48 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. cheiraxtuodendre^. 



deeply furrowed; the dark red-brown surface broken into numerous short thick scales ; that of the stout 

 terete branchlets thickly coated, when they first appear, with rufous pubescence, is light red-brown. 

 The leaves are usually three-lobed, rarely entire, or sometimes five to seven-lobed, an inch and a half 

 across, and are borne on stout petioles a half to two thirds of an inch long. The flowers, which appear 

 in July, are produced in the greatest profusion from short spur-like lateral branches. 



Fremontia Californica grows on the lower slopes of the California mountains from Mariposa, at 

 least, to Lower California. It is nowhere very common west of the Sierra Nevada, although it reaches 

 its greatest size on the foothills of the western slope of these mountains. East of the Sierra Nevada, in 

 the region of the Mohave Desert, Fremontia is much more common, always growing as a low shrub, and 

 sometimes forming thickets several acres in extent, which may be seen miles away when the plants are 

 covered with their brilliant yellow flowers. Here the ordinary associates of Fremontia in the dry grav- 

 elly and rocky soil are Garrya flavescens, Primus fascicidata, Ceanothus cuneatiis, Purshia triden- 

 tata, Aplopappus monactis, Lycmm Coojjeri, and the other shrubs of the Cahfornia desert, while above 

 it on the higher slopes appear open stunted forests of the Desert Nut Pine {Phius monophylla). West 

 of the Sierras Fremontia grows also in dry gravelly soil, generally occupying the slopes of narrow val- 

 leys with Quercus dumosa, various species of Ceanothus, Prunus ilicifolia, Cercocarpiis parvifolius, 

 the Manzanitas, etc. 



The wood of Fremontia Californica contains numerous groups of smaU ducts parallel with the 

 thin conspicuous medullary rays. It is hard, heavy, close-grained, and dark brown tinged with red ; the 

 the thick sapwood is lighter colored. The specific gravity of the absolutely dry wood is 0.7142, a cubic 

 foot of the dry w^ood weighing 44.50 pounds. 



The mucilaginous inner bark of Fremontia is sometimes used in California in poultices ; and its 

 resemblance to the bark of the Red Elm of the eastern states caused the tree to be caUed Slippery Elm 

 by the early settlers of the region it inhabits. 



Fremontia Californica was discovered in the spring of 1846 by Fremont, whose service to botany 

 the genus commemorates, during his third transcontinental journey.* It was introduced into cultivation 

 in 1851 by James Veiteh & Sons, the London nurserymen, and flowered in their establishment in 18G5. 



1 More recent collections than Pr^mont's do not extend the range rest only on Fremont's collection. But the labels attached to his 

 of Fremontia north of Mariposa, and the authority for Pitt River specimens ^ve no indication of the place where they were diseov- 

 aud northern California, published stations for the plant, appears to ered. It was probably in the central part of the state. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 

 Plate XXIII. Fbemontia Califobnica. 



1. A flowering branch, natural size. 



2. A fruiting branch, natural size. 



3. Diagram of a flower. 



4. A flower, cut vertically through the stamina! tube. 



5. An anther, posterior view, enlarged. 



6. An anther, anterior view, enlarged. 



7. Vertical section of an ovary, enlarged. 



8. An ovule, much enlarged. 



9. Vertical section of a capsule, natural size. 



10. A seed, enlarged. 



11. Vertical section of a seed, enlarged. 



12. Cross section of a seed, enlarged. 



13. An embryo, much enlarged. 



14. An epidermal stellate scale, much enlarged. 



