WOOTON" AND STANDLEY FLORA OF NEW MEXICO. 319 



fruit a terete or fusiform, densely villous achene, terminating in a long, slender, 

 variously bent and curved, plumose tail sometimes 5 cm. long. 



The species of this genus furnish not a little forage for cattle, sheep, and goats which 

 browse upon them at all seasons of the year. On some of the rockier, drier mountains 

 of the southern part of the State, they are important parts of the scrubby 

 underbrush and furnish much of the firewood. The seasoned wood is very hard and 

 brittle and has a specific gravity near 1. It is so hard that it is difficult to chop with 

 an ax, but so brittle it may be broken easily. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Leaves large, 3 or 4 cm. long, coarsely toothed. 



Pubescence of the petioles and flowers appressed, silky 1. C. argenteus. 



Pubescence of the petioles and flowers spreading, not silky. . 2. C. montanus. 

 Leaves small, 2 cm. long or less, entire, or with a few inconspicu- 

 ous and very small teeth near the apex. 

 Pubescence of the petioles and flowers spreading, loose; up- 

 per surface of the leaves mostly soft-pubescent 3. C. paucidentatus. 



Pubescence appressed, silky; upper surface of the leaves 



glabrous, or with a few silky, appressed hairs 4. C. brevifiorus. 



1. Cercocarpus argenteus Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 22: 422. 1913. 

 Type locality: Rocky bluffs on Red River, Randall County, Texas. 

 Range : Colorado to Texas and New Mexico. 



New Mexico: Cedar Hill; Santa Fe and Las Vegas mountains; Raton Mountains; 

 Chama; Folsom; Sandia Mountains; White and Sacramento mountains; Capitan 

 Mountains. 



A decoction of the root of this shrub, along with juniper ashes and the powdered 

 bark of the alder, was formerly used by the Navahos in dying wool red. 



2. Cercocarpus montanus Raf. Atl. Joum. 146. 1832. 

 Cercocarpusfothergilloid.es H. B. K. err. det. Torr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. 2: 198. 1828. 

 Cercocarpus par vifolius Nutt.; Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey Voy. 337. 1840. 

 Type locality: "On the Rocky Mountains." 



Range: Montana and South Dakota to Utah and New Mexico. 

 New Mexico: Tunitcha Mountains; Dulce; Coolidge; Thoreau; Sandia Mountains; 

 Cross L Ranch; Glorieta. Hillsides, in the Upper Sonoran and Transition zones. 



3. Cercocarpus paucidentatus (S. Wats.) Britton, Trans. N. Y. Acad. 14: 31. 1894. 

 Cercocarpus parvifolius paucidentatus S. Wats. Proc. Amer. Acad. 17: 353. 1882. 

 Type locality: San Miguelito, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. 



Ranoi:: Western Texas to Arizona, south into Mexico. 



New Mexico: Common from the Mogollon Mountains to the Capitan Mountains 

 and south to the Mexican border. Dry hillsides, in the Upper Sonoran Zone. 



4. Cercocarpus brevifiorus A. Gray, PI. Wright. 2: 54. 18 



Type locality: "Sides of mountains near Frontera," Texas. Type collected by 

 Wright (no. 1057). 



Range: Western Texas to southern Arizona, south into Mexico. 



New Mexico: Lake Valley; Kingston; San Luis Mountains; San Andreas Moun- 

 tains; Queen; Organ Mountains. Dry hills, in the Upper Sonoran Zone. 



18. RTJBTJS L. RaSPBKEBY. 



Prickly shrubs, I meter high or less, with : > to 7-foliolate leaves ami white flowers; 

 stems of the lii erect, armed with bi iigh.1 pri< I \< ; leaves of the flowering 



branches with fewer leaflets; leaflet i rhombic-lanceolate, serrate or crenate, 



