474 



RIIAMNACEAE 



branched, its Avliitish somewhat crooked brandies spreading: horizontally or even- 

 tually recumbent, ratlier closely armed with stout spine-tipped leafy or flower- 

 bearinjr branehlets; leaf-blades elliptic or ovatish, obtuse, rarely roundish and 

 subcordate at base, entire or rarely denticulate, minutely puberulent, or almost 

 glabrous, 3-nerved from the base, ^/i to % (or 1) inch long; flowers white; panicles 

 simple or subsimple, small, but usually dense, broadly oblong or ovatish, 1/2 to 1^/4 

 inches long; capsules lobed, nearly 2 lines broad, ridged on the back of each cell. 



Openly forested mountain slopes and flats, rarely on naked rocky ridges, 3600 

 to 8500 feet: Sierra Nevada; high North Coast Ranges; Panamint Range; San 

 Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto moun- 

 tains. South to Lower California, north to Ore- 

 gon, east to Nevada. June-July. 



Field note. — Ceanotlius cordulatus is a characteristic 

 and abundant species of the Canadian zone. Under the 

 weight of ^vinter snow the main stems of a bush tend to 

 radiate from a central crown and thus form flat or low 

 mound-like plants, though the stems may rise elastically 

 after the snow has melted. Or again individuals may 

 form quite prostrate circles 8 to 15 feet across. The 

 shrubs are frequently spaced, or a cluster of shrubs may 

 form distinct massed colonies 20 to 100 feet in diameter, 

 or again a continuous cover may be developed. The flow- 

 ers have a heavy or sickly-sweet, sometimes almost suffo- 

 cating odor. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada: Mt. Shasta near Sisson, Jep- 

 son 14,010; McCloud, Jepson; Mineral, Tehama Co., Jep- 

 son 12,279; Hot Springs Valley, Lassen Peak, Jepson; 

 Warner Valley, Plumas Co., Jepson 4065 ; Gold Run Creek, 

 Susanville, Jepson; Soapstone Hill, Plumas Co., Jepson; 

 Bear Valley, Nevada Co., Jepson 14,008; Donner Lake, 

 Sonne 45; Tahoe City, Jepson 7725; Mt. Tallac, Jepson; 

 Fallen Leaf, Eldorado Co., Ottley 849 ; Pacific Valley, Al- 

 pine Co., Jepson; Cold Sprs., Amador Co., Hansen 192; 

 Dorrington, Calaveras Co., Jepson; Belle Mdw., Tuolumne 

 Co., Jepson 6474; Leevining Creek, Mono Co., Ottley 1089; 

 Sunrise trail, Yosemite, Jepson 3164; Mariposa Big Trees, 

 Jepson; Bloody Caiion, Mono Co., Jepson; Huntington 

 Lake, Fresno Co., A. L. Grant 1039; Lake Florence, Fresno 

 Co., Jepson; Bound Mdw., Giant Forest, Jepson 703; Gar- 

 field Forest, Jepson 4665 ; Trout Mdw., upper Kern Eiver, Jepson 1040 ; North Fork Middle 

 Tule River, Jepson. North Coast Ranges : Grizzly Mt. betw. Hettenshaw Valley and Blocksburg, 

 ace. Tracy; Soldier Ridge, near South Yollo Bolly, Jepson 14,009; Snow Mt., n. Lake Co., Purpus 

 1153. Desert ranges: Telescope Peak, Panamint Range, Jepson; Jackass Spr., Panamint Range, 

 J. Grinnell. S. Cal. : Coldwater Canon, San Antonio Mts., Peirson 2277; Round Valley, Mt. San 

 Jacinto, Jepson 2317. 



Refs. — Ceanothus cordulatus Kell. Proc. Cal. Acad. 2:124, fig. 39 (1861), type loc. 

 Washoe, Nev., J. A. Veatch; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. ed. 2, 255 (1911), Man. 622 (1925). 



21. C. incanus T. & G. Mendocino White Thorn. (Fig. 235.) Shrub 4 to 

 8 feet high, with white bark and very glaucous branehlets; branehlets thick, stout 

 and short like bluntish apple tree spurs, or on vigorous shoots slender-spinose; 

 leaf -blades ovate to elliptic or roundish, acute or obtuse, entire (rarely serrulate), 

 rounded at base, l^^ to 2y2 inches long, strongly 3-ribbed from the base, above 

 glabrous and green, often drying dark brown, whitish beneath with a very fine 

 close indument; petioles 2 to 7 lines long; panicles compound, I/2 to 1% inches long, 

 their axes finely velvety; flowers white; capsules all over thickly warty or wavy- 

 ridged, shallowly lobed at top, 2^/2 lines in diameter. 



Summits of ridges, valley flats or along streams or swales, 400 to 3000 feet: 

 Coast Ranges from southern Humboldt Co. and western Lake Co. to Santa Cruz 

 Co. Apr.-May. 



Field note. — Ceanothus incanus has very white bark and glaucous branehlets. It is common 

 in the Redwood belt and reaches its greatest development in Mendocino Co., where it colonizes 



Fig. 234. 

 TUS Kell. 



X V2; b, capsule, X 4. 



Ceanothus cordula- 

 a, flowering branch, 



