379 



It 



XXXVII.-CEANOTHUS RIGIDUS. 



T. A, Speague. 



Ceaiwthus rigidns was collected by Nuttull near Mouterc,, 

 California, and his manuscript description was published in 

 Torrey and Gray, Flora of JS^orth America, p. 268 (1838). 

 runs as foHoAvs: ''Young branches pubescent; leaves opposite 

 and crowded, cuneate^obovate, mostly retuse, thick and coria- 

 ceous, mucronately crenate-toothed, glabrous above, somewhat 

 canescent beneath; umbels axillary and terminal, few-flowered, 

 sessile; pedicels at length elongated; ovary with three protuber- 

 ances. Bushy woods near Monterey, California.— llarch,— A 

 shrub about 6 ft. high, rigid, intricately branched, almost spinose. 

 Leaves about half an inch long, sometimes nearly obcordate; 

 teeth conspicuous; the veins, &c., as in C. verrucosus. Clusters 

 of flowers composed of several small crowded umbels; the pedicels 

 gndually^ elongating to the length of 3-4 lines. Calyx and 

 corolla bright blue.'* 



6\ rigidus was first introduced to cultivation in this country 

 by Hartweg in 1848, though it had been collected by David 

 Douglas and Thomas Coulter as far back as 1830-1833. Hartweg 

 found it in open places in woods near Monterey in February, 

 1847,* and described it as an evergreen shrub, 4 ft. high, with 

 azure flowers. f An amended description, based on plants grown 

 in the Horticultural Society's garden, was published in 1850. t 



A stiff branching dark evergvoen bush; said to grow 4 ft. 



a 



high when wild. Young branches downy. Leaves small, 

 truncate, spiny-toothed, subsessile, very shining and smooth on 

 the upper side; on the under pale and netted. This network is 

 produced by numerous short branching veins, in the interspaces 

 between Avhich are deep pits, reaching half through the jiaren- 

 tibyma, and each closed up by a dense ring of white converging 

 liairs. Such pits are placed pretty generally in a double row 

 between each of the principal lateral veins. The flowers appear 

 in small clusters or umbels at the end of very short spurs. They 

 are deep purplish violet, not blue, and less showy than those of 

 C, dentatus or C papillosus.'^ 



In 1852 C. rigidus was figured in the Botanical Magaziue 

 ft. 4664) from plants received from the Horticultural Society. 

 The flowers were described as a rich purple-blue in colour. 



The herbarium specimens of C rigidns gathered by Hartweg, 

 and the plants raised from seed collected by him and described in 

 the Journal of the Horticultural Society and Botanical Magazine 

 agree with T^uttall's type. The Botanical Magazine plant has 

 rather more toothed leaves, but this is a very variable character, 



* 



Journ. Hort. Soc. vol. iii. p. 218: **Two species of Geanofhv^, the om^ 



prodi 

 everfrreeu leaves. 



t Bentli. PI. Hai-tweer, p. 302; and label in Herb. Kcmt. 



X Journ. Hort. Sue. vol. v. p. 15)7. 



ii 2 



