Bailey & Bailey: Woody Plants of National Parks 137 



2. Drummond Dryad (Dryas Drianmojidi Rich.). — Leaf-blades mostly 

 more or less wedge-shaped at base, often with an extra tooth on the leaf- 

 stalk below the blade; flowers bright yellow; petals about % inch long, erect 

 to form a cup-like flower; calyx densely black-hairy, the sepals usually broadly 

 lance-shaped to egg-shaped; flower stems mostly single-flowered, sometimes 

 2-flowered, 1 to 3 inches long, elongating to as much as 8 or 9 inches in fruit, 

 the petals often long-persistent. 



Occurrence. — GLACIER, occasional, on river bars, 3,500 to 7,000 feet: Mount Siyeh ; 

 Blackfoot Glacier; along creek near St. Mary checking station; creek along trail above 

 Crossley Lake; North Fork Flathead River near mouth of Logging Creek. 



Mountain Mahogany {Cercocarpus H. B. K.) 



The mountain mahoganies are especially noted for their heavy, mahogany- 

 red wood. The plants seem well adapted to poor, gravelly or rocky soil on 

 dry mountain slopes and ridges where they are commonly found. The flower 

 is composed of a narrow tube which looks something like a short, thick stem 

 with an expanded cup-like upper portion to which the stamens are attached. 

 There are no petals. The fruits are seed-like, tipped by long, white-hairy 

 tails which help in scattering the seed. The generic name, Cercocarpus, is de- 

 rived from two Greek words referring to this character of the fruits, k^rkos 

 (a tail) and karpos (a fruit). The roots of the mountain mahogany have 

 long been used by the Indians of the Southwest to make a beautiful red dye. 

 A variety of shades can be obtained by adding ashes, cactus fruits, or other 

 ingredients. The wood is extremely hard and dry and burns for a long time, 

 producing a very hot fire. Hence it is a favorite fuel for local residents 

 in certain areas. 



Field Guide to the Species 



Leaves reverse-egg-shaped to oval, more or less toothed above the middle, thickish 

 but not stiff and leathery; tails in fruit 2 to 31/2 inches long. 



Leaves with mostly small pointed teeth; occurs in California parks 



- 1 . C. heluloides. 



Leaves with mostly coarse broad teeth; occurs in parks of the Southwest 



2. C. montanus. 



L.eaves linear to oblong or elliptic, not toothed, stiff and leathery, the margins in- 

 rolled ; tails in fruit % to 3 inches long. 



Leaves '/2 to 2 inches long, oblong to elliptic, the margins not inrolled to the 



midrib; tails of fruits 1^/2 to 3 inches long 3. C. ledif alius. 



Leaves '4 to I inch long, linear, the margins inrolled to or almost to the mid- 

 rib; tails of fruits ^<4 to 1% inches long 4. C. intricatus. 



I. Birchleaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus betuloides Nutt.), 

 fig. 73. — Shrub 2 to 10 feet high, or a small tree up to 28 feet high; resem- 

 bling scrub birch, thickish, i^ to 2 inches long, reverse-egg-shaped, broad and 

 toothed at the tip, tapering to the base, yellow-green above, paler below, con- 

 spicuously veined, more or less bunched on short woody, peg-like branchlets; 

 flowers borne in groups of 2 to 6, the cup-like portion about I/4 inch across, 

 the flower tube in fruit becoming reddish-brown and splitting down one side; 

 fruits borne singly or in groups of 2 or more, seed-like, with long hairy tails 



