Spircea. ROSACEA. 169 



long : racemes shorter than the leaves, shortly peduncled ; bracts conspicuous, de- 

 ciduous: flowers greenish white, 3 or 4 lines broad: drupes blue-black, with a 

 furrow on the inner side, 6 to 8 lines long; flesh bitter; stone somewhat com- 

 pressed. — Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 337, t. 82; Torr. & Gray, Fl. i. 413; 

 Lindl. in Trans. Hort. Soc. iv. 222, & tig. 



In moist places and on the north slopes of hills from San Luis Obispo to Fraser River, chiefly 

 in the Coast Ranges. Flowering in March and April ; fruit ripe from June to July. 



3. SPIR-ffiA, Linn. Meadow-Sweet. 



Calyx persistent, 5-lobed ; the tube campanulate or concave. Petals 5, rounded, 

 nearly sessile. Stamens numerous (20 or more), inserted with the petals. Carpels 

 usually 5 or more (2 to 12), distinct and sessile or nearly so, becoming membrana- 

 ceous or coriaceous several- (2- 15-) seeded follicles, not inflated. Seeds small, 

 pendulous, linear, with a thin membranaceous testa, without albumen. — Perennial 

 herbs or mostly shrubs ; leaves alternate, mostly without stipules (in our species) ; 

 flowers white or rose-colored, in compound corymbs or panicles, or rarely spicate. 



A genus of about 50 species, belonging chiefly to the temperate and cooler regions of the 

 northern hemisphere. Many exotic ornamental species are common in cultivation. Of the 13 

 found in North America -1 are confined to the Atlantic States. 



Vauquelinia Torreyi, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 147, the Spircea Calif ornica of Torrey in 

 Emory Rep. 140, has not been detected within the State, but occurs in Southern Arizona. It is a 

 small tree, with narrowly lanceolate senate leaves, white-tomentose beneath ; flowers white, in 

 small terminal panicles ; stamens 25 ; the silky carpels united into a 5-celled capsule ; seeds 2 in 

 each cell, erect, and winged at the summit. 



§ 1. Erect shrubs, with single and usually lobed or toothed leaves: stipules none: 

 ftoivers 'perfect. — Spir.ea proper. 



* Petals rose-colored or purplish, orbicular, exceeding the calyx : filaments much i .<■- 

 serted : carpels smooth : ovules several. 



1. S. betuleefolia, Pallas. Glabrous or finely pubescent, a foot or two high or 

 more, with reddish bark: leaves broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, rounded al base, 

 usually obtuse, acutely and unequally serrate or incised, an inch or two long, on short 

 petioles or nearly sessile: flowers pale purple, in fastigiate compound often leafy- 

 bracted corymbs : calyx-lobes as long a.s the tube, reflexed : carpels •">, a line long: 

 ovules 5 to 8. — Fl. Ross. t. 1G. S. chamadrifolia, Pursh, not Linn. S. cvrym- 

 bosa, liaf. 



Among rocks in the Sierra Nevada, at 5,000 to 9,000 feel altitude, from Mono Pass (23 

 northward : ranging i" Alaska and the head-waters of the Missouri ; also eastward in the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains, and in Northern Asia and Japan. 



2. S. Douglasii, Book. Erect, ■"> to 5 feel high, with reddish-brown lurk ; the 

 young branches, inflorescence, and lower side of the leaves more or less densely 

 white-tomentose: leaves oblong, 1 to 3 inches long, unequally serrate towards the 

 rounded oraetitisli apex, often somewhat cuneatc al base, very shortly petioled, the 

 upper surface bright green en- sometimes pubescent i lowers rose-colored, crowded in 

 a narrow usually elongated sessile panicle: calyx-lobes mostly reflexed: carpels 5, 

 glabrous: ovules 9 to 1 1. — Fl. i. 172 ; Bot. Mag. t, 5151. 



Var. Nobleana, Watson. Less pubescent, sometimes nearly smooth: flowers 



in broad thyreoid panicles: leaves often 3 or 4 incites long. s '. Nobleana, Hook. 



Bot. .Mag. t. 5169. 



Var. Menziesii, Presl. Slightly pubescent above, the leaves glabrous and of the 

 same coIot on both sides or paler beneath : panicle narrow. — Epimelio Bot, 195. 

 S. Menziesii, Hook. Fl. i. IT.'i. 



In wet places from the I ppei Sacramento to the British boundary and Id. die. 



