154 BUCKTHORN FAMILY 



1. RHAMNUS. Buckthorn. 

 Leaves alternate, short-petioled. Flowers small, greenish, 

 in small lateral clusters. Petals small, without claws. 



1. R. californica Esch. Coffee-berry. Leaves oblong, 

 acute, minutely toothed, 1}4 to 3 in. long, glabrous or slightly 

 hairy (densely hairy or even silvery beneath in var. tomen- 

 tella B. & W.). Flowers less than y A in. broad, the notched 

 petals minute. Berry black, globose or oval, *4 m - thick, 

 2-seeded. 



The Coffee-berry is an erect shrub 4 to 8 ft. high and may 

 always be known by the astringent taste of its bark, which 

 has the same medicinal properties as cascara sagrada (Rham- 

 nus purshiana) . Var. rubra Trel., is a form with slender, gla- 

 brous, red twigs; small, deciduous leaves (2 in. or less long), 

 and obovoid fruit. The species is common in the foothills 

 and up to about 4500 ft., while the var. occurs at higher alti- 

 tudes, even to 7000 ft. 



2. R. crocea var. ilicifolia Greene. Red-berry. Leaves 

 elliptic or roundish, sharply toothed, J4 to 1 in. long, glabrous, 

 often golden beneath. Berry bright red, ovoid, scarcely J4 

 in. long, 2-seeded. — A low, loose shrub which occurs spar- 

 ingly around Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite. 



2. CEANOTHUS. Ceanothus. 

 Shrubs with small but showy flowers in loose oblong clus- 

 ters. Petals 5, hooded by the inflexion of the tip, long- 

 clawed. Stamens 5, long-exserted. Ovary subglobose (style 

 3-cleft), becoming dry and separating into 3 seed-bodies. — 

 "Mountain Lilac" is a name applied indiscriminately to the 

 species of Ceanothus, but since the true Lilac belongs to 

 another family, this name is not appropriate. "Buckbrush" 

 is a name often used for any of the more rigidly branched 

 species. The flowers of Ceanothus yield a copious, soapy 

 lather when rubbed in water. 

 Leaves opposite. 



Erect shrub; flowers white; leaves entire 1. C. cuneatus. 



Prostrate shrub; flowers blue; leaves toothed 2. C. prostratus. 



Leaves alternate. 



Stems low and trailing; flowers deep blue 3. C. diversifolius. 



Stems erect, 2 to 8 ft. high; flowers blue or white. 

 Leaves J4 to 1 in. long, very obtuse, pale. 



Flowers white; somewhat spiny shrub 4. C. cordulatus. 



Flowers blue; not spiny 5. C. parvifolius. 



Leaves 1 to 3 in. long, green. 



Leaves thin, entire 6. C. integerrimus. 



Leaves thick, toothed 7. C. velutinus. 



