DBUPACEiE. 49 



before or with the leaves. Drupe velvety -pubescent ; sarcocarp more or 

 less fibrous, often thin and in maturity dehiscent, falling away from the 

 putamen : this osseous or suberous, smooth or rugose. 



1. A. Audersonii, Greene. Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 387 (1868), 

 under Pninns. Shrub 3 —6 ft. high, the branches short, rigid, somewhat 

 spinescent : leaves fascicled, spatulate or oblong, obtuse or acute, some- 

 what serrulate, %—l in. long: fl. 1 — 3 from each biid, appearing with 

 the leaves, ^3 in. broad, rose-colored, the petals orbicular : drupe I3 in. 

 long, compressed, acute ; stone aciitely margined on one edge, furrowed 

 upon the other, acute at each end, faintly rugose. Eastern borders of 

 the State, from Sierra Co., LeuDnon, southward. A handsome bush when 

 in flower : a true almond in its affinities, not a plum or cherry. 



2. A. fasciculata, Greene. Torr. PI. Frem. 10, t. 5 (1854), under 

 Emplec'.ocladas. Shrub 2-3 ft. high, very rigid, divaricately branched : 

 leaves fascicled, narrowly spatulate, entire, ^j in. long, nearly sessile : fl. 

 very small, sessile ; petals linear, recurved : stamens only 10 or 15 : 

 drupe subglobose, 5 —6 lines long, hirsute-tomentose ; sarcocarp thin ; 

 stone subglobose, smooth, obtuse on both margins, acute at each end. — 

 Eastern slope of the Sierra, in Mono Co. or Inyo, if within our limits. 

 The linear and plane petals would be exceptional in any of the old genera 

 of this order ; and Dr. Torrey's Empleclocladus may perhaps be valid as 

 a genus. 



3. A. COMMUNIS, Linn. Sp. PI. 473 (1753). The Almond Tree, native 

 of Asia Minor, and perfectly at home in California, where it is one of the 

 most valued of orchard trees, is already spontaneous here and there, and 

 will inevitably become naturalized in course of time. The same may 

 be said of 



4. A. Peksica, Linn. 1. c. 472, the Peach Tree, a native of Persia, 

 more hardy than the Almond, and more generally cultivated in America. 



2. PRUXUS, Varro (Plum-Tree. Prune). Leaves convolute in the 

 bud (in our species). Flowers in umbellate clusters from lateral buds, 

 appearing before or with the leaves. Drupe ovoid, glabrous, glaucous : 

 the thick sarcocarp pulpy, sweet or pleasantly acidulous, and with the 

 distinctive flavor of plums ; putamen bony, smooth, compressed, acutely 

 edged on one margin, grooved on the other. 



1. P. subcordata, Benth. PI. Hartw. 108(1849). Arborescent, 3-10 

 ft. high, much branched, more or less spinescent ; nascent leaves and 

 twigs finely pubescent, in age glaljrate : leaves ovate, cuneate or obcordate 

 at base, obtuse or acute, sharply serrulate, about 1 in. long, short-petioled : 

 umbels 2 — 4-flowered ; pedicels I4 — % i^- long, fl. white, % in. broad : 

 drupe % in. long, red, the pulp rather hard and unpalatable. Var 



