91 



27- Ril>es subvestitimi H. & A. Bot. Beechy, 346. 1840. 



Glanduloso-pubescens (foliis supra exceptis), ramis rigide 

 setosis, spinis stipularibus 3-4 gracilibus, foliis cordatis 3-5 lobis 

 supra parce pilosis, lobis incisis, pedunciilis 1-3 floris, calycis 

 pubescenti-glandulosi tubo ovarium siibduplo siipera^te laciniis 

 oblcngis parium breviore, staniinibiis petala duplo siiperantibiis 

 glabris, stylo glabro simplici (nunc bifido!), ovario piloso-gland- 

 iiloso. 



In all tlie flowers except one the style is decidedly simple, 

 but in that one it is bifld to near the middle. The whole plant, 

 with the exception of the upper side of the leaves, is covered 

 with a glandular pubescence: the ovarium, although glandular 

 and hairy, exhibits no tendency to become a prickly fruit 



Greene says this species is "very common in the Coast Ranges from at least 

 Sonoma Co. to Monterey. March, April." Jepson includes it under H. Mcn- 

 ziesii, but judging from his description in Fl. Mid. W. Cal. 274, he had only 

 subvestitmn at hand. Personally, I have found the species only in the Santa 

 Cruz mountains about Los Gatos, Santa Clara county, where it is abundant in 

 and on the edges of thickets, especially on the moister northerly slopes. It 

 ascends to an elevation of at least 1500 feet, but is most abundant at 1000 feet 

 and under, ranging somewhat higher than R. occidentale. Although Hooker 

 and Arnott gi\e "near San Francisco or Monterey not far from the coast," as 

 the habitat of all of the plants mentioned by them in that part of their work, it 

 is altogether likely that Douglas collected this species near the site of the pres- 

 ent town of Los Gatos, lying as it does along the old road connecting the Mis- 

 sions of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz. My own explorations in both Sonoma 

 and Monterey counties failed to bring this species to light, and if I remember 

 rightly, it is represented in the herbarium of the California Academy of Sciences 

 bj' only one or two specimens from San Mateo county, which v^'ould limit it to 

 San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The following description was made 

 from li\ing specimens collected early in Pvlarch, but in all the flowers examined 

 the style wus bifid, in some cases cleft almost to the middle: 



Shrub i-2m. high, often with few, slender, branches: stems grayish, the 

 young growth especially spiny and glandular: infrastipular spines commonly 3, 

 sometimes 4 or 5, slender, needle-shaped, somewhat declined, pale brown or 

 yellowish, io-i2mm. long: leaves cordate, roundish, the largest about 5cm. 

 across, 5-lobed, incisely crenate, the lateral lobes noticeably so, the whole thus 

 appearing somewhat 5-lobed, rather thin, bright green above, somewhat paler 

 beneath, both sides glandular pubescent; petioles commonly as long as the 

 blade, glandular pubescent: peduncles ordinarily one-fiowered, about 2cm, 

 long, glandular, with a small, 2mm. long rounded connate fringed bract just 



