BOTANY. 137 
balls of ripe fruit of the preceding year.) This species resembles P. orientalis much more than 
P. occidentalis. 
BETULACEZ. 
ALNUS VIRIDIS, DC. Fl. Franç. 3 p. 304? Cajon Pass and Creek, California. The specimens 
are in very young leaf, with old female aments of the past season. The latter are oblong- 
ovate, and the fruitis narrowly winged. The leaves are glutinous, acute at the base, and doubly 
serrate. There are needed specimens in a more mature state in order to be certain of the species. 
MYRICACEX. 
Myrica CALIFORNICA, Cham. de Schlecht. in Linnea 6, p. 535; Hook. Fl. Bor.—Am. 2, p. 260; 
Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beech. p. 390. Near San Francisco; April 3, (only the male plant); near 
Monterey, Mr. Hich, (in fruit.) Hooker and Arnott are inclined to refer the plant to M. 
Xalapensis, H. B.K. 
CUPULIFERÆ. 
CASTANEA CHRYSOPHYLLA, Dougl. in Hook. Fl. Bor.—Amer. 2 p. 159; Hook. Lond. Jour. Bot. 
1843, t. 16. Gravelly hills near Oakland, California. The plants found by Dr. Bigelow were 
only from 2-3 feet high, and yet they bore fruit. In Oregon, where it abounds on the Columbia, 
it is a large tree, sometimes growing 70 feet high. Dr. Parry and Mr. Rich found it at Mon- 
terey. It is a beautiful species, and well deserves cultivation. Nuttall, in his North American 
Sylva, asks whether this tree and Quercus densifolia, Hook., may not be the same. The Cas- 
tanea had not been figured when the Sylva of Mr. Nuttall was published, nor had he seen 
specimens of the plant. 
QUERCUS ECHINACEA, Torr. in Pl. of U. S. Expl. Exped. (ined.): foliis perennantibus lanceolato- 
oblongis integerrimis vel serrato-dentatis, junioribus subtus cinereo-tomentosis demum glabratis ; 
amentis masculis elongatis densifloris ; fructibus sessilibus; cupula hemispherica, squamis fili- 
formibus densis patulis vel reflexis apice plerumque uncinatis ; glande brevi ovata. Tokeloma 
Creek, California و‎ April 17; fruit of the preceding season was collected on the ground. This 
fine oak was first discovered by Mr. Brackenridge, on the upper waters of the Sacramento Creek, 
while attached to the United States Exploring Expedition. It was found also by Dr. Parry, 
botanist of the Mexican Boundary Survey, while under command of Major Emory. We have 
also received specimens of it from Mr. Burke, and the acorns from Dr. Andrews. It is a near 
ally of Q. densiflora, Hook. € Arn., which is also a native of California, but is easily distin- 
guished from that species by the remarkable scales of the cup. The leaves are exceedingly 
variable, for although they are usually more or less lanceolate-oblong, sometimes they are 
obovate. They are commonly obtuse, but occasionally quite acute, even on the same tree. In 
the specimens collected by Dr. Bigelow and by Mr. Burke, the leaves are 4—5 inches long, and 
sharply toothed, as in the chestnut. In those obtained by Mr. Brackenridge they are perfectly 
entire, except a few of them which are obscurely repand-dentate. The male aments are in 
clusters, about 4 inches long and about 3 lines in diameter; at their base are a few female 
flowers. The acorns are 2 or 3 together; the cup is an inch in diameter and thickly covered 
with rigid subulate or filiform scales, which are at length reflexed or recurved. The acorns are 
short and thick, about three-fourths of an inch long, obtuse, with a short abrupt point, and ofa 
light-brown color. In the mountains this oak attains the height of 25 or 30 feet, with a trunk 
six inches in diameter. ۲ 
QUERCUS CRASSIPOCULA, Torr. in Williamson's Hep. cum tab. Cajon Pass, Sierra Nevada. 
The specimens are not in fruit. According to Dr. Bigelow's notes, this species, in favorable 
situations, becomes a tree 40 feet high, but in poor soils it is a mere bush. In the former the 
leaves are toothed ; in the dwarf plants they are entire. 
18r 
