BUCKTHORN FAMILY 457 



Locs. — Pifion "Well grade, Conchilla Range, Jepson 5993 ; Morongo Valley, Jepson 12,641 ; 

 Palm Canon of San Jacinto, Jepson 1337; Stuart Spr., Grapevine Canon, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 

 8763; lower San Felipe Valley, Jepson 8728; Mason Valley, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 8641; 

 Banner, T. Brandegee ; Jacumba, e. San Diego Co., Cleveland. 



Refs. — CONDAUA PARRYI Weberb. ; Engler & Prantl, Nat. Pflzfam. 33:404 (1895) ; Jepson, 

 Man. 613 (1925). Zizyphus parryi Torr. Bot. Mex. Bound. 46 (1859), tji^e loc. San Felipe, e. 

 San Diego Co., Parry; Kellogg, Pac. Eur. Press 32:489 (1886). 



3. C. spathulata Gray. Mexican Crucillo. Shrub, intricately branched, 

 the branchlets rigid, spinescent, leafy; herbage puberulent; leaf-blades obovate or 

 spatulate, 2 to 3 lines long, narrowed to short petioles, the under side with a few 

 broad light-colored veins in relief; umbels sessile, 1 or 2-flowered; pedicels 1 line 

 long; drupe ovoid, 2 lines long. 



Sandy mesas, 50 to 800 feet : eastern Colorado Desert. East to Texas, south to 

 Mexico. July. 



Loc. — Mesquite sta. (Svn. Fl. 1^:403), the only station known in California. 



Eefs.— CONDALIA SPATHULATA Gray, PI. Wright. 1:32 (1852), 2:27 (1853), type loc. "Rio 

 Grande, Texas, and prairies on the San Felipe", Wright ; Jepson, Man. 614 (1925). 



2. RHAMNUS L. Buckthorn 



Shrubs with alternate leaves. Flowers greenish, perfect or polygamous. Um- 

 bels axillary, sessile or peduncled. Calyx with 4 or 5 lobes or teeth, its tube after 

 anthesis circumscissile near the middle, the upper portion of tube and the lobes 

 deciduous as one piece, the lower portion persistent as a narrow collar beneath 

 the fruit. Petals very small, hooded and without claws, or none. Stamens 4 or 

 5; filaments short. Ovary ovoid, free. Fruit berry-like, containing 2 or 3 sepa- 

 rate seed-like nutlets of bony or cartilaginous texture. — Species about 120, all 

 continents. (The ancient Greek name.) 



Berry black. 



Foliage evergreen ; petals present ; leaves % to 3 inches long. 



Leaves thickish ; bark of branchlets gray or brown ; petals when spread out somewhat 



obcordate, sub-acute at base 1. -B. californica. 



Leaves thinnish; bark of branchlets cherry -red; petals when spread out somewhat 



rhomboidal, notched at apex, truncatish at base 2. B. rubra. 



Foliage deciduous ; leaves thinnish. 



Petals present ; leaves 3 to 8 inches long 3. B. purshmna. 



Petals none; leaves 1 to 2^2 inches long 4. B. alnifolia. 



Berry red; petals none or very minute; foliage evergreen 5. B. crocea. 



1. R. californica Esch. California Coffee-berry. Shrub commonly 4 to 6 

 feet high; leaves scattered along the branchlets, the blades narrowly or broadly 

 oblong, serrulate, usually acute, glabrous or slightly puberulent, dark green when 

 dried, II/2 to 2^2 inches long; flowers mostly 5-merous; peduncles 1 to 10 lines 

 long; berry green when young, turning red or reddish and finally black when ripe, 

 globose or oval, 3 to 4 lines in diameter, containing 2 (rarely 3) nutlets. 



Dry flats, moist hillslopes or rocky ridges, 50 to 5500 feet : Coast Kanges from 

 Trinity and Humboldt Cos. to San Luis Obispo Co.; Santa Barbara Co. to the 

 Santa Monica, San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains. East 

 to Arizona, south to Lower California. Mar.-Apr. It is also called Pigeon Berry 

 and Yerba del Oso. 



Note on variation. — In leaf form Rhamnus californica is extremely variable. Narrow or 

 broad pointed leaf -blades either long or short, broad leaf-blades with acute or very rounded 

 apices, may be had from shrubs in the San Francisco Bay region which are otherwise alike in 

 habit, flowers and fruit. On the other hand distinctive leaf forms are often associated with 

 local climatic areas. In arid habitats, the leaf -blades are often small and thick, in shady situations 

 they become thin and enlarged (4 to 6 inches in length). All of the named varieties as described 

 below vary in foliage to a similar degree, and all, except perhaps the last one, pass into each other 

 by intergrades where the ranges overlap or meet. 



