Crossosoma. RANUNCULACE^E. ^3 



bears one or two leaves which are really ternately decompound, but very often each terminal 

 division is stalked and again ternately divided, while the lateral ones are sessile and only toothed 

 or lobed, thus making the last division pinnately 5-foliolate. Leaflets 1 to 2 inches long, doubly 

 or unequally serrate. In our variety the raceme is short and capitate in flower, becoming 3 to 



5 inches long in fruit ; the pedicels slender, the lower ones scattered and 9 to 16 lines long. 

 Fruit either white or red. 



12. P-SJONTA, Linn. 



Sepals 5, herbaceous, persistent, imbricated in the bud. Petals 5 to 10. Sta- 

 mens numerous, inserted on a fleshy disk. Pistils 2 to 5. Fruit of 2 to 5 leathery, 

 several-seeded follicles. Perennial herbs with ternately or pinnately compound 

 leaves and showy flowers. 



Species 3 to 6, according to the different views of different authorities, all belonging to the 

 Northern Hemispere. Several oriental species (or at least varieties) are in common cultivation for 

 their ornamental flowers. 



1. P. Brownii, Dougl. Leaves thick, 1 - 2-ternately compound, the leaflets ter- 

 nately and pinnately lobed : follicles 3 to 5. Hook. Fl. Bor.-Arn. i. 27. P. Cali- 

 f arnica, Nutt. ; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 41. 



San Bernardino to Vancouver and Western Utah, but rare east of the Sierra Nevada. Stems 

 10 to 18 inches high, smooth, striate, erect when growing but gradually bending over until matu- 

 rity, when the follicles rest on the ground. Leaves glaucous beneath, either glaucous or glabrous 

 above. Sepals green, sometimes quite unequal in size. Petals scarcely larger than the sepals, 

 thick and leathery, dull, dark red. Follicles very leathery, smooth, erect, 1 to 1 inches long. 

 This plant endures a great range of station and climate, from wet to very dry soils and from the 

 hot plains of Southern California to near the confines of perpetual snow on the mountains. 



13. CROSSOSOMA, Nutt. 



Sepals 5, orbicular, imbricated in the bud, unequal, persistent, scariously mar- 

 gined, united at base into a short turbinate tube. Petals 5, not clawed. Stamens 

 numerous (12 to 30), inserted with the petals in 2 or 3 irregular series upon the 

 somewhat thickened base of the calyx, persistent : anthers attached dorsally a little 

 above the hase, dehiscing longitudinally down the sides. Carpels 2 to 6, distinct, 

 sessile upon a short stipe, coriaceous, follicular, many-seeded. Seeds in 2 rows, with 

 a large fringed arillus, globose-reniform, black and shining : embryo strongly curved 

 in the thick fleshy albumen and nearly as long, the narrowly oblong cotyledons 

 exceeding the radicle. Smooth shrubs with alternate simple entire mucronulate 

 leaves, and solitary flowers terminating the branchlets. 



A genus anomalous among the Ranunculacece on account of its perigynous stamens, arilled 

 seeds, the characters of the embryo, &c. It is referred doubtfully by Bentham and Hooker to the 

 Dilleniacece. The following are the only known species. 



1. C. Californicum, Nutt. A stout diffuse shrub, 4 feet high, with whitish 

 wood and gray bitter bark : leaves oblong, 1 to 3 inches long, attenuate to a very 

 short petiole : flowers large, on long stout peduncles ; petals orbicular, 6 to 9 lines 

 long : carpels oblong, 8 to 12 lines long, 20 - 25-seeded : seeds over a line in diame- 

 ter, with a shining crustaceous testa, covered with the brown fringe of the arillus. 



-PI. Gamb. 150, t. 22 ; Torr. Pacif. R. Rep. iv. t. 1, fig. 1, only. 

 Catalina Island (Gambel, Wallace, Doll) ; Guadalupe Island, growing in the crevices of high 

 cliffs, Palmer. Flowers in February, ripening its seeds in April ; stamens 25 to 30. 



2. C. Bigelovii, Watson. Low and more slender : leaves glaucous, 3 to 6 lines 

 long, somewhat fascicled : pedicels shorter : petals purple or white, spatulate-oblong, 



6 lines long : stamens 15 to 25 : carpels 10- 12-seeded, inch long. Proc. Am. 

 Acad. xi. 122. C. Californicum, Torr. in Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 63, t. 1, excl. fig. 1. 



Canons near the mouth of Bill Williams River (Bigelow) ; east of San Bernardino, Parry. 



