446 



BORAGINACEiE. 



rarely 1, narrowly ovate, acute, f line long, the ventral groove not 

 forked, or scarcely so. 



Sandy lands near the coast, San Francisco, northward and south- 

 ward. June. Stems sometimes short and csespitose, nearly always 

 from a rather strong taproot. Bristles often pustulate-dilated at base. 

 Nutlets mottled transversely on the ventral side and longitudinally on 

 the back. 



8. C. Torreyana (Gra} r ) Greene. Erect, branched from the 

 middle and sometimes from the base; spikes commonly elongated, 

 loose below, frequently geminate; nutlet ovate, acute, the groove 

 forked at base, the fork sometimes minute. 



Napa Valley, Torrey in 1865, specimen seen in the Gray Herba- 

 rium; common in the Sierra Nevada, at least northward. 



4. PLAGIOBOTHRYS F. & M. Pop-corn Flower. 

 Bather slender annuals with mostly soft pubescence, the hairs often 

 rusty when young, especially on the calyx. Leaves mostly in a 

 radical tuft, those of the stem alternate. Kacemes spike-like, elon- 

 gated, loose and sometimes leafy. Pedicels very short or almost none, 

 filiform, persistent. Corolla short, white, with crests or processes at 

 the mouth of the throat (or the crests absent?). Nutlets ovate, cari- 

 nate on both sides towards the apex and often also laterally margined, 

 on the back rugose or roughened. Insertion above the base or 

 median, the scar raised and rounded and leaving a corresponding 

 depression on the receptacle or gynobase. (Greek plagios, on the 

 side, and bothrus, pit or excavation, the first species having a hollow 

 scar.) 



Scar of nutlet raised and rounded with a distinct hole or excavation in the 



middle of it; erect plants: var. campestris of 1. P. rufescens. 



Scar of nutlet solid. 

 Nutlets glassy, either papillate-scabrous or almost smooth; very slender 



erect plants 2. P. tenellus. 



Nutlets grayish or brownish, rugose or granulate. 

 Calyx in fruit circumscissile below the middle, the upper portion falling 



away; erect plants 3. P. nothqfulvus. 



Calyx persistent, not circumscissile; plants with diffuse, straggling or 

 prostrate branches 4. P. canescens. 



1. P. rufescens F. & M. var. campestris. Branching, 1 to 2 ft. 

 high, hispid-hirsute; leaves linear or lanceolate; racemes very loose, 

 leafless and spike-like but the flowers distinctly pediceled; fruiting 

 calyx 2 to 3 lines long, the segments nearly distinct, lanceolate, per- 

 sistent, more or less reddish even in age; nutlets 1£ lines long, nearly 

 1 line wide in the middle, abruptly beaked, the transverse ruga 1 more 

 or less interrupted and often dot-like or granulate; scar raised and 

 ring-like, bordering a deep circular excavation. — (P. campestris 

 Greene.) 



Low foothills of the Coast Ranges in Solano Co., and northward. 

 Apr.-May. 



2. P. tenellus Gray. Three to 7 in. high, branching from or 

 near the base, the branches erect or ascending; herbage puberulent 



