-j^gg ROSACE.E. Prunus. 



§ 4. Fruit less j^ulpV ■' ^tone thin : leafless racemes from the axils of evergreen 

 leaves. — Laurocerasus. 



4. P. ilicifolia, W;ilp. (Islay.) A luucli-branched evergreen shrub, 8 to 12 

 feet' high, with grayish-brown bark, glabrous : leaves thick and rigid, shining 

 above, broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, obtuse or acute, truncate or somewhat 

 cordate at base, spinosely toothed, an inch or two long, very shortly petioled : 

 flowers small, m racemes | to 2 inches long : fruit large (half an inch thick or 

 more), somewhat obcompressed, apicukite, usually red, sometimes dark purple or 

 black; the thin pulp somewhat acid and astringent but of pleasant flavor.- — Cerasus 

 ilicifolius, Nutt.; Sylva, ii. 16, t. 47; Hook. & Am. Bot. Eeechey, 340, t. 83. 



On dry liills of the Coast Ranges from San Francisco to San Diego, and in Western Arizona, 

 Bicjclmo. A very onamental species, with shining dark gi-een foUage, somewhat like the Holly. 

 It flowers from March to ilay, maturing its frait in November and December. 



§ 5. Fruit velvety pubescent, suhglobose: stone smooth or nearly so : flowers solitary or 

 in pairs, from lateral scaly buds, appearing ivith the leaves : calyx someivhat 

 persistent. — Emplectocladus, Gray. {Fmplectocladus, Tovrej.) 



5. P. Andersonii, Gray. A low diffuse glabrous shrub, 1 to 3 feet high, Avith 

 grayish-brown bark and spinescent branchlets : leaves mostly fascicled, oblanceo- 

 late, acute, attenuate to a short petiole, a half to an inch long, sparingly serrulate : 

 peduncles shorter than the leaves : flowers rose-colored, half an inch broad ; the 

 petals orbicular : fruit with thin flesh, flattened globose, acute, 6 lines long ; stone 

 compressed, acutely margined upon one side and furrowed upon the other, acute at 

 both ends, somewhat ridged. — Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 337 & x. 70. Watson, Bot. 

 King Exp. 79. 



Sierra Co. {Lcmmon), and frequent on the foot-hills of Northwestern Nevada. The fruit more 

 nearly resembles the peach than does that of any other of our species. This whole section, in- 

 deed, of five species confined to the interior of the continent and to Mexico, shows the nearest 

 approach in the American flora to the old genus Amygdalus of the Old World. 



6. P. fasciculata, Gray. A divaricately branched shrub, 2 or 3 feet high, 

 Avith gray bark, glabrous: leaves fascicled, narrowly spatulate, obtuse or acutish, 

 nearly'' sessile, half an inch long, obsoletely 3-uerve(l, entire : flowers sessile or 

 nearly so, very small: petals linear, white, recurved: stamens 10 to 15 : style very 

 short : fruit subglobose, 5 or 6 lines long, hirsute-tomentose, the flesh thin : stone 

 acute at both ends, smooth, subglobose, obtusely and scarcely at all margined. — 

 Proc. Am. Acad. x. 70. Emjilectocladus fasciculatus, Torrey, PI. Frem. 10, t. 5. 



In the Southern Sierra Nevada {Fremont) ; summit of Providence IMountains {Cooper) ; Arizona 

 {Newberry) and S. Utah, Paltrier, Parry. 



2. NUTTALLIA, Torr. & Gray. 



Flowers polygamo-dioecious. Calyx turbinate-campanulate, 5-lobed, deciduous. 

 Petals 5, broadly spatulate, erect. Stamens 15, in two rows, 10 inserted with the 

 petals, and 5 lower down upon the disk lining the tube ; filaments very short, the 

 lower declined. Carpels 5, inserted upon the persistent base of the calyx-tube, free, 

 glabrous : styles short, lateral, jointed at base : ovules 2 in each carpel, pendulous. 

 Fruit 1 to 4 oblong-ovoid 1 -seeded drupes, with thin pulp and smooth bony stone. 

 Cotyledons convolute. — A shrub, with alternate simple entire deciduous leaves; 

 stipules none; flowers white, in loose nodding racemes, which appear with the 

 branchlets from the same buds. A single species. 



1. N. cerasiformis, Torr. & Gray. (Oso Berry.) A shrub or small tree 2 to 

 15 feet high, with dark brown bark and rather slender branches, glabrous : leaves 

 rather broadly oblanceolate, acute, attenuate to a short slender petiole, 2 to 4 inches 



