July 7, 1909 . Sl ) 



THE WILD ALM< >N'D 

 By a. a. Heller 

 Emplectocladus Andersonii (Gray) Nelson and Kennedy, 

 Muhlenbergia 3: 139. [908. 



Prunits Andersonii Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 7: 337. t868. 



Amygdalus Andersonii Greene, Fl. Fran. 49. 1891. 



Early in May the hills about Reno present considerable 

 areas of bright pink bloom, for this shrub is abundant in many 

 places, usually frequenting gravelly and stony slope?. It is even 

 found within the city limits where the conditions are suitable 

 for its growth. 



As may be surmised by a glance at the Latin names which 

 have been given to it, it is a member of the Amygdalaceae or 

 stone-fruited section of what is broadly termed the rose family. 

 It is a shrub, commonly three or four feet high, but occasionally 

 six or seven feet, with short and stiff, somewhat spiny branches 

 and grey, rather smooth bark. The shrubs are somewhat gre- 

 garious, due no doubt to the limited facilities for seed dispersal, 

 often forming extensive thickets, and when in full bloom are 

 very ornamental, but the flowers have a decidedly disagreeable 

 odor. The leaves are comparatively thin, prominently veined, 

 dull green, and commonly spathulate or oblong, an inch or less 

 in length, but on some bushes they are nearly as broad as long. 

 The flowers are about a half inch broad, some shade of rose or 

 pink, as they vary from almost white to bright rose. The pet- 

 als are not unlike the leaves in shape, but commonly a little 

 broader in proportion to the length. 



The fruit is almost orbicular in outline, nearly a half inch 

 across, somewhat flattened or compressed. The thin outer fleshy 

 covering, which has a thickness of a millimeter or slightly more, 

 is dehiscent exactly as in the cultivated almond. The stone has 

 one margin raised into an acute edge, and a millimeter or more 

 below on either side is a second but less prominent ridge. The 

 other margin is not so wide or prominent, and is simply fur- 

 rowed. The stone is pointed at each end, more prominently so 

 at one end than at the other, and the sides are slightly rough- 

 ened. 



