440 BUTACEAE 



1. THAMNOSMA Ton-. & Frem. 



Switch-like shrubs. Loaves altcnialc, small, narrow, soon decidnoiis. Flowers 

 on scaly iiednnclos, the peduncles very short or sometimes almost none, solitary 

 and terminal or scattered alon>r the branchlets. Calyx short. 4-lobed, persistent. 

 Petals 4. erect, scarcely spreading in anthesis. Stamens 8, ecpially inserted with 

 the petals on a narrow hypofjynous disk. Ovary stipitate, 2-celled, didymous, with 

 several ovules in each cell; style one; stijyma capitate. Fruit a coriaceous strongly 

 2-lobed capsule; cells few-seeded. — Species 4, North America and Africa. (Greek 

 thamnos, a bush, and osme, odor.) 



1. T. montana Torr. & Frem. Turpentine Broom. Stems freely branching, 

 broom-like, yellowish-green, 1 to 21/^ feet high, thickly covered with pustulate 

 glands; herbage glabrous, heavily odorous; leaf -blades oblanceolate, 2 to 6 lines 

 long, sessile or subsessile; flowers 4 lines long, black-purple; petals ovate to elliptic, 

 revolute at tip; stamens 4 long and 4 short; style slightly exserted; ovules 8 or 9 

 in each cell; capsule 5 lines broad, deeply parted into two subglobose lobes; lobes 

 splitting dorsally from the apex, 1 to 3-seeded. 



Dry or stony hills and mesas, 1000 to 4200 feet : mountains on the west side of 

 the Colorado Desert; Mohave Desert; Inyo Co. East to Utah and Arizona, south 

 to Lower California. Apr.-May. 



Field note. — On the Coolgardie yucca mesa the dehiscence of the capsule was specially ob- 

 served. The capsules regularly dehisce by a lateral slit across the top of each cell. This slit runs 

 from the base of the style or summit of the placental axis at right angles to the commissure (of 

 the two cells), but extending in each case only across the top of the cell. 



Locs. — Colorado Desert (w. side) : Jacumba, Abrams 3651 ; Mountain Sprs., E. W. Sumner; 

 Cuyamaca Mts., Newlon 355 ; Blair Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 8689 ; San Felipe ; Coyote 

 Canon, sw. Riverside Co. ; Mission Creek wash, n. end Coachella Valley, J. T. Howell 3322 ; "White- 

 water, Parish; Morongo Valley, Jepson; Chuckwalla Sprs., Hall 5892; Ord Mt., Jepson 5935. 

 Mohave Desert: betw. Pinto Basin and Twenty -nine Palms, J. T. Howell 3320; Helendale, Newlon 

 481; Barstow, Jepson 4826; Lead Mt., Jepson 6607; Coolgardie yucca mesa, Jepson 6637; Sum- 

 mit road sta., e. of Halloran Spr., Jepson 15,815. Inyo Co. : Emigrant Canon, Panamint Range, 

 Jepson 7122. 



Refs. — Thamnosma Montana Torr. & Frem.; Frem. Rep. 313 (1845), type loc. Virgin River, 

 s. Utah, Fremont; Jepson, Man. 605, fig. 597 (1925). 



Ruta L. Herbs or the stems woody at base. Leaves alternate. Flowers per- 

 fect, in terminal cymes. Stamens 8 or 10. Ovary 4 or 5-celled, the ovules 5 to each 

 cell. Capsule 4 or 5-lobed. E. chalepensis L. Mant. 69 (1767). Aleppo Rue. 

 Shrubby, 2 feet high; herbage glaucous; leaves bipinnately divided, 1^/2 to 2i/2 

 inches long; segments unequal, 3 to 6 lines long; petals yellow, fringed, 21/3 lines 

 long; capsule 3 lines high, its lobes pointed. — Native of the Old World, introduced : 

 El Monte (N. Am. Fl. 25:212); Ventura, Parish 11,046; Kingston, ne. Mohave 

 Desert, E. M. Funk. 



2. CNEORIDIUM Hook. f. 



Low glabrous evergreen shrub with narrow opposite entire leaves. Flowers 1 

 to 3 on short peduncles. Calyx short, 4-parted. Petals 4, white. Stamens 8, the 

 ones opposite the petals much shorter; filaments dilated. Ovary globose, 1-celled, 

 2-ovuled, seated on an annular disk; style short, flattened, lateral (arising from 

 near the base of the ovary) ; stigma capitate. Fruit globose, drupe-like, 1 to 2- 

 seeded. Seed globose, with curved embryo; endosperm fleshy. — Species 1. (Re- 

 sembling Cneorum, an Old World genus.) 



1. C. dumosum Hook, f . Much branched bush, 2 to 3I/2 feet high, the herbage 

 heavily odorous; leaf -blades linear or tapering to base, glandular-dotted, 1/2 to 1% 

 inches long, l^/o to 2 lines wide; peduncles solitary or clustered, 1 to 3-flowered; 

 flowers 3 lines broad; petals obovate or elliptic; fruit reddish-brown, resinous- 

 punctate, 3 lines in diameter. 



