1224 



ROSACEAE 



1. 0. cerasiformis Croonc Oso ]5i:ury. Erect, 3 to 9 feet high; leaf-blades 

 broadly oblonir to obovate-oblonfr, obtuse to rounded at apex, or narrowed at each 

 end, usually mucronate, glabrous or tomentulose below, IV2 to 4 inches long when 

 mature; petioles 1 to 3 lines long; petals 2 to 3 lines long; drupes blue-black, 5 to 7 

 lines long. 



North slopes of canons : Santa Barbara coast; Coast Ranges, mainly toward the 

 coast, from San Luis Obispo Co. to Del Norte Co., 100 to 1500 feet; Sierra Nevada 

 from Tulare Co. to Shasta Co., 1500 to 4000 feet. North to 

 British Columbia. Mar.-Apr. 



Field note. — A number of species have been proposed by E. L. Greene 

 as segregates of Osniaronia cerasiformis. These segregates rest upon 

 slight variations and have no geographic significance. A sufficiently long 

 series of specimens from any one locality shows many of these variations ; 

 contrariwise, specimens from type localities do not answer well to the cor- 

 responding diagnoses of the segregates or only indifferently. The pulp of 

 the fruit is bitter but not poisonous. The bush is also called Bird Cherry 

 and Indian Plum. 



The seedlings are very remarkable on aecoimt of the shape of the 

 cotyledons, the blades of which, 7 to 10 lines long and 9 to 11 lines wide, 

 are' round-reniform with markedly cordate base (cf. fig. 109). They are 

 thus very different morphologically from those of any species of West 

 American Prunus with which we are acquainted. The petioles are 5 to T^/^ 

 lines long, that is to say they are longer than the petioles of the foliage 

 leaves of the seedling. 



Locs. — Santa Barbara Co.: Gaviota Pass, ace. Ralph Iloffmann. Coast 

 Eanges: Santa Margarita, Berg; Lucia, Santa Lucia Mts., Jepson; Pacific 

 Grove, Elmer 5059; Lake San Andreas, San Mateo Co., Jepson 9542; 

 Arroyo Mocho, Mt. Hamilton Eange, Jepson 10,674; Point Lobos, San 

 Francisco, Jepson 13,825; Lake Teraescal, Oakland Hills, Jepson 13,826; 

 Orinda, Contra Costa Co., H. H. JIaxoorth; Tolenas Sprs., w. Solano Co., 

 B. H. Piatt; Olema, Marin Co., Jepson; St. Helena, Jepson 13,828; Mid- 

 dletown grade near Mt. St. Helena, Jepson 13,829 ; Duncans Mills, Sonoma 

 Co., Davy 1645 ; Jackson Valley, w. Mendocino Co., Jepson 1865 ; Eedwood 

 Creek, n. Humboldt Co., Jepson 1974; Redding, BlanMnship ; Crescent 

 City, Shockley. Sierra Nevada: Tule Elver Canon, Tulare Co., A. J. Per- 

 kins; Old Colony Mill, Marble Fork Kaweah Elver, Jepson; Sequoia MUls, 

 Fresno Co., Eastwood; Devils Gulch, Mariposa Co., Congdon; Amador Co. 

 foothills, Hansen 211; Salt Creek, Shasta Co., Hall 4- BahcocTc 4012. 



Eefs. — OSMARONIA CERASIFORMIS Greene, Pitt. 2:191 (1891) ; Jepson, 

 Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 285 (1901), ed. 2, 211 (1911), Man. 505, fig. 503 (1925). 



Nuttallia cerasiformis T. & G.; H. & A. Bot. Beech. 337, t. 82 (1838), type loc. "Columbia Eiver," 

 Nuttall. Osmaronia obtusa Greene, Pitt. 5:310 (1905), "foothills of the Sierra Nevada," Hansen 

 211. 0. demissa Greene, I.e., "hills encircling San Francisco Bay," Greene. 0. iracteosa Greene, 

 I.e., type loc. Salt Creek, Kaweah, Eastwood. 0. laurina Greene, I.e. 311, type loc. Santa Lueia 

 Mts., E. A. Plaslcett. 0. padiformis Greene, I.e., type loc. Lake Co., Heller 5859. 



Fig. 169. Osma- 

 ronia CERASIFORMIS 

 Greene ; seedling, 

 X 1/2. 



25. PRUNUS L. Plum 



Shrubs or small trees. Leaves simple, serrate. Flowers white, in clusters or 

 sometimes solitary, from lateral buds borne on wood of the previous season, appear- 

 ing before or with the leaves. Calyx-tube hemispheric or cup-shaped. Sepals 5, 

 deciduous after flowering. Petals spreading. Stamens 15 to 30. Pistil 1; style 

 terminal; ovules 2, pendulous. Drupe subglobose, usually 1-seeded; flesh sweet or 

 bitter; stone globose or compressed, bony. — Species about 75, north temperate zone, 

 also in tropical America and Asia. (The ancient Latin name of the Plum.) 



Bibliog. — Greene, E. L., Some western red cherries (Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 18:56-60, — 1905). 

 Mason, S. C, The pubescent-fruited species of Prunus of the sw. states (Jour. Agr. Eesearch 

 1:147-177, figs. 1-8, pis. 9-16,-1913) ; N. Am. species of Prunus (U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. 179: 

 1-75, figs. 1-4, pis. 1-13, — 1915). Meyer, K., Kulturgeschichte und systematische Beitrage zur 

 Gattung Prunus (Fedde, Eep. Sp. Nov. 22: beih. 1-64, t. 1-3,-1923). 



