80 RHAMNE^. 



frequent from Clear Lake down along the Mt. Diablo Range to the 

 southern part of the State. 



3. R. Californica, Esch. Mem. Acad. Petrop. x. 281 (1826) : R. 



okifolia, Hook. Fl. i. 123. t. 44 (1830) : R. lavrifolia, Nntt. in T. & G. Fl. 

 i. 260 (1838 j. Bushy or arborescent, 4—20 ft. high, nascent parts pubes- 

 cent, otherwise glabrous : leaves thin-coriaceous, elliptic-oblong, acute 

 or obtuse, denticulate or entire, 1 —4 in. long : fl. subumbellate, 5-merous : 

 petals small, ovate, emarginate : filament long ; anther exserted from 

 the cucullate petal: fr. globose, ^3-/2 in. in diameter, copiously pulpy, 

 black : seeds usually 2, hemispherical, as broad at base as at summit. — 

 Along the seaboard, on sandy plains near the shore, where it is a low 

 compact bush, or along streams among the lower and middle Coast 

 mountains in arborescent form ; not in the interior, nor in the Sierra, 

 except at low elevations northward and beyond our limits. Well known 

 to druggists under the Spanish name of Cascara sagrada ; sometimes 

 called Wild Coffee, from the likeness which the seeds bear to coffee- 

 grains ; these said to have been sometimes used as a substitute for that 

 article. Fl. Mar. Apr.; fr. Sept. 



4. R. toiiientella, Benth. PI. Hartw. 303 (1849). Near preceding, of 

 similar habit, hui never either low-bushy or arborescent : leaves 2 in. 

 long, narrowly oblong or elliptical, abruptly acute or acuminate, entire, 

 the margin narrowly revolute, glabrate above, minutely and very densely 

 silvery- or yellowish-tomentose beneath : fl. and fr. as in the last. — Foot- 

 hills of the Sierra only, and from Butte Co. southward to Lower Cali- 

 fornia. Pubescence peculiar. 



-1— -1— Deciduous species. 



5. R. rubra, Greene, Pittouia,i. 68 & 160 (1887). Shrub 3—6 ft. high, 

 diffusely branched, the branches glabrous, with a thin reddish smooth 

 and shining, or dull and slightly pubescent bark : leaves thin, short- 

 petioled, obovate to elliptic-oblong, obtuse or aciite, closely serrulate, 

 glabrous on both faces, or puberulent beneath : flowers few in umbellate 

 clusters, 5-merous : petals concealing the anthers, the filaments short 

 and deltoid : fr. broadly obovoid, I4 in. in diameter, deep red or purple, 

 mostly 3-seeded : seeds narrowed at base. Higher Sierra, from Lake 

 Tahoe, Parry, and Truckee, Sonne, southward ; chiefly on the eastern 

 slope, but also on the western, from Calaveras Co. southward ; perhaps 

 extending into Arizona. 



6. R. Pursliiaiia, DC. Prodr. ii. 25 (1825). Arborescent, sparingly 

 branched, 6 -20 ft. high ; growing parts tomentose-pubescent : leaves 

 thin, obovate- or elliptic-oblong, often ample, 2—8 in. long, l—'&}i broad, 

 obtuse at base, acute at apex, margin often repand, always finely 

 penticulate : fl. in umbellate cymes, rather few and large, 5-merous : 



