POMACES. 51 



glabrous throiigliout, 1 2 in. loug, sbort-peiioled : racemes 1- 2 in. long, 

 leafless; fl. small : drupe j.i iu. thick or more, slightly obcompressed ; 

 putamen thin, scarcely ligneous ; sarcocarp thin, sweetish, scarcely astrin- 

 gent when ripe. — Oakland Hills, thence southward throughout the State : 

 a mere shrub in the Bay region, but attaining the size and proportions of 

 a small but shapely tree in southern Monterey Co. 



* * * FIoirerK racenwse al the ends of leafy I'VCDichlets ; fJnipe small, axtriu- 

 geid. — Old genus Padxts. 



4. C. demissa, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 411 (1840). Prunus demissa, 

 Walpers, 1. c. (Choke-Cherby). Shrub deciduous, 3 -12 ft. high : leaves 

 ovate or oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, rounded or cordate at base, 

 sharply serrate, more or less pubescent beneath, 2—4 in. long, with 1 or 2 

 glands on the petiole just below its summit : racemes 3—4 in. long, 

 many -flowered : drupe globose, red or dark purple, astringent ; putamen 

 ligneous, globose. -Hills behind North Berkeley, but more frequent back 

 from the seaboard throughout the State. Fl. Apr. fr. Sept. 



4. XUTTALLIl, Torrey tC- Gray {Oso Berry). Shrub with the habit 

 of Amelanchier, but flowers dioecious, in pendulous racemes terminating 

 short leafj^ branchlets. Calyx turbinate-campanulate, 5-lobed. Petals 5, 

 broadly spatulate, erect in the pistillate flowers, spreading in the stami- 

 nate. Stamens 15, in two rows, 10 inserted with the petals, 5 lower down 

 within the calyx-tube ; filaments slender, short. Pistils 5 ; styles short, 

 lateral, jointed at base. Drupes 1 — 4, ovoid, with thin pulp and osseous 

 putamen. Seed solitary ; cotyledons convolute. 



1. ]V. cerasiforniis, T. & G. in H. & A. Bot. Beech. 336. t. 82 (1840) ; 

 Greene, in Garden and Forest, ii. 219. Shrub with clustered stems 2—6 

 ft. high, the bark dark brown : leaves broadly oblanceolate, entire, obtuse 

 or acutish, mucronulate, 2—3 in. long, short-petioled : racemes shorter 

 than the leaves ; bracts conspicuous : fl. white, very fragrant : drupes 

 6—8 lines long, slightly compressed, blue-black ; pulp bitter. Common 

 in the Coast Range hills, near the sea ; also in the Sierra northward. 

 The flowers exhale a rich odor of almonds. The fruit though bitter is 

 eaten greedily by birds and mammals. Jan.— Apr. 



Order III. P M A C E /E. 



Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, Manuel des Plantes Usuelles, i. 211 (1819) ; 

 S. F. Gray, Nat. Arr. ii. 5-)2 ( 1821) ; Lindl. Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. 93 ( 1821) ; 

 Bartl. Ord. Nat. 399 (1830) ; Spach. Phanerog. ii. 49 (1834) ; M. J. Roemer, 

 Syn. iii. 97 (1847). 



Trees and shrubs with astringent but neither bitter nor poisonous 

 properties ; not giimmiferous. Leaves alternate, simple or unequally 

 pinnate, with caducous stipules. Flowers i^erfect, regular, racemosely or 



