ROSACEAE 



CuRLLEAF Mountain-mahogany 

 Cercocarpus ledifolius Nutt. 



HABIT. A shrub or small tree rarely 40 feet high and 30 

 inches in diameter; trunk short and crooked; crown round and 

 compact with stout, more or less crooked, spreading branches. 



LEAVES. Alternate; simple; lanceolate to lance-elliptic; 

 V^-1 inch long; acute; entire; coriaceous; revolute margins; 

 dark green and lustrous above, pale and tomentulose below; 

 resinous; persistent for 2 years; short-petiolate; stipules minute, 

 deciduous. 



FLOWERS. Regular; perfect; solitary; inconspicuous; ses- 

 sile in axils of leaves; calyx tube long, hoary-tomentose, whitish; 

 corolla absqnt; stamens 15-30, in 2-3 rows, free, anthers hairy; 

 ovary inferior, composed of 1 carpel and ovule. 



FRUIT. Linear-oblong, coriaceous achene V4 inch long, en- 

 closed in persistent calyx tube Yz inch long; chestnut-brown; 

 covered with long hairs; tipped with persistent, hairy, elon- 

 gated style 2-3 inches long. Seed : solitary, linear, acute. 



TWIGS. Stout; round; rigid; red-brown and pubescent at 

 first, becoming dark brown or silver-gray and glabrous; spur- 

 like lateral branches. Winter buds: minute, scaly, pubescent. 



BARK. 'Thick on old trunks (1 inch); red-brown; hard; 

 firm; furrowed and scaly. 



WOOD. Exceedingly heavy and hard; brittle; close-grained; 

 diffuse-porous; warping badly; heartwood clear red or dark 

 brown; sapwood rather thin, yellow; unimportant. 



SILVICAL CHARACTERS. Intolerant; rather long-lived; 

 slow-growing; on dry, gravelly, wind-swept slopes. 



GENERAL. Three other shrubby species occasionally reach 

 tree size; the tree species are keyed out below: 



1. Leaves entire, lanceolate, leathery, persistent; flowers solitary or 



in 2's or 3's. . . .C. ledifolius Nutt., Curlleaf Mountain-mahogany 



1. Leaves usually somewhat toothed, elliptic to broadly obovate, 



deciduous. 



2. Leaves entire or slightly toothed near apex; flowers solitary or 



in 2's or 3's; Texas to Arizona and south 



C. brevijlorus A. Gray., Hairy Mountain-mahogany 



2. Leaves with numerous teeth above the middle; flowers in many 

 flowered racemes; Oregon and California to Arizona and 

 Mexico. . . .C. betuloides Nutt., Birchleaf Mountain-mahogany 



[255] 



