Eryngium montanum Coult. & N. E. Rose

Eryngium montanum Coult. & Rose, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3: 300. 1895.
Rather stout, glabrous perennials, 4—8 dm. high, from a short woody caudex bearing a fascicle of fleshy-fibrous roots, the stems solitary, erect, simple below; basal leaves numerous, linear-lanceolate, 2-3.5 dm. long, 10-18 mm. broad, broadest at the base, acuminate at the apex, spinulose-dentate with short, slender, subequal spreading spines 2-5 mm. long, axillary spines wanting, the venation parallel; sheaths as broad as or broader than the blades, usually vaginate, 2-5 cm. long; cauline leaves like the basal, few, reduced, alternate and ascending, the upper opposite; inflorescence simple or sparsely cymose with 3 or 4 heads, the heads large, pedunculate, the flowers numerous; heads deep blue, ovoid-oblong, 2-3 cm. long, 1.5-2 cm. broad; bracts 10-16, rigid, spreading to reflexed, linear-lanceolate, 1-2.5 cm. long, 2-4 mm. broad, unequal, entire or with 1-2 spines at the base, shorter than or equaling the heads; bractlets linear-subulate, 4-5 mm. long, curved, pungent, entire, exceeding the fruit; coma wanting; sepals ovate, about 1.5 mm. long, obtuse, apiculate; petals obovate, 1-1.5 mm. long; styles slender, exceeding the sepals; fruit turbinate, 3-4 mm. long, the lateral scales forming a pair of wings, the other scales obsolete.
Type locality: In wet meadows, Sierra de Clavellinas, Oaxaca, E. W. Nelson 1386. Distribution: Oaxaca {Pringle 6040, C. L. Smith 884).