ROSACES 



505 



expanded at the apex into a cup-shaped, 5-lobed deciduous limb, the lobes imbri- 

 cated in the bud; disk thin, slightly glandular, adnate to the tube of the calyx; 

 petals 0; stamens 15-30, in 2 or 3 rows; filaments incurved in the bud, free, short, 

 terete; anthers oblong, pubescent or tomentose, distinct and united by a broad con- 

 nective; ovary composed of a single carpel inserted in the bottom and included in 

 the tube of the calyx, acute, terete, smooth, striate or sulcate, sericeous, rarely bicar- 

 pellate; style terminal, filiform, villose or glabrate, crowned with a minute obtuse 

 stigma; ovule solitary, subbasilar, ascending; raphe dorsal; micropyle inferior. Fruit 

 a linear-oblong coriaceous slightly ridged angled or sulcate akene, included in the 

 persistent tube of the calyx and tipped with the elongated persistent style clothed 

 with long white hairs. Seed solitary, linear, acute, erect; hilum conspicuous, lateral 

 above the oblique base; testa membranaceous; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; 

 cotyledons ovate-oblong, elongated, fleshy; radicle inferior. 



Cercocarpus is confined to the dry interior and mountainous regions of North 

 America. Five species are distinguished; of these four occur within the territory of 

 the United States, and the fifth inhabits the mountains of southern Mexico. The 

 heavy hard brittle wood of all the species makes valuable fuel and is occasionally 

 used in the manufacture of small articles for domestic and industrial use. 



The generic name, from Kf'ptoy and /capWy, refers to the peculiar long-tailed fruit. 



CONSPECTUS OF SPECIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Flowers in 2-5-flowered clusters ; leaves coarsely serrate above the middle. 



Leaves oval to semiorbicular, cinereo-tomentose below, sinuate-dentate ; flowers usually 



in 4-5-flowered clusters. 1. C. Traskiae (G). 



Leaves cuneate-obovate, pubescent below, glandular-serrate; flowers usually in 2-3- 



flowered clusters. 2. C. parvifolius (F, G). 



Flowers solitary or rarely in pairs ; leaves entire or occasionally slightly dentate toward the 



apex. 



Leaves entire, narrowly lanceolate, acute at the ends, pale or rufous-pubescent below. 



3. C. ledifolius (B, F, G). 



Leaves occasionally dentate toward the apex, oblong-obovate to nearly elliptical, villose 

 below. 4. C. breviflorus (E, H). 



1. Cercocarpua Traskiae, Eastw. 



Leaves oval to semiorbicular, rounded or acute at the apex, cuneate, rounded or 

 occasionally somewhat cordate at the narrow base, revolute on the margins, entire 

 below, coarsely sinuate-dentate above the middle, with slender teeth tipped with 

 minute dark glands, when they unfold covered above with soft pale hairs and below 

 with thick hoary tomentum, and at maturity coriaceous, dark green and lustrous on 

 the upper surface, cinereo-tomentose on the lower surface, l^'-2' long, l'-l' wide, 

 with prominent primary veins running obliquely to the points of the teeth, and, like the 

 stout midribs, conspicuously impressed on the upper side; their petioles stout, hoary- 

 tomentose, about \' long; stipules acuminate, scarious, covered on the margins with 

 long white hairs, \' long. Flowers appearing early in March, nearly sessile, in axil- 

 lary usually 4-5-flowered clusters, hoary-tomentose, '- f' long; calyx broad, glabrous 

 on the inner surface; anthers tomentose. Fruit: mature calyx spindle-shaped, light 

 reddish brown, villose-pubescent, deeply cleft at the apex, ' long; akene slightly 

 ridged on the back, \' long, covered with long lustrous white hairs; style l^'-2' in 

 length. 



