Bailey & Bailey: Woody Plants of National Parks 



173 



This is similar to the cultivated Virginia creeper except that the tendrils 

 have usually fewer branches and are without adhesive discs, and the flower 

 clusters are smaller. Birds are fond of the berries. 



Occurrence. — MESA VERDE. 



Sterculia Family (Sterculiaceae) 



The two species representing this group in the national parks could scarcely 

 be considered members of the same family at first glance. One is a large 

 coarse shrub or small tree while the other is scarcely, if ever, more than 1 foot 

 high. Both are evergreen and have the 5 stamens united below into a tube. 



Field Guide to the Gener.\ 



Coarse shrubs 6 to 10 feet high, or a small tree; leaves broadly egg-shaped to 



elliptic, ^ to 2 inches long, thickish, mostly irregularly 3-lobecl, the margins 

 toothed; flowers yellow, 1 to 2 inches across; occurs in Sierra Nevada 

 parks of California FREMONTIA, p. 173. 



Low shrubs or sub-shrubs '/2 'o 1 f°°' high, the stems slender; leaves egg-shaped to 

 oblong-egg-shaped, ^4 'o Vz ind^ 'o^g, not lobed, the margins finely 

 toothed; flowers tiny, about 1, 'g inch across, brownish; occurs at Grand 

 Canyon National Park AYENIA, p. 173. 



California Fremontia, Flannelbush 

 (Fremontia calif oriiica Torr.), fig. 100.) — 

 Erect, loosely branched shrub, 6 to 10 feet high, 

 or a small tree up to 15 feet high; leaves V^ 

 to 2 inches long, more or less heart-shaped to 

 egg-shaped or elliptic, usually with 3 short 

 broad lobes, thick and leathery, green above, 

 covered below with dense gray or yellowish 

 felt; flowers large, 1 to 2 inches across, bright 

 yellow, with a central column of 5 stamens; 

 fruits egg-shaped, % to l^g inches long, more 

 or less pointed at the tip, covered with dense 

 brown felt and short, stiff hairs. The com- 

 mon name, flannelbush, is descriptive of the 

 herbage which is densely felty with a soft 

 grayish fuzz, especially on the young shoots. 

 The bush has been cultivated as an ornamen- 

 tal because of its large, showy, yellow flowers. 



Occurrence. — sequoia, occasional, 3,000 to 4,200 

 feet: 3 miles west of Panorama Point; trail to Ash 

 Mountain Lookout; Marble Fork Kaweah River, 

 along Colony Mill trail ; '/2 mile east of Clough 

 Cave. 



Fig. 100. California fremontia 

 (Fremontia calif ornica). 



Dwarf Ayenia (Ayenia pusilla L.). — 

 Small spreading evergreen plant with slender woody stems at the base; leaves 

 egg-shaped to oblong-egg-shaped or broadly lance-shaped, ^ to i/^ inch 



