fused. The Arizona specimens are probably referable to G. scopu- 

 lorum (Greene) Tidestrom (Amarella scopulorum Greene) if the latter 

 be considered as specifically distinct from G. strictiflora. 



3. FRASERA 9 



Plants short-lived perennials; stems tall, leafy or subscapose; leaves 

 opposite or in whorls; flowers in cymes, these forming ample panicles; 

 corolla greenish usually flecked with purple, rotate, deeply 4-lobed, 

 each lobe with 1 or 2 large fringed glands toward the base; filaments 

 often united at base; style persistent; stigma 2-lobed; seeds flat, 

 winged. 



It is reported that the Apache Indians ate the bitter roots of Frasera 

 speciosa, but the root of F. carolinensis of the eastern United States is 

 known to possess emetic and cathartic properties. 



Key to the species 



1. Plant not scapose; stems very tall and stout, with numerous whorls and pairs 

 of large leaves, even those of the inflorescence foliaceous; leaf blades mem- 

 branaceous, not white-margined, the basal ones 3 to 14 cm. wide; herbage 

 puberulent or glabrous; glands 2 on each corolla lobe, elongate, the pits not 



tubular below, very conspicuously fringed 1 . F. speciosa. 



1. Plant scapose or subscapose, all of the stem leaves much smaller than the basal 



ones, the uppermost reduced to small bracts, none of them in whorls; leaf 



blades coriaceous, usually conspicuously white-margined, the basal ones 



not more than 2 cm. wide; gland 1 on each corolla lobe, sometimes deeply 



notched, the pit or pits elongate, fringed, tubular toward the base (2). 



2. Stems tall, often 1 m. long, seldom branched near the base, usually rather 



sparingly branched above, the branches erect or ascending; basal leaves 



plane or with moderately undulate margins; corolla lobes obtuse or apic- 



ulate, the gland proper broad, the pit double, with margins appearing 



as 4 fringed crests 2. F. paniculata. 



2. Stems seldom more than 0.5 m. long, branched from near the base, the 

 branches numerous and ascending-spreading; basal leaves with con- 

 spicuously crisped margins ; corolla lobes cuspidate-acuminate, the gland 

 narrow, the pit single, with margins appearing as 2 fringed crests. 



3. F. ALBOMARGINATA. 



1. Frasera speciosa Dougl. ex Hook., Fl. Bor. Amer. 2: 66. 1838. 



Frasera venosa Greene, Pittonia 4: 185. 1900. 



Apache County to Coconino County, south to Cochise and Pima 

 Counties, 5,200 to 8,500 feet, common in rich soil in open pine forests, 

 May to August. South Dakota to Oregon, south to New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and California. 



Deers-ears. A large-leaved conspicuous plant with stout stems up 

 to 1.8 m. (6 feet) high. 



2. Frasera paniculata Torr., U. S. Kpt. Expl. Miss. Pacific 4: 126. 



1856. 



Apache County to northeastern Mohave County north of the Colo- 

 rado River, 4,500 to 7,500 feet, June. New Mexico and northern 

 Arizona. 



The stems reach a height of 1 m. (3.5 feet), from a thick, yellow root. 



8 Reference: Card, H. H. a revision of the genus frasera. Mo. Bot. Gard. Ann. 18: 245-282. 

 1931. 



