Spircea. ROSACE^E. 169 



long : racemes shorter than the leaves, shortly peduncled ; bracts conspicuous, de- 

 ciduous: flowers greenish white, 3 to 7 lines broad: drupes blue-black, with a slight 

 furrow on the inner side, 6 to 8 lines long ; flesh bitter ; stone somewhat com- 

 pressed. Hook. & Am. Bot. Beechey, 337, t. 82; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 413; 

 Lindl. in Trans. Hort. Soc. iv. 222, & tig. 



In moist places and on the north slopes of hills from San Luis Obispo to Fraser River, chiefly 

 in the Coast Ranges. Flowering in March and April ; fruit ripe from June to July. 



3. SPIKJEA, Linn. MEADOW-SWEET. 



Calyx persistent, 5-lobed ; the tube campanulate or concave. Petals 5, rounded, 

 nearly sessile. Stamens numerous (20 or more), inserted with the petals. Carpels 

 usually 5 or more (2 to 12), distinct and sessile or nearly so, becoming mernbrana- 

 ceous or coriaceous several- (2 -15-) seeded follicles, not inflated. Seeds small, 

 pendulous, linear, with a thin membranaceous testa, without albumen. Perennial 

 herbs or mostly shrubs ; leaves alternate, mostly without stipules (in our species) ; 

 flowers white or rose-colored, in compound corymbs or panicles, or rarely spicate. 



A genus of about 50 species, belonging chiefly to the temperate and cooler regions of the 

 northern hemisphere. Many exotic ornamental species are common in cultivation. Of the 13 

 found in North America 4 are confined to the Atlantic States. 



VAUQUELINIA TOUREYI, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 147, the Spircea Californica of Torrey in 

 Emory Rep. 140, has not been detected within the State, but occurs in Southern Arizona. It is a 

 small tree, with nairowly lanceolate serrate leaves, white-tomentose beneath ; flowers white, in 

 small terminal panicles ; stamens 25 ; the silky carpels united into a 5-celled capsule ; seeds 2 in 

 each cell, erect, and winged at the summit. 



1. Erect shrubs, with simple and usually lobed or toothed leaves: stipules none: 

 flowers perfect. SPIR.EA proper. 



* Petals rose-colored or purplish, orbicular, exceeding the calyx : filaments much ex- 

 serted : carpels smooth : ovules several. 



1. S. betulaefolia, Pallas. Glabrous or finely pubescent, a foot or two high or 

 more, with reddish bark : leaves broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, rounded at base, 

 usually obtuse, acutely and unequally serrate or incised, an inch or two long, on short 

 petioles or nearly sessile : flowers pale purple, in fastigiate compound often leafy- 

 bracted corymbs : calyx-lobes as long as the tube, reflexed : carpels 5, a line long : 

 ovules 5 to 8. Fl. Ross. t. 16. 8. chamcedrifolia, Pursh, not Linn. S. corym- 

 bosa, Raf. 



Among rocks in the Sierra Nevada, at 5,000 to 9,000 feet altitude, from Mono Pass (Brewer) 

 northward : ranging to Alaska and the head-waters of the Missouri ; also eastward in the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains, and in Northern Asia and Japan. 



2. S. Douglasii, Hook. Erect, 3 to 5 feet high, with reddish-brown bark ; the 

 young branches, inflorescence, and lower side of the leaves more or less densely 

 white-tomentose : leaves oblong, 1 to 3 inches long, unequally serrate towards the 

 rounded or acutish apex, often somewhat cuneate at base, very shortly petioled, the 

 upper surface bright green or sometimes pubescent : flowers rose-colored, crowded in 

 a narrow usually elongated sessile panicle : calyx-lobes mostly reflexed : carpels 5, 

 glabrous : ovules 9 to 11. FL i. 172 ; Bot. Mag. t. 5151. 



Var. Nobleana, Watson. Less pubescent, sometimes nearly smooth : flowers 

 in broad thyrsoid panicles: leaves often 3 or 4 inches long. S. Nobleana, Hook. 

 Bot. Mag. t. 51G9. 



Var. Menziesii, Presl. Slightly pubescent above, the leaves glabrous and of the 

 same color on both sides or paler beneath : panicle narrow. Epimclue Bot. 195. 

 S. Menziesii, Hook. Fl. i. 173. 



In wet places from the Upper Sacramento to the British boundary and Idaho. 



