178 



BUXACEAE. 



Simmoxdsia. Jojoba. 

 (Family Buxaceae). 



Shrub or small bushy tree: 

 evergreen. Twigs rather slender, 

 terete, often forking, the bark fis- 

 sured: pith somewhat angled and 

 colored, continuous. Buds com- 

 monly superposed, the upper often 

 developing promptly, sessile, 

 round, very hairy and with indis- 

 tinguishable scales. Leaf-scars 

 opposite, raised, crescent-shaped: 

 bundle-trace 1, large, in the upper 

 part of the scar: stipule-scars 

 lacking. Leaves rather small, el- 

 liptical, sessile, entire. 



Some years since, Simmondsia 

 attracted attention as a plant 

 worthy of trial in the Mediter- 

 ranean region because of its oily 

 seeds. 



Simmondsia affords an example 

 of the misfortunes that may attend 

 the use of names indicating the source or peculiarities of 

 plants. What is called S. californica, now, was grown in the 

 botanical garden at Berlin a century ago, supposedly from 

 China. Link, recognizing its now admitted but sometimes 

 questioned relationship to the box, christened it Buxus chi- 

 nensis. The genus Simmondsia was described two decades 

 later, when Nuttall found and named its original if not only 

 species S. californica. Strict application of the nomenclato- 

 rial rule of priority would cause restoration under Simmond- 

 sia of the totally misleading name chinensis. 

 Appressed-puberulent: leaves thick. S. californica. 



