752 MISC. PUBLICATION 42 3, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



ceous calyx lobes. The fruit is similar to that of its relative. The 

 inflorescence is also similar but differs in having the small lateral 

 flower clusters very reduced or entirely absent. 



3. Cryptantha flava (A. Nels.) Payson, Mo. Bot. Gard. Ann. 14: 259. 



1927. 



Oreocarya flava A. Nels., Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 25: 202. 1898. 

 Oreocarya lutescens Greene, Pittonia 4: 93. 1899. 



Valley of the Little Colorado and eastward, southward to beyond 

 Holbrook (Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties), 5,000 to 7,000 

 feet, slopes and mesas. Wyoming to northwestern New Mexico and 

 northeastern Arizona. 



4. Cryptantha confertiflora (Greene) Payson, Mo. Bot. Gard. Ann. 



14: 256. 1927. 



Oreocarya confertiflora Greene, Pittonia 3: 112. 1896. 



Mohave County north of the Colorado River, in the juniper belt, 

 commonly on limestone. Western Utah to northwestern Arizona and 

 California. 



5. Cryptantha jamesii (Torr.) Payson, Mo. Bot. Gard. Ann. 14: 



242. 1927. 



Eritrichium jamesii Torr. in Marcy, Expl. Red River 294. 



1853. 

 Oreocarya suflruticosa (Torr.) Greene, Pittonia 1: 57. 1887. 

 Oreocarya lemmoni Eastw., Torrey Bot. Club Bui. 30: 239. 



1903. 



Widely distributed in Arizona but most common in the northeastern 

 part, 5,000 to 7,500 feet, in the juniper, oak, and lower pine belts. 

 Nebraska and Wyoming to Texas, Arizona, and California. 



This variable species occurs in a number of floristic areas, but its 

 geographical variants are vague and a successful definition of them has 

 not been achieved. The problem is complicated by the presence of 

 numerous seasonal and ecological forms, which, even in the same 

 region, differ greatly in appearance. Among the various forms found 

 in Arizona 2 are worthy of special mention. There is the plant with 

 erect stems, 30 to 50 cm. high, which at maturity produces 3 to 7, 

 usually well developed, scorpioid cymes 4 to 10 cm. long, grouped at 

 apex of the leafy stem, which is commonly 2 to 4 times as long as the 

 basal tuft of leaves. This is var. multicaulis (Torr.) Payson (Oreocarya 

 multicaulis Greene), of which the typical bristly form occurs in the 

 White Mountains and southward to the Santa Catalina Mountains. 

 A strigose variant occurs about Flagstaff. 



The most common phase of the species in northern Arizona is var. 

 cinerea (Greene) Payson (Oreocarya cinerea Greene) . This has spread- 

 ing or decumbent stems usually 10 to 20 cm. long, rarely becoming 

 twice the length of the basal tuft of leaves. The stem leaves are 

 fewer and proportionately longer than in var. multicaulis, and at 

 maturity most of them bear reduced cymes in their axils. The 

 inflorescence of var. cinerea hence becomes proportionately more 

 elongate, but the individual scorpioid cymes are shorter and less 

 perfectly developed than in var. multicaulis. This low form has been 

 found in most parts of Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties. 

 Evidently related to it is a similar but more robust plant with looser 



