EHAMNE^. 7'9 



1. P. Myrsiiiites, Raf. Am. Monthly Mag. ii. 176 (1818) ; Pursh, Fl. i. 

 119 (1814), uuder Ilex: Mi/ginda myrtifoUa, Nutt. Gen. i. 109 (1818): 

 Oreuphila mijrlifoiia, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 259. Branching and leafy, 

 1 — 2 ft. high : leaves ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute, cuueate at base, 

 serrate or serrulate, li—l}i in. long : fl. 1 line wide, on pedicels 1—2 

 lines long : fr. 2 lines long. — Woods of the middle Sierra from Yuba Ca 

 northward. 



Order XI. R H A M N E >€ . 



De Candolle, Prodromus, ii. 19 (1825). Ehamni, Juss. (1789). 

 Shrubs with simple leaves ; stipules minute, mostly caducous. 

 Flowers 4— 5-merous, small, perfect or unisexual regular. Calyx 4 — 5- 

 cleft, valvate in jestivation. Petals cucullate or convolute, sometimes 0. 

 Stamens as many as the calyx-lobes and alternate with them, i. e., 

 opposite the petals. Ovary more or less free, surrounded by a fleshy 

 disk, 2—3- or 4-celled ; ovules solitary, erect Fruit baccate or capsular. 

 Seeds erect ; albumen fleshy or 0. 



1. RHAMXUS, Nicander (Buckthorn). Shrubs evergreen or decidu- 

 ous with alternate leaves and axillary clusters of small greenish 4 — 5- 

 merous flowers. Disk thin, lining the tube of the calyx. Fruit sub- 

 globose, the juicy pulp enclosing 2 or 3 large nut-like seeds. 



* Seeds sulcate and somewhat concave on the hack ; cotyledons foliaceous , 



irilh recurred margins.— Bkamnvs proper. 



1. R. alnifolia, L'Her. Sert. Angl. 5 (1788) ; Hook. Fl. i. 122. t. 42. 

 Erect, unarmed, 4 -6 ft. high, deciduous : leaves oval, acuminate, 2 — 3 in. 

 long, crenately serrate : fl. solitary or. clustered, .5-merous, apetalous : fr. 

 obovate, 3-seeded, )4 in. long, black. — Eastern base of the Sierra from 

 near Truckee, Sonne, northward. 



* * Seeds convex on the back, sulcate ventrally if at all ; cotykdoiis fleshy, 



flat. — Old genus Frangula. 

 ■i-Erergreen species. 



2. R. crocea, Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. i. 261 (1838). Low, intricately 

 branched, slender and spinescent, 2 — 5 ft. high ; leaves rigidly coriaceous, 

 ^2 ill- long, bright-green above, yellow beneath, roundish ovate in out- 

 line, glandular-denticulate : fl. 4-merous, apetalous, often unisexual, 

 short-pedicelled, solitary or few in a fascicle : fr. small, obovoid, scarlet, 

 1- or 2-seeded. Var. ilicifolia. R. ilicifolia, Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. ii. 

 37 (1863). Arborescent, 12 — 15 ft. high, with ample leafy branches not 

 at all spinescent : fl. 5-merous. — The low spinescent type, found by 

 Nuttall at Monterey, occurs on Angel Island also, but is more rare than 

 that arborescent variety which may very likely prove distinct. This is 



