BLADDER-NUT FAMILY 55 



1. Glossopetalon nevadense A. Gray. Nevada Grease-bush. Fig. 3092. 



Glossopetalon nevadense A. Gray, Proc. Araer. Acad. U: 73. 1876. 



Forsellesia nevadensis Greene, Erythea 1 : 206. 1893. 



Glossopetalon spinescens var. aridum M. E. Jones, Contr. West. Bot. No. 8: 28. 1898. 



Forsellesia arida Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 7. 1900. 



Freely or intricately branched shrub, 2-18 dm. high, the branchlets divaricate, green, rather 

 faintly ribbed longitudinally and corrugately roughened transversely, glabrous or puberulent, in 

 age becoming spinescent and yellowish gray. Leaves scattered or somewhat fasciculate, rather 

 narrowly oblanceolate, 5-12 mm. long, tapering at base to a short petiole, rounded to acute or 

 almost acuminate at apex and minutely mucronulate, pale or grayish green; stipules scarious, 

 subulate, less than 1 mm. long, adnate to the thickened base of the petiole ; flowers axillary, 4-5- 

 merous ; pedicels 3-5 mm. long, with several reduced leaves or scarious bracts ; sepals ovate, 

 1-3 mm. long, entire and hyaline-margined ; petals oblanceolate, 4-7 mm. long ; stamens 6-10, 

 those opposite the sepals about one-third longer than the others ; carpels 1-2 ; fruit ovoid, 5 mm. 

 long. 



Desert mountain ranges, Upper Sonoran and Arid Transition Zones; southern Idaho and Utah to Inyo and 

 San Bernardino Counties, California, and to Arizona. Type locality: "northern part of Washoe County, Ne- 

 vada." April-June. 



Glossopetalon stipulifera St. John, Fl. S.E. Wash. 250. 1937. (Forsellesia stipulifera Ensign, Amer. 

 Alidl. Nat. 27: 507. 1942.) Closely related to G. nevadense and doubtfully specifically distinct, only occasion- 

 ally or often not at all spinescent; stipules a little larger, slightly over 1 mm. long, broadly subulate or narrowly 

 lanceolate. Arid slopes, Upper Sonoran Zone; canyon of Snake River from southeastern Washington and 

 western Idaho to Malheur County, Oregon; similar plants also along Trinity River, Trinity County, and in the 

 White Mountains, Inyo County, California. Type locality: Snake and Clearwater Rivers near Lewiston, Idaho. 



2. Glossopetalon pungens Brandg. Low Grease-bush. Fig. 3093. 



Glossopetalon pungens Brandg. Bot. Gaz. 27:445. 1898. 

 Forsellesia pungens Heller, Cat. N. Amer. PI. ed. 2. 8. 1900. 

 Forsellesia pungens var. glabra Ensign, Amer. Midi. Nat. 27: 503. 1942. 



Low diffusely branched shrub, 0.5-2 dm. high and Z-6 dm. in diameter, older branchlets not 

 becoming spinescent, the young ones very slender, pubescent or glabrous. Leaves crowded, 6-10 

 mm. long, 2-3 mm. wide, narrowly elliptic, acute at both ends, tipped with a slender spine 1 mm. 

 long, thick especially along the margin and veins, glabrous or scabrous ; stipules none ; flowers 

 terminal on short branchlets; pedicels 3-4 mm. long, with 3-4 small scarious bracts at base; 

 sepals 5, ovate, acuminate, 2 or 3 of them spinose-tipped, denticulate and hyaline-margined ; petals 

 5, oblanceolate, 6-8 mm. long ; stamens 10 ; carpels 1-3, sparingly puberulent. 



Rocky slopes, Sonoran Zones; Sheep Mountains at elevations of 4,000-5,000 feet, Clark County, Nevada, 

 and Clark Mountains, eastern San Bernardino County, California. The Sheep Mountains plants are the typical 

 species with puberulent twigs and leaves. The Clark Mountains plants are glabrous and represent the variety 

 described by Miss Ensign. Type locality: Sheep Mountains, Nevada. May-June. 



Canotia Holacantha Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. 4: 68. 1856. Canotia. Shrub or small tree, the branches broom- 

 like, green, glabrous and spine-tipped. Leaves wanting, reduced to small triangular scales; flowers 5-merous; 

 petals greenish white, about 4 mm. long; ovary 5-celled; style simple; seed solitary in each cell, winged. A 

 curious desert shrub belonging to the family Koebertiniaceae growing on the mountains of western Arizona. 

 Reported collected in the Providence Mountains, California, by Cooper in 1860-62 but not rediscovered there 

 since. 



Family 86. STAPHYLEACEAE. 



Bladder-nut Family. 



Trees or shrubs, with opposite, odd-pinnate or 3-foliolate leaves. Stipules small, 

 early deciduous. Flowers regular, perfect, usually 5-merous, in terminal or axillary 

 clusters. Stamens inserted outside at the base o£ the large disk. Pistil free from the 

 disk ; ovary commonly 3-celled. Fruit a 3-lobed bladdery capsule dehiscent at the 

 apex, or in some genera an indehiscent capsule. 



A family of 5 genera and about 22 species, natives of the north temperate regions. 



1. STAPHYLEA L. Sp. PI. 270. 1753. 



Shrubs or rarely small trees. Leaves 3-foliolate or pinnate, deciduous. Flowers white, 

 on jointed pedicels in drooping axillary panicles. Petals about as long as the calyx-lobes, 

 erect. Pistil of 3 carpels, united only by their axes; styles 3; ovules many in each cell. 

 Fruit a bladdery, deeply 3-lobed capsule, dehiscent at the apex. Seeds globose. [Name 

 Greek, meaning a cluster.] 



A genus of about 6 species, natives of the north temperate regions. Type species, Staphylea pinnata L. 

 Besides the following, S. trifolia L. occurs in Canada and the northeastern United States. 



1. Staphylea Bolanderi A. Gray. Bolander's or California Bladder-nut. Fig. 3094. 



Staphylea Bolanderi A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 10: 69. 1874. 



An arborescent shrub or small tree, 2-6 m. high, glabrous throughout. Leaves 3-foliolate; 



