62 RHAMNACEAE 



Flowers small, perfect, dioecious or polygamous, in small axillary cymes, racemes or 

 panicles. Calyx 4-5-toothed, the tube urceolate. Petals when present very short-clawed, 

 often emarginate and somewhat hooded. Ovary 2-4-celled, free from the disk. Style 2-4- 

 lobed. Fruit a berry-like drupe, with 2-4 separate nutlets. [The ancient Greek name.] 



A genus of about 90 species, natives of the temperate and tropical regions. Type species, Rhamnus 

 cathartica L. 



Petals present; bud-scales none. 



Leaves deciduous, rather thin and not coriaceous. 



Fruit 3-seeded; leaves 6-15 cm. long. 1- R. Purshiana. 



Fruit 2-seeded; leaves 3-7 cm. long. 2. R. rubra. 



Leaves evergreen, rather thick and coriaceous. 3. R. calif ornica. 

 Petals none; bud-scales present. 



Leaves deciduous; berries black. 4. R. alnifolia. 



Leaves evergreen; berries red. 5. R. crocea. 



1. Rhamnus Purshiana DC. Cascara Sagrada. Fig. 3106. 



Rhamnus Purshiana DC. Prod. 2:25. 1825. 



Frangula Purshiana Cooper, Pacif. R. Rep. 12: 29, 57. 1860. 



Rhamnus anonaefolia Greene, Pittonia 3: 16. 1896. 



Small tree or arborescent shrub, 3-10 m. high with smooth grayish bark, the young twigs 

 pubescent. Leaves deciduous, elliptic-oblong, 8-20 cm. long, obtuse or rounded at apex, obtuse 

 to subcordate at base, serrulate, glabrous or nearly so ; petioles finely tomentose ; flowers perfect, 

 5-merous, in small pedunculate umbels, 3-4 mm. wide ; petals somewhat truncate at base above 

 the short claw; berries black, with 3 nutlets, or rarely with only 2. 



Moist soils in lowlands and canyons. Humid Transition Zone; British Columbia southward on the Pacific 

 Slope to Mendocino and Placer Counties, California, east to northern Idaho and western Montana. Type 

 locality: Clearwater River near Kamiah, Idaho. June-July. 



2. Rhamnus rubra Greene. Sierra Coffeeberrv. Fig. 3107. 



Rhamnus rubra Greene, Pittonia 1 : 68. 1887. 



Rhamnus calif ornica var. rubra Trelease, Trans. St. Louis Acad. 5: 367. 1889. 



Spreading or rounded shrub, 1-2 m. high, the bark gray or often reddish, young twigs pu- 

 bescent or glabrate. Leaves deciduous, rather thin, narrowly elliptic, oblong or obovate, 2-8 cm. 

 commonly about 4 cm. long, finely serrulate to denticulate, glabrous or somewhat pubescent on 

 both surfaces ; flowers perfect, 5-merous, in small peduncled umbels ; petals with a broad notch 

 at apex, abruptly obtuse or truncate at base, the claw short but evident ; berry black ; nutlets 2 

 or sometimes 3. 



Mountain slopes. Arid Transition and Canadian Zones; Mount Shasta region south to the southern Sierra 

 Nevada, California, and adjacent Nevada. Type locality: eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, near Truckee, Cali- 

 fornia. June-July. 



Rhamnus rubra subsp. nevadensts (A. Nels.) C. B. Wolf, Mon. Rancho Santa Ana Bot. Card. Bot. Ser. 

 1:86. 1938. (Rhamnus nevadensis A. Nels. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 18:174. 1905.) This subspecies re- 

 sembles the typical species in the acute leaves, but the mature berries are pyriform and usually over 10 mm. m 

 diameter, whereas in the typical species the berries are obovoid or spherical and usually less than 10 mm. in 

 diameter. Along the eastern border of California and adjacent Ormsby and Douglas Counties, Nevada, iype 

 locality: near Reno, Nevada. 



Rhamnus rubra subsp. obtusissima (Greene) C. B. Wolf, op. cit. 88. (Rhamnus obtusissima Greene, 

 Leaflets Bot. Obs. 1:64. 1904.) Distinguished from the typical species by the very obtuse leaves. Sierra 

 Nevada from Siskiyou County to Tuolumne County, California, and adjacent Nevada. Type locality: bisson, 

 California. 



Rhamnus rubra subsp. modocensis C. B. Wolf, op. cit. 89. fig. 35. Leaves small, fascicled on short stubby 

 spurs, characters that distinguish it from the typical species and the other subspecies. Northeastern California 

 in Siskiyou and Modoc Counties. Type locality: Dry Lake, Modoc County. 



Rhamnus rubra subsp. yosemitana C. B. Wolf, op. cit. 90. figs. 36, 37. Both surfaces of the leaves with 

 a fine soft puberulence. In the typical species and the other subspecies the leaves are glabrous or minutely 

 puberulent on the midrib. Western slopes of the central Sierra Nevada, California. Type locality: Yosemite 

 Valley, Yosemite National Park. 



3. Rhamnus californica Esch. California Coffeeberry. Fig. 3108. 



Rhamnus californica Esch. Mem. Acad. St. Petersb. 10: 285. 1823. 



Rhamnus oleifolia Hook. Fl. Bor. Amer. 1: 123. pi. 44. 1833. 



Rhamnus laurifolia Nutt. in Torr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1 : 260. 1848. 



Frangula californica A. Gray, Gen. 111. 2: 178. 1849. 



Rhamnus Purshiana var. californica Rehder in Bailey, Cyclop. Hort. 1510. 1902. 



Arborescent shrub with a rounded crown, or low and spreading, the young twigs reddish 

 brown and sparsely puberulent. Leaves oblong to elliptic, 3-8 cm. long, acute or obtuse, the 

 margins finely denticulate or entire, plane or slightly revolute, dark green above, bright shmmg 

 green beneath and glabrous or slightly pubescent on the veins; flowers perfect, 5-merous, or 

 sometimes 4-merous, in pedunculate umbels ; petals when spread out about 2 mm. broad, broadly 

 notched at apex, usually acute at base ; berry spherical, 10-12 mm. in diameter, black when fully 

 mature; nutlets 2 or sometimes 3, resembling coffee. 



Hillsides and ravines, Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones- California Coast Ranges from western Siskiyou 

 County to San Bernardino County, California. Type locality: San Francisco, California. May-June. 



Rhamnus californica subsp. occidentalis (Howell) C. B. Wolf, Mon. Rancho Santa Ana Bot. Card. Bot. 



