90 



Meiiziesii^ but with very different petals and anthers. It is per- 

 haps no great rarity in that botanically almost unexplored range 

 of mountains which separates the Santa Rosa and Napa Valleys. 



Jepson, Flora West. Mid. Cal. 274, describes the fruit as •'golden yellow, 

 7 or 8 lines in diameter, densely covered with slender prickles," but fails to 

 state that it is oval in shape and the "slender prickles" are little more than stout 

 hairs, which are very glandular. He also states that the filaments are "stout- 

 ish, much surpassing the petals," a character directly opposite to that originally 

 given by Greene. This statement, backed up by a specimen in my possession 

 which I had every reason to believe was correctly determiiied, led me to place 

 the species wiiere it does not belong in the key. It should have a position im- 

 mediately after R. hystrix, under "filaments scarcely exceeding the petals," 

 for as described by Professor Greene, "filaments not exceeding the petals," is 

 most undoubtedly correct. My own No. 5773, collected along Sonoma creek at 

 the foot of Mt. Hood, Sonoma county, June 26, 1902, may be taken as typical. 

 These specimens bear v/ell developed fruit as well as the persistent flowers, and 

 answer well to the original description. The range appears to be the same as 

 given above by Professor Greene, namely, Marin, Sonoma and Napa counties. 



26. Kibes Mariposaiinm Congdon, Erythea, 7: 183. 1899. 



A straggling shrub, 3 to 5 feet high, with long, slender 

 branches, which have few prickles. Leaves about i in. in diam- 

 eter, moderately 3 to 5 lobed, thin; their under surface as well 

 as the young shoots softly pubescent. Flowers very large, three- 

 fourths in. in diameter and fully i in. long, usually in pairs at 

 the bracted summit of a stout erect or ascending (rarely pend- 

 ant) peduncle one and one-half to two in. long. Floral charac- 

 ters otherwise much as in R. Menziesii. Ovary densely glandu- 

 lar bnt not prickly.' Fruit not prickly, yellowish when ripe, 

 with a thick, tough, shagreen-like skin, which is strongly gland- 

 ular and gives a nauseous taste to the otherwise sweetish and 

 edible pulp. '^ 



Flowers May 15 to June i, and the fruit ripens in Septem- 

 ber. This species is limited to the coniferoua belt in the moun- 

 tains between 3,500 and 5,000 ft. It is reported as abundant in 

 the Sierras further south, and its nauseous fruit is w^ell known 

 to the mountaineers. 



