220 ACERACEAE. 



oval, rigid-coriaceous, very obtuse at both ends, or acutish at base, 

 entire or sometimes serrate, 2.5-4 cm. long, dark green and shining 

 above, veiny and paler beneath; petioles 5-8 mm. long; inflorescence 

 and young parts cinereous or canescently puberulent; flowers white 

 or rose-colored, glomerate, sessile, subtended by rather thick orbicu- 

 lar bracts within which are 2 similar but thinner bractlets; sepals 

 oval-orbicular, scarious-margined, ciliolate; drupes very viscid and 

 acid, about 10 mm. in diameter. 



Bluffs along the seashore, rarely extending inland in our range 

 (Cahuenga Pass), but frequent in the foothills back of San Diego. 

 February-March. 



2. N. ovata (Wats.) Abrams. Erect or spreading evergreen shrub, 

 1.5-3 m. high; leaves rigid-coriaceous, very smooth and shining, 

 ovate or subcordate, acute at apex, entire or sharply serrate; inflores- 

 cence glabrous or glabrate; bracts as in the last; calyx scarcely or 

 not at all ciliolate; fruit 8 mm. in diameter, otherwise as in the last. 



Occasional in the chaparral belt throughout our range. March- 

 April. 



4. MALOSMA Nutt. 



An arborescent shrub with simple coriaceous persistent 

 leaves and small flowers In ample terminal panicles. 

 Calyx 5-cleft. Petals and stamens 5. Ovary 1-ovuled. 

 Fruit small, with a smooth whitish exocarp, beaked by 

 the persistent styles; stone nearly smooth, thickened 

 and rugose along one edge. 



1. M. laurina Nutt. Erect evergreen shrub, 2-4 m. high, ex- 

 haling the odor of bitter almonds; leaves thin, coriaceous, oblong- 

 lanceolate, entire, acute or obtuse, mucronate, 7-10 cm. long, 

 rounded at base on rather long petioles; flowers polygamous, very 

 small, white, numerous in ample terminal panicles; drupes whitish, 

 2-3 mm. in diameter, smooth; mesocarp waxy; stone minute, 

 smooth. {Rhus laurina Nutt.) 



Very common in the foothills and extending well up into the 

 chaparral; less common in the interior. June-July. Malosma was 

 a manuscript name, published as a synonym by Engler (DC. Monog. 

 Phan. 4: 393. 1883.) 



Family 59. ACERACEAE. Maple Family. 



Trees or shrubs with watery often saccharine sap, 

 opposite simple and palmately lobed or pinnate leaves, 

 and axillary or terminal cymose or racemose regular 

 polygamous or dioecious flowers. Calyx generally 5- 

 parted, the segments imbricated. Petals of the same 

 number or none. Disk thick, annular, lobed, sometimes 

 obsolete. Stamens 4-12, often 8; filaments filiform. 



