131c.  Dalea melantha Schauer var. pubens Barneby

Like var. melantha in size, shape and number of leaflets, but these, like the young branchlets, softly puberulent with subappressed hairs 0.2-0.4 mm; raceme lax, as in var. berlandieri. — Collection: 1 (typus).

In grassland-chaparral on limestone, ± 2250 m, known only from the type-locality in Sa. de Jimulco in extreme s.-w. corner of Coahuila. — Flowering in September.

Dalea melantha Schauer var. pubens Barneby, var. nov., foliolis parvis obovatis 4-5- jugis var. melantham, racemo dissitifloro var. berlandieri simulans, ab ambabus foliis ramulisque undique puberulis recedens, a var. cineracea, pube simili, foliolis 4-5- nec 7-10-jugis, bracteis intus sericeis, patriaque procul aliena distans. — Coahuila: lime- stone-loam flat on broad ridge in grassland-chaparral at 7500 ft., Sierra de Jimulco ± 6 (air) miles s.-s.-w. of La Rosita on trail to summit, near 25° 10' N, 103° 15' W, Sept. 8, 1973, James Henrickson 13140. Holotypus, TEX.

A remarkable variant, combining in one plant the 4- 5 pairs of small leaflets expected in var. melantha, the lax raceme of var. berlandieri, and the pubescence, though less dense, of the distantly allopatric var. cineracea. The plant suggests a laxly racemose form of D. lutea, but the promptly deciduous bracts and pedicellate calyces are characteristic of D. melantha sens. lat.