1896 ] ROSA! AMERICANA: 25 
tremely abundant. That botanist wrote to Dr. Engelmann that 
he had encountered there thousands of plants, that the shrub 
was habitually but three or four inches high, and that it was only 
in fertile and shady places that it attained as much as a foot in 
height. The species seems to preserve its dwarf habit in other 
localities from which I have specimens. 
This extremely reduced stature does not appear to be due to 
accidental dwarfing, and is very constant, constituting very prob- 
ably an essential difference from R, Californica, which is habitually 
quite tall. This difference is further emphasized by the fact 
that the prickles of the former are almost always slender and 
belong well to the straight type, that the corolla is smaller, and 
that the receptacles are prominently hispid-glandular, a thing 
said to be very rare in R. Californica, and which, for my part, I 
have never yet observed. 
It appears to me that in R. spithamea the upper stipules and 
bracts are narrow as in R. Californica. This point, nevertheless, 
must be verified by more abundant material than I have at my 
disposal. 
In R. pisocarpa, R. blanda, and R. acicularis, the stock pro- 
duces more or less elongated subterranean shoots, which multiply 
the plants, and quickly transform a single individual into a 
colony which increases year after year. This very general mode 
of vegetative propagation among the CINNAMOME# appears in 
R. spithamea. Does it occur in R. Californica? We should be 
made sure of it. 
In his Flora Franciscana Mr. Greene describes R. spithamea 
as a distinct type, and, by the side of it, he establishes a new 
type under the name XR. Sonomensis, which seems to be a very 
nearly allied form. This new species is about a foot high, and 
is distinguished from R. spithame@a by its stipules with auricles 
truncate and not acuminate; its leaflets broadly oval or almost 
orbicular, truncate or slightly cordate at base, and not obovate or 
elliptical and attenuate at base; its inflorescence usually with 
more numerous flowers; its floriferous receptacles rounded- 
pyriform, and not ovoid; and its larger sepals. 
