130. CEKCOCARPUS PARVIFOLTUS MOUNTAIN MAHOGANY. 29 



persistent and enlarged calyx- tube and tipped with the elongated, persistent, plumose 

 style; seed solitary, linear-acute, erect, without albumen and with membranous testa. 

 Genus represented by few species of shrubs and small trees of the interior moun- 

 tainous region of North America. (The name is from the Greek nspxoS, a mouse's 

 tail, and nap-ito^,, fruit, alluding to the singular tail-like fruit.) 



130. CERCOCARPUS PARVIFOLIUS, NUTT. 



MOUNTAIN; MAHOGANY. 

 Ger. Gebirgs- Mahogany ; Fr., Buissou a plumes; Sp., Caaba de Montana. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. Leaves obovate, -1^ in. long, coarsely glandular ser- 

 rate towards the rounded or obtuse apex, cuneate and with entire, revolute margin 

 at base, somewhat coriaceous, pale-pubescent when young, with minute silky 

 appressed hairs or quite glabrous and yellowish -green above at maturity, and paler, 

 whitish or ferruginous and minutely puberulent beneath, with prominent midrib 

 and veins; petiole short, broad and pubescent ; stipules early deciduous; juice of 

 leaves of aromatic and birch-like flavor. Flowers pale-tomentose with short slender 

 pedicels and borne singly or 2-4 together in the axils of the crowded leaves; calyx- 

 lobes short, and the tube, at first 2-4 lines long, becomes in fruit 6-8 lines long, deeply 

 cleft at the apex and of a purple-brown color. Fruit an achenium, sulcate on the 

 back and terminating with persistent, tail-like style, 2-4 in long and all covered 

 with silky yellowish-white hairs. 



Quite variable in the size, form and pubescence of leaf ; as in var. glaber, in the 

 vicinity of Santa Barbara, large with broader and glabrous leaves, and in par. pauci- 

 dentatus, of southern Arizona and northern Mexico, with entire or sparingly toothed 

 leaves, and in bremfolius, along the southern border, with very small leaves. 



(The specific name, parmfolius, is the Latin for small -leaved.} 



Commonly a tall shrub branching from near the ground, but occa- 

 sionally a small tree with rigid upright branches, and rarely attains the 

 height of 30 feet (9 m.) with a trunk 8 or 10 in. (0.30 m.) in diameter, 

 with thin reddish-brown bark rough with long irregular scales. 



HABITAT. Among the mountains of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico 

 and westward; not found, however, in Nevada, but occurring in southern 

 Oregon, and thence southward along the western slope of the Sierra 

 Nevada Mountains, and among the Coast Eanges into Lower California 

 and in Mexico. It is found on gravely slopes and ridges, and in desert 

 regions on the " washes " leading from the mountains. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very heavy, hard, close-grained, com- 

 pact, with numerous fine medullary rays, and uniformly distributed fine 

 ducts, difficult to work, but susceptible of a beautiful polish. It is of a 

 rich, reddish-brown color, with thin whitish sap-wood, the transition 

 from sap-wood to heart-wood being in a uniform gradation, the color of 

 the former gradually darkening to that of the latter. Specific Gravity, 

 0.9365; Percentage of Ash, 0.45; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.9323; Weight of a Culic Foot in Pounds, 58.36. 



USES. An excellent wood for fuel and occasionally used in turnery, as 

 for tool-handles, etc., and the leaves serve as food for cattle to some 

 extent in late summer and autumn. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES have not been detected in this species. 



