DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 81 



I. NUTTAI/LIA (OSMAROTTIA) 



Shrubby, dioecious. Flowers white, in drooping racemes. 

 Carpels 5, usually only 1 or 2 ripening. The stipules soon 

 fall. The leaves when crushed have the odor of bitter 

 almonds. 



N. cerasifor'mis Torr. & Gray. Oso BERRY. Stems erect, generally 

 growing in clumps, the male plants being much more numerous 

 than the female. Racemes shorter than the leaves, with conspicuous 

 bracts. Calyx broadly funnel-shaped, with a 5-toothed border. Petals 

 5, spatulate. Stamens 15, 10 erect in a line on the calyx, 5 below 

 deflexed. Carpels on the disk at the base of the calyx. Fruit black- 

 purple, with bitter pulp, furrowed slightly on the inner side. This 

 often blooms in January in the Coast Mountains, but is much later 

 in the Sierra Nevada. Widely distributed. 



H. PRU'NUS, Plum, Cherry 



Trees or shrubs. Flowers perfect, white. Pistil only 1, 

 forming a stone fruit. 



a. P. demis'sa Walp. CHOKECHERRY. Trees or shrubs with 

 serrate leaves. Flowers in many-flowered drooping racemes. Fruit 

 globose, red, or dark purple, astringent. Widely distributed. 



b. P. ilicifo'lia Walp., ISLAY. Tree or shrub with glossy evergreen, 

 spiny, holly-like leaves. Racemes from ^ to 2 in. long. Fruit somewhat 

 flattened, in. thick, sweetish, the stone large and the pulp thin. 

 From San Francisco to San Diego. 



c. P. emargina'ta Walp. Small tree with slender, reddish twigs, 

 which are generally smooth. Leaves obovate or oblanceolate, obtuse 

 or acute, serrate with fine teeth, with 2 glands near the summit of the 

 petiole. Corymbs shorter than the leaves, with few, white flowers. Fruit 

 a dark red cherry, which is bitter and astringent. 



d. P. Califor'nica Greene. Shrub with the branches from the root, 

 smooth and shining. Leaves obovate to oblanceolate, obtuse, emar- 

 ginate, or even acute, serrate with fine teeth and with 1 gland on tite 

 lower part of the blade. Flowers few in a short corymb. Fruit a red 

 cherry, which is very bitter. In the mountains throughout middle 

 and northern California. 



e. P. subcorda'ta Benth. Tree or shrub with thorny branches. 

 Leaves ovate, 1 in. long, with the base wedge-shaped or heart-shaped, 

 the margin finely and sharply serrate. Flowers white, in few-flow- 

 ered umbels. Fruit a red plum, f in. long, not palatable. This is 



