DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 83 



IIL HOLODIS'CUS, Meadow-sweet 



Generally taller and with small white flowers in spreading 

 panicles. Stamens 20, inserted on a disk like a ring. Pistils 

 5, becoming 1-seeded carpels ivhich are dehiscent by one side or 

 not at all. 



a. S. ariaefoTius. Shrub with dark brown, smootli bark, leaves 

 silky-whitish beneath, flowers white, turning brownish, in loosely 

 flowered plumose panicles, somewhat drooping in flower, erect in 

 fruit. Blooming in early summer and growing along the woods of 

 the Coast Mountains, 



b. H. dis'color Maxim. Shrub with short, rigid branches, clothed 

 with gTay-brown, shreddy bark. Leaves deep gTeen and ahnost 

 smooth above, clothed with white tomentum on the lower surface. 

 Panicles erect on short, erect branches. This is found on the eastern 

 slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and north to Oregon and 

 Washino'ton. 



IV. CERCOCARTUS, Mountain Mahogany 



Shrubs or small trees. Leaves simple, entire or toothed, 

 evergreen. Flowers axillary, small. Calyx with a long tube 

 and a saucer-shaped border. Petals absent. Caiyels included 

 in the calyx tube, usually 1, tipped by a long, feathery stijle. - 



a. C. ledifo'lius Nutt. Leaves lanceolate with revolute margins, thick 

 and resinous, white-downy on the lower surface, smooth above. 

 Flowers sessile, downy. Tail of fruit 2 or 3 in. long. Chiefly found 

 on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, north to 

 Oregon and Washington. Spring. 



b. C. parvifo'lius Nutt. Shrubby, though sometimes 15 or 20 ft. 

 high. Leaves obovate, loedge-shnped at base, thinner than the preceding, 

 with silky hairs above and w^hite down beneath. Flowers on short, 

 slender pedicels. Tail of fruit 3 or 4 in. long. Common, widely 

 distributed, and variable. Spring. 



V. PURSH'IA (KUN'ZIA), Buckbush 



Low, diffusely branched shrubs. Leaves in bunches on 

 the stem, wedge-shaped. Flowers small, at the ends of short 

 branchlets. Calyx funnel-shaped. Petals 5, yellow, longer 

 than the calyx lobes. Stamens many, in 1 row. Carpels 1 



