SAXIFRAGE FAMILY 149 



Wooded or dry open hills, 400 to 2500 feet : inner Coast Range from Tehama 

 Co. to Mt. Diablo, thence west to Marin Co. and south to coastal Southern Cali- 

 fornia. Dec-Apr. 



Locs. — Greasewood Hills, Tehama Co., Jepson 13,502; Elk Creek (6 mi. w.), Glenn Co., Guy 

 Smith; Gates Canon, Vaca Mts., Jepson 13,503; North Berkeley hills, Jepson 13,526, 13,527; 

 Ijas Trampas Eidge, Jepson 9844; Mt. Diablo, Jepson 9514; Smith Creek, Santa Clara Co., E. J. 

 Smith; Los Gatos, Heller 7219; San Luis Obispo Co., Ida Blochman; Santa Barbara, Jepson 

 9165; Ojai Valley, Olive Thacher 17; Cahuenga Pass, Brewer 183; Santa Monica, Barber; 

 Arroyo Seco, Los Angeles Co., Braunton 774; San Bernardino, Parish 3629; San Miguel Mt., 

 San Diego Co., Chandler. 



Var. viridifolium Abrams. Foliage greener than in the species and inflorescence more glan- 

 dular; flowers 5 to 6% lines long. — Montane, 3000 to 5000 feet: San Bernardino Mts.; San 

 Gabriel Mts. (ridge betAV. Monrovia and Fish canons, Peirson 71). 



Var. indecorum Janez. Leaves darker and smaller than in the species; racemes short; 

 flowers whitish, nearly sessile, 2^/^ to 3% lines long; style very short. — A form of the dry chapar- 

 ral belt of Southern California from Santa Barbara Co. to San Diego Co. : Painted Cave Eanch, 

 Santa Barbara Co., Eastioood 60; Arroyo Seco, San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 299, 299a; Potrero, 

 San Diego Co., Abrams 3551; Campo, Newlon 354. On Cedar Mt., se. Alameda Co., Jepson 6216, 

 it recurs as an intergrade to li. malvaceum. 



Eefs. — EiBES MAJOVACEUM Sm. ; Eees, Cycl. 30, Ribes n. 13 (1819), tvpe from Cal., Menzies; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 273 (1901), ed. 2, 202 (1911), Man. 470 (1925). R. sanguineum var. 

 malvaceum Loud. Arb. 988 (1838). B. tubulosum Esch. Mem. Acad. Sci. St. Petersb. 10:283 

 (1826), type from Cal., Eschscholtz, perhaps belongs here. Var. viridifolitjm Abrams, BuU. 

 S. Cal. Acad. 1:67 (1902), type loc. Wilsons Peak, Abrams 1525; Jepson, Man. 470 (1925). 

 B. viridifolium Hel. Muhl. 1:77 (1904). B. purpurascens Hel. Muhl. 4:29 (1908), type loc. n. 

 slope San Bernardino Mts., Parish 5564. Var. indecorum Jancz. Mem. Soc. Geneve 35:325 

 (1907) ; Jepson, Man. 470 (1925). B. indecorum Eastw. Proc. Cal. Acad. ser. 3, 2:243 (1902), 

 type loc. Cajon Heights, San Diego, Eastwood. 



7. R. laxiflorum Pursh. Western Black Currant. Stems decumbent or 

 ascending, 3 to 8 feet long; leaf -blades roundish-cordate in outline, nearly gla- 

 brous above, pubescent beneath, 2i/2 to 5 inches broad, 5-lobed, or 3-lobed with 

 2 supplementary lobes at base, serrate ; racemes erect, 1 14 to 4 inches long ; pedicels 

 2V2 to 6 lines long ; bracts lanceolate ; flowers purplish ; calyx saucer-shaped, 3 to 

 3% lines broad; petals minute, fan-shaped, truncate or retuse, short-clawed; ovary, 

 pedicels and rachis whitish-pubescent, the former densely, the latter two lightly 

 sprinkled with long-stalked glands ; berry black, 2 to 3 lines long, with a few long- 

 stallved glands. 



Wet places in woods, 10 to 200 feet : Humboldt Co. North to British Columbia 

 and Alaska. Siberia. Apr. 



Habitat note. — Growing in cold wet bottoms in the coastal woods, the stems do not make a 

 definite bush, but trail or climb over stumps or logs. In this manner it often covers areas 20 or 

 more feet across, not rising more than two or three feet above the ground or the supporting 

 undergrowth. — Jos. P. Tracy. 



Locs. — Eyan Slough, Eureka, Tracy 4890. Juneau, Alas., Jepson 480. 



Refs. — EiBES LAXEFLORTTM Pursh, Fl. 731 (1814), type loc. "Northwest Coast", Mensies; 

 Jepson, Man. 470 (1925). 



8. R. bracteosxim Dougl. Stink Currant. Tall erect shrub 4 to 8 or 14 feet 

 high ; leaf -blades large, deeply 5-lobed with doubly serrate divisions, 2 to 8 or 10 

 inches broad, nearly glabrous but the upper side minutely strigulose, the under 

 side sprinkled with resin dots; petioles long; racemes erect, 5 to 7 inches long, 

 with numerous (30 or more) greenish-white flowers; bracts persistent, filiform or 

 lanceolate, the lower petioled; calyx rotately expanding or saucer-shaped, 3 to 4 

 lines wide ; petals minute ; stamens very short ; berry black, covered with a bloom, 

 resin-dotted, 4 lines long. 



Stream banks and bottoms along the coast : Mendocino Co. to Del Norte Co. 

 North to Oregon and Alaska. May-June. Also called Skunk Currant. 



Locs. — Ft. Bragg, W. C. Mathcius 56; Cottonaby Creek, Mendocino Co., Bolander 6570; 

 Camp Grant, Humboldt Co., Davy 5504; Little Eiver, Humboldt Co., Tracy 3216; Box Camp, 

 Trinity Smnmit, Davy 5761 ; Quartz Creek, Del Norte Co., Jepson 2893. Orca, Alaska, Jepson 453. 



