Zizijphus. HHAMNACK.E. 99 



1. P. Myrsinites, Kuf. Much hmnohod, a foot or two high, leafy: leaves 

 ovate to ohloiii,' or ohlauceolate, J to 1 ^ inc-hes long, cuncate at baso, scrnito or ser- 

 rulate, obtuse or acutish : flowers a line in diameter, on pedicels a line or two long : 

 fruit 2 lines long, smooth. — Ilex (I) Myrsinites, Pursli. Mi/ginda myrlifolia, Nutt. ; 

 Hook. Fl. i. 120, t. 41. Oreophila myrtifolia, Kutt. ; Torr. k. Gray, Fl. i. 25'J. 



Hillsides on the South Yuba {Bigdow) ; Mt. Shasta, at 4,000 to 5,000 feet {Brewer) ; north- 

 ward in the mouiitainH to British Columbia, and in the Kocky Mountains ranging south to New 

 Mexico. 



Order XXVII. RHAMNACE^. 



Shrubs or small trees, with simple undivided leaves, small and often caducous 



stipules, and small regular flowers ; well distinguished from the related orders by 



the valvate aestivation of the calyx, and the perigynous stamens as many as its lobes 



and alternate with them ; the ovules solitary (rarely in pairs) nnd erect in the 2 to 



4 cells of the ovary. — Flowers sometimes polygamo-dioccious, often apctalous. A 



con.spicuous disk adnate to or lining the short tube of the calyx. Petals often 



unguiculate, mostly involute each around a stamen in the bud. Ovary either free 



or adnate by the disk to the tube or base of the calyx : style or stigma 2 - 4-lobed. 



Seeds solitary in the cells, anatropous, with a large straight embryo in sparing 



fleshy albumen : cotyledons flat or plano-convex : radicle short. 



A widely distributed order, of between 30 nnd 40 genera ami four or five hundred speeies, of 

 wliich (^ranotliHs is the only extensive North American genus. The herbage has some bitternes.s 

 and astringeney, and the fruit when fleshy or juicy is commonly mawkish or nauseous, but edible 

 in Ziz]i)>hiis, one species of which furnishes the basis of .Injube paste. 



* Fiuit with a single 1 - 3-cellcd hard stone. 



1. Zizyphus. Cells 1-ovule.d. Leaves alternate, not punctate. Spiny .shnibs. 



2. Karwinksia. Cells 2-ovuled. Leaves opposite, pellucid-punctate. Unarmed. 



* * Fruit berry-like or dry, containing 2 to 4 separating seed-like nutlets. 



3. RhamnuB. Caly.x and disk free from the ovary; calyx-lobes erect or spreading. Petals 



smdll, short-claweil, or none. Filaments very short. Fruit l)crry-liko, with 2 to 4 mostly 

 iiideliiscnnt nutlets. Leaves niternato. 



4. Adolphia, Disk coveriuw the calyx-tube, free from the ovary ; calyx-lolws spreading. 



Petals short-spntulate, liooiled. Fniit dry, with 3 dehiscent nutlets. Spinose : leaves 

 opposite and very small, or none. 



5. Ceanothus. Calyx and disk adnate to the base of the ovary ; calyx-lobes connivent. Petals 



long-elawed, hooded. Filaments exsertcd. Fniit dry, with 3 dehi.scent nutlets. 



1. ZIZYPHUS, luss. 

 Calyx 5-cleft, with acute spreading lobes; the disk filling the broadly turbinate 

 tube. Petals 5, hoodtnl, deflexod. Ovary connate with the disk at biw, 2-celled or 

 rarely 3-4-colled; cells 1-ovuled: styles 2 to 4, free or united. Hrupe fleshy, 

 with a woody 2 - 3-celled nut. — Spiny shrubs or trees ; with thick alternate leaves, 

 mostly 3-r)-nerved; stipides small and deciduous or spinulescent ; flowers small, 

 greenish, in axillary cymas ; fruit often edibh-. 



About 50 species, chiefly of Fgypt an<l Southern Asia. Three species are found in the region 

 between the (!ulf of Mexico nnd tiie Pmific, wjlii the hiibit rnllicrof the American goiius Cnu- 

 ihiliif, iiutl with characters which tend to the union of the two genera. Another scarcely distinct 

 genus is MirrorhnTiinn.i, Gray (referred to CoiuUtlia by Haillun), of n single 8|>c«.'ies, inhabiting 

 Arizona ami New Mexico. 



1. Z. Parryi, Torrey. Much branched, 4 to If) feet high, glabrous; the smooth 

 flexnous bninclif's armed with stmight leafy sjiincs: Ir.ives obovate. obtuse i>r refuse, 



