EHAMNEJE. 75 



opposite the petals. Ovary more or less free, surrounded by a fleshy 

 disk, 2—3- or 4-celled; ovules solitary, erect. Fruit baccate or capsular. 

 Seeds erect; albumen fleshy or 0. 



1 . RHAMNUS, Nieander (Bttokthoen). Shrubs (all ours evergreen), 

 ■with alternate leaves and axillary clusters of small greenish 4 — 5- 

 merous flowers. Disk thin, lining the tube of the calyx. Fruit sub- 

 globose, the juicy pulp enclosing 2 or 3 large nut-like seeds. 



1. K. crocea, Nutt. Low, spreading, slender and spinescenl, 2 ft. 

 high; leaves coriaceous, % in. long, bright-green above, yellow beneath, 

 roundish ovate in out-line, glandular-denticulate: fl. 4-rnerous, apetalous, 

 often unisexual, short-pedicelled, solitary or few in a fascicle: fr. small, 

 obovoid, scarlet, 1- or 2-seeded. — Mission Hills and islands in the Bay. 



2. R. ilicifolta, Kell. Erect, bushy or arborescent, 6— 15 ft. high, not 

 spinescent: leaves firm-coriaceous, 1 in. long more or less, oval, spinu- 

 lose-dentate; very short-petioled ; fl. 5-rnerous: fr. as in the last, though 

 larger. — Mt. Diablo Range. 



3. R. Californica, Esch. Bushy or arborescent, 4 — 20 ft. high, 

 nascent parts pubescent, otherwise glabrous: leaves thin-coriaceous, 

 elliptic-oblong, acute or obtuse, denticulate or entire, 1 — 4 in. long: fl. 

 subumbellate, 5-merous : petals small, ovate, emarginate: filament long; 

 anther exserted from the cucullate petal: fr. 'globose, ^ — J^ in. in 

 diameter, copiously pulpy, black: seeds usually 2, hemispherical, as 

 broad at base as at summit. — Along the seaboard, on sandy plains near 

 the shore, where it is a low shrub; also among the hills in the form of a 

 small tree with ample spreading branches. 



4. R. tomentella, Benth. Near preceding, of similar habit, but 

 never either low-bushy or aborescent: leaves 2 iu. long, narrowly oblong 

 or elliptical, abruptly acute or acuminate, entire, the margin narrowly 

 revolute, glabrate above, minutely and very densely silvery- or yellowish- 

 tomentose beneath: fl. and fr. as in the last. — Eastern slope of the Mt. 

 Diablo Range. 



2. CEANOTHUS, Linn. (Califobota Lilac). Arborescent, shrubby 

 or suffrutescent, unarmed or spinescent, with petioled leaves and mostly 

 thyrsoidly arranged, caducous-bracted fascicles or cymes of small perfect 

 blue or white flowers. Calyx campanulate, 5-cleft, the lobes acute, con- 

 nivent; disk thick, adnate to the calyx and base of the ovary. Petals 5, 

 cucullate and arched, on long claws. Stamens 5; filaments filiform, long- 

 exserted. Ovary 3-lobed; style short, 3-cleft. Fruit 3-lobed and 

 capsular, though coated with a thin pulp; ultimately separating into 3 

 unilocular 1-seeded carpels which are elastically dehiscent by the 

 ventral suture. Seeds obovate, without a furrow. 



