FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 859 



1. PLECTRITLS 



Plant annual, glabrous; stems seldom more than 20 cm. long, erect, 

 sparingly branched; leaves (except the lowest ones) sessile, the blades 

 all entire, those of the upper leaves oblong, those of the lower leaves 

 spatulate or obovate; flowers small, in dense terminal or subterminal 

 clusters; coroUa 2-lipped, pink; fruit commonly short-pilose, keeled 

 dorsally. broadly winged. 



1. Plectritis macrocera Torr. and Gray, Fl. Xorth Amer. 2: 50. 1841. 



Valerianella macrocera A. Gray, Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. 

 Proc. 19: 83. 1883. 



Gila, Yavapai, and Pima Counties (doubtless elsewhere), 3.000 to 

 5,000 feet, moist usually shaded soil along streams. March and April. 

 Nevada and Washington to Arizona and California. 



2. VALERIANA. Yaleriax, tobacco-root 



Plants perennial, with rootstocks or tubers; leaves mostly pinnate 

 or pinnately parted; flowers perfect or unisexual; calyx limb of 

 pappuslike bristles, these elongate and spreading in fruit; corolla 

 with the limb nearly regular, the tube swollen on one side; fruit 

 achenelike, glabrous or puberulent. 



The dried plants have a strong, unpleasant, very characteristic odor, 

 which persists for years in herbaria. The roots of V. edulis and 

 perhaps of other species were boiled and eaten by the Indians. V. 

 acutiloba is reported to have some value as forage. 



Key to the species 



1. Stems from a large vertical caudex, up to 1 m. long, stout, erect; leaves thickish, 

 with several conspicuous veins nearly parallel with the midvein, the basal 

 leaves oblanceolate or spatulate, long-petioled, entire or pinnately parted 

 with few divisions, the stem leaves sessile or nearly so, usually pinnately 

 parted with few elongate, linear, lanceolate, or spatulate divisions; flowers 

 dioecious or polygamous, in an elongate very open panicle; corolla of the 

 staminate flowers yellowish, less than 3 mm. long, the tube not or scarcely 



longer than the limb; fruits glabrous or puberulent 1. V. edulis. 



1. Stems not from a large vertical caudex; leaves thin, with inconspicuous or 

 spreading lateral veins; corolla pink or whitish (2). 

 2. Rootstock short, tuberlike, usually vertical; leaves very thin and flaccid, 

 pinnate with 3 or more leaflets (some of the basal ones rarely simple and 

 coarsely toothed;, all petioled (the petioles of the uppermost leaves 

 sometimes very short), the leaflets broadly ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 

 coarsely serrate or laciniate with numerous teeth; inflorescence an open 

 elongate panicle of loosely flowered cymes; flowers monoecious; corolla 



1 to 2 mm. long; fruits strigose-puberulent 2. V. sorbifolia. 



2. Rootstock elongate, usually horizontal; leaves firm, the basal ones petioled, 

 mostly simple and entire, oblanceolate or obovate, the upper stem 

 leaves sessile or subsessile, pinnately cleft or pinnate with very few 

 narrow mostly entire divisions or leaflets; inflorescence at anthesis 

 short and compact, often subcapitate, in fruit more open and elongate; 

 flowers perfect; corolla at least 4 mm. long; fruits mostly glabrous (3). 

 3. Corolla 4 to 6 mm. long, the tube much shorter than the throat and limb; 

 blades of the basal leaves attenuate at base, elliptic, oblanceolate, or 



obovate, commonly 5 cm. long or longer 3. V. acutiloba. 



3. Corolla 8 to 12 mm. long, the tube nearly as long as to much longer than 

 the throat and limb; blades of the basal leaves rounded or short- 

 cuneate at base, ovate, seldom more than 4 cm. long. 



4. V. ARIZOXICA. 



