QUASSIA FAMILY 19 



3. CNEORIDIUM Hook. f. in Benth. & Hook. Gen. PI. 1 : 312. 1862. 



Evergreen, heavy-scented shrubs, with glabrous branchlets. Leaves opposite or fas- 

 cicled on short branchlets, pellucid-punctate. Flowers perfect, solitary or somewhat 

 corymbose on axillary or terminal peduncles. Sepals 4, persistent. Petals 4, spreading 

 Stamens 8, those opposite the petals shorter, inserted around the base of the flat, toothed 

 disk. Ovary 1 -celled, sessile; ovules 2, collateral; style nearly basal, curved; stigma capi- 

 tate. Berry globose or ovoid, 1-2-seeded, the exocarp punctate. Seeds nearly globose 

 dark brown; embryo curved. [Name Greek, meaning resembling Cneorum, an Old 

 World genus. 1 



A monotypic genus of southern California and Lower California. 



1. Cneoridium dumosum (Nutt.) Hook. f. Bush Rue. Fig. 3007. 



Pitavia dumosa Nutt. in Terr. & Gray, Fl. N. Amer. 1: 215. 1838. 

 Cneoridium dumosum Hook. f. ex Baillon, Hist. PI. 4: 498. 1873. 



A much-branched shrub, 5-15 dm. high, glabrous throughout. Leaves narrowly oblong or 

 spatulate-linear, 15-25 mm. long, sessile, thick, entire or obscurely crenulate, punctate along' the 

 margin; sepals 1 mm. long; petals white, 5-6 mm. long, oval or obovate; fruit reddish brown 

 5-6 mm. in diameter. ' 



On dry chaparral-covered mesas and hills, Lower Sonoran Zone; Laguna Beach, Orange County, to western 

 San Diego County, California, and northern Lower California. Type locality: San Diego, California Tan - 

 March. 



Ruta chalapensis L. Mant. 69. 1767. African Rue. Strong-smelling glaucous perennial herb, the stems 

 erect, 4-8 dm. high. Leaves bi- or tripinnate; leaflets oblong-oblanceolate, 5-15 mm. long; flowers corymbose- 

 calyx 4;parted; petals 4, yellow, 6-8 mm. long, involute, fringed; capsule 4-lobed. An occasional escape from 

 cultivation in southern California. Native of the Mediterranean region. 



Family 76. SIMAROUBACEAE. 



Quassia Family. 



Trees or shrubs, usually with bitter bark containing oil sacs. Leaves alternate 

 or opposite, simple or compound. Stipules minute or none. Flowers perfect or uni- 

 sexual, axillary, paniculate or racemose. Calyx of 3-7 distinct or partly united 

 sepals. Petals as many as sepals, or rarely wanting. Stamens as many as sepals or 

 twice as many, or rarely numerous. Pistil of 2-5 distinct or united carpels ; styles 

 distinct or united, or none; ovules 1 to many in each cell. Fruit a berry, drupe, 

 capsule or samara. Seeds usually solitary ; endosperm present or sometimes wanting. 



A family of 30 genera and 125 species, native of warm temperate and tropical regions. Closely related to 

 the Rutaceae from which it is best distinguished by the absence of punctate glands in the leaves. 



Unarmed tree; leaves pinnate; fruit a samara. 1. Ailanthus. 



Very thorny shrub; leaves scale-like; fruit drupe-like. 2. Holacantha, 



1. AILANTHUS Desf. Mem. Acad. Paris 1786; 265. pi. 8. 1789. 



Polygamo-dioecious trees, with large odd-pinnate leaves. Flowers small, greenish 

 white, in terminal panicles. Calyx 5-cleft, the lobes imbricated. Petals 5, spreading, val- 

 vate. Disk 10-lobed. Staminate flowers with 10 stamens inserted at the base of the 

 disk. Pistillate with 2 or 3 stamens and a deeply 2-5-cleft ovary, the divisions flat, 1- 

 celled. Ovules 1 in each cell. Fruit a samara, linear or oblong, 1-seeded at the middle. 

 [Name from the Chinese, meaning tree of heaven.] 



A genus of 3 species, native of China and the East Indies. Type species. Toxicodendron altissima Mill. 



1. Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle. Tree of Heaven. Fig. 3008. 



Toxicodendron altissima Mill. Card. Diet. ed. 8. no. 10. 1768. 

 Albonia peregrina Buchoz, Herb. Color. Amer. pi. 57. 1783. 

 Ailanthus glandulosa Desf. Mem. Acad. Paris 1786:265. 1789. 

 Ailanthus altissima Swingle, Journ. Wash. Acad. 6: 495. 1916. 

 Ailanthus peregrina Barkley, Ann. Mo. Bot. Card. 24: 264. 1937. 



Tree with smooth gray bark. Leaves deciduous, 3-10 dm. long; leaflets 11-41, lanceolate to 

 obovate, 5-15 cm. long, entire or with a few coarse teeth toward the base; panicles 1-3 dm. long, 

 petals 3-4 mm. long, ovate, greenish yellow, villous near the base on the inner surface ; samaras 

 3-5 cm. long, somewhat spirally twisted. 



Escaped from cultivation, and well established in many localities in the Pacific States. The staminate 

 flowers are ill-smelling. Native of China. June. 



