208 



PAPAVERACEOUS. 



species produces wholly straw-colored and comparatively small 

 flowers. This dry season form simulates very closely the form of the 

 sand hills which is exposed to adverse conditions near the sea. 

 Although the various large-flowered forms have been described as 

 distinct from the original seacoast form, there are in reality not the 

 slightest constant distinctions to be had; there are not only gradations 

 between the forms but the gradations are so numerous and moreover, 

 topographically considered, cover such extensive areas of country that 

 they are almost or quite as likely to be found as the extremes. The 

 maintenance of such forms as artificial species on the grounds of con- 

 venience would in this case have no point whatsoever. Even in San 

 Francisco Co. large-flowered forms with a broad rim to the receptacle 

 are common. In addition the following varieties may be noted: 



Var. ambigua (E. ambigua Greene). Annual, glaucous, scabrous- 

 pubescent throughout. — Mt. Diablo, acc. to Greene, otherwise not 

 known within our limits. Var. Douglasii (E. Douglasii H. & A.) 

 has the outer rim of the torus narrower than or not exceeding the 

 erect inner one and the petals yellow shading into orange at base. — 

 Plains of Solano and Contra Costa Co., acc. to Greene. Var. com- 

 pacta (E. compacta Walp.) is acaulescent. — From the Bay Region, 

 where it is perennial, to Eresno, where it is seemingly annual. 



2. E. caespitosa Benth. Annual plants § to 2 ft. high; stems 

 few or many, slender or rather stout, leafy and leafy tufted at base or 

 the subradical leaves few; leaves mostly twice ternately dissected; 

 peduncles 3 to even 8 in. long, much exceeding the leaves; calyx 

 oblong-conical, abruptly slender pointed; receptacle short-tubular, 

 1 to 2 lines deep; petals f to 1 in. long; capsule 1£ to 3 in. long; 

 seeds reticulate; embryo % of a line long, the cotyledons (as seen in 

 the seed) divergent. 



Canon sides of the higher Coast Ranges: Vaca Mountains; Maya- 

 camas Range east of Napa City, and southward. Apr. -May. 



3. E. rhombipetala Greene. Acaulescent, densely tufted; scapes 

 very many, stout, diffuse, 3 to 4 in. high, twice as long or equaled or 

 exceeded by the thick tuft of nearly equal subradical leaves; these 

 laciniately cleft into 3 to 6 linear divisions, glaucous or glaucescent; 

 receptacle subcylindrical; spreading rim obsolete, likewise the scarious 

 inner margin or this very narrow and approximate to the trace of the 

 obsolete rim; petals rhombic-ovate or orbicular, 5 lines long, 6 lines 

 broad, fugacious; capsule 3 in. long or less, very large for the size of 

 the plant; seeds reticulate; embryo about J line long; cotyledons 

 very short, the embryo with scarcely more than a notch at the apex. 



Plains and rolling country near the Coast Range foothills: Brown's 

 Valley, Solano C<>.. Jepson; to Antioch, Brandegee, Mar. -Apr. 

 Scapes sparsely tuberculate-scabrous. 



5. PAPAVER L. Poppy. 

 Ours annual herbs with narcotic juice. Leaves pinnately cleft, 

 lobed, or divided. Flowers showy, solitary on long peduncles, nod- 

 ding in bud. Sepals 2. Petals 4." Stamens very many. Ovary and 



