NO. 



GENTRY : LAND PLANTS 55 



It is a leathery-leaved evergreen shrub vv^ith acorn-like fruits, which, 

 although it may assume a dominant role in the vegetation, is more often 

 w^idely scattered as individual plants. 



Although somewhat bitter the seeds are eaten by the desert peoples 

 as they ripen, either raw or roasted, and a kind of coifee has been made 

 of them by the Mexicans in times of coffee shortages. Elmore reports 

 that it is employed locally as a pomade by women for their eyelashes 

 and by men for their moustaches. The family affinities of the plant are 

 uncertain. 



Anacardiaceae 



Pachycormus discolor Veatchiana (Kell.) Gentry new comb. 



Rhus Veatchiana Kell., Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2:24. 1860. 



Veatchia discolor Veatchiana (Kell.) Jtn., Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 

 IV, 12:1081. 1924. 



Cannery Bay on east side of Cedros Island, March 14, Elmore A13, 

 on wash walls and fans. East side of Cedros Island, July 10, Rempel 

 344 (with young leaves and budding inflorescence). 



This variety, which according to Johnston is distinguished by its 

 larger, more colored, coarser, and more conspicuously pubescent flowers, 

 is known definitely only from Cedros Island. However, it likely will be 

 found to occur also on the adjacent island of Natividad and the Sierra 

 Vizcaino part of the mainland. Elmore collected it at 75 feet elevation 

 where he noted a few trees or shrubs up to 10 feet high, trunks as much 

 as two feet in diameter and with peeling papery bark, known locally as 

 "Copalquin." Hale (1941:68) reports it as "Abundant throughout the 

 desert formation, and reaches its best development as to size in Grand 

 Canyon, where on the lateral alluvial fans it reaches tree size. — On the 

 west coast near the ocean it is often of low stature, not two feet tall." 



This remarkable plant with its massive, smooth, round, paper-barked 

 trunk and branches together with the pinnate leaves make it appear 

 much like the Burseras, which abound in Mexico. The massive stems 

 accommodate the enlarged water-storing tissues, w^hich serve to carry 

 the plant over the extended and regular drought periods of the peninsu- 

 lar desert, and which in extreme times are known to last for several 

 years. Bentham first described it under Schinus (Bot. Voy. Sulph. 11, 

 pi. 9. 1844), while later authors have assigned it to Veatchia and Rhus, 

 Were not the name Veatchia preoccupied, it would have priority over 

 Pachycormus of Coville. 



