80 BOTANY. 



Peunus Vieginiana, L. (1) Scarcely flowering specimens only, from 

 trees having a very different habit from the next, 16° high and 6-10' in di- 

 ameter, in a locality where P. demissa was but 2° high, with thinner leaves 

 and short racemes, (2' long.) The young racemes have unusually large mem- 

 branous bracts, and the stipules are likewise conspicuous. West Humboldt 

 Mountains, Nevada; 9,000 feet altitude. The species is found from New- 

 foundland to Louisiana and the Arctic Circle, in New Mexico, Colorado and 

 northward. It has not hitherto been reported from west of the Rocky 

 Mountains. (301.) 



Peunus demissa, Walp. {Cerasus, Nutt.) Glabrous; leaves thickish, 

 obovate or oval, abruptly pointed, sharply (often doubly) serrate with straight 

 teeth, petiole mostly biglandular ; racemes 3-4' long, densely flowered ; petals 

 orbicular, 2" in diameter ; fruit purplish-black. — Shrubby, often fruiting 

 freely at the height of two feet, but reaching 12° in height in favorable locali- 

 ties, and 4-6' in diameter ; with the thick leaf of P. serotina and a pleasanter 

 fruit, it otherwise more resembles P. Virginiana, and is also commonly known 

 as the "choke cherry." In the mountains from the Columbia to Southern 

 California ; New Mexico, (Fendler.) Frequent in Nevada and Utah, from 

 the Washoe Mountains to the Wahsatch ; 5-10,000 feet altitude ; flowering 

 in May and June, fruit ripening in September. A variety was met with 

 having the fruit light-red, larger, more juicy, and with a thinner skin. (302.) 



Spie^a opulifolia, L. From Greorgia to Missouri and northward to 

 Canada and the Saskatchewan ; also in Oregon, California, and New Mexico, 

 (Bigelow.) Frequent in the Tuilla, Wahsatch and Uinta Mountains, Utah ; 

 5,000 feet altitude. (303.) 



Var. PAUCIFLOEA, Hook. Leaves smaller, nearly glabrous ; corymb few- 

 flowered; carpels 2-4 or sometimes solitary, torn entose. — These specimens 

 from several stations in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, and from 

 Stansbury Island in Salt Lake, have the leaves for the most part tomentose 

 with a minute stellate pubescence, especially beneath, sometimes nearly 

 glabrous ; corymbs 5-10-flowered, very shortly peduncled or sessile, flowers 

 rather smaller; ovary always solitary; stamens 20, or sometimes 15. A 

 small shrub, 2° high ; certainly as deserving the rank of a species as the fol- 

 lowing. (304.) 



Spie^a dumosa, Nutt. {S. aricBfolia, Var. discolor, T. & Gr.) Leaves 

 broadly ovate, cuneate and petioled, obtuse, sublobate and dentate, the serra- 



