128 



American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 4 



and chokecherries and in some areas have been highly valued as food. They 

 are first put into boiling water to take away the bitterness in the skin and are 

 then used for making jellies or preserves. The shrubs seldom set good fruit 

 in the parks, however, but develop bladdery structures caused by a fungus. 25 

 Occurrence. — YOSEMITE, rare, at the lower elevations: Hatch Hetchy; near Aclcer- 

 son Meadow, north of Carl Inn, 4,700 feet; lower Yosemite Valley. SEQUOIA, rare: 

 Clough Cave. 



5. Desert Peachbrush (Pmnus fasciculata 

 (Torr.) Gray.), fig. 64. — Intricately branched 

 shrub 2 to 6 feet high with stiff, often spine-tipped 

 branches; leaves linear-oblong to spatula-shaped, 

 14 to % inch long, finely hairy or smooth, the 

 margins not toothed or some with a few shallow 

 teeth, bunched along the stems on short peg-like 

 branchlets; flowers 1 to several in the leaf-axils, 

 small and inconspicuous, the purplish-green calyx 

 deeply cup-shaped, about i/g inch long; petals 5, 

 tiny, white, soon falling; fruits small, about % 

 inch long, ovoid, densely hairy, resembling minia- 

 ture peaches with thin flesh, hence the common 

 name. (Syn. Emplectocladus fasciculatus Torr.) 



Occurrence. — GRAND CANYON, common in the can- 

 yon, 3,000 to 4,000 feet: Kaibab trail, on the Tonto 

 south of the Colorado River and up Bright Angel Creek 

 about 2 miles above Phantom Ranch; Bright Angel trail 

 along switchbacks above Pipe Creek; Hermit trail. 



Oso Berry (Osmaronia ceras.jormis (T. & 

 G.) Greene). — Erect shrub 3 to 12 feet high; 

 bark smooth; leaf -blades oblong, tapering at both 

 ends, pointed or rounded at the tip, 1^/2 to 4 

 inches long, light green above, paler below, the 

 margins not toothed or very inconspicuously 

 toothed; flower clusters oblong, several-flowered, 

 drooping; flowers white, the petals 1/6 to ^4 i"'^^ ^'^'^g' the male and female 

 flowers borne on separate plants; fruits 1 to 5 to a flower, plum-like, about 

 1/3 to 1/2 inch long, black when ripe, the pulp thin and bitter. 



Occurrence. — mount rainier, rare: Nisqually Valley at lower elevations. SEQUOIA, 

 rare, at lower elevations: Old Colony Mill, Marble Fork Kaweah River. 



NiNEBARK (Physocarpus Maxim.) 



Ninebark has received its common name from its characteristic shreddy 

 bark which is made up of many layers and peels from the old stems in shreds. 

 Several species are recognized, all of which are very similar in general ap- 

 pearance. The shrubs are very attractive in flower with their dense rounded 

 or flat-topped clusters of white flowers. The fruits are one- to few-seeded 



Fig. 64. Desert peachbrush 

 {Prunus fasciculala) . 



25 Jepson, W. L.. Flora of California, vol. 2, p. 28. 1936. 



