212 ROSACE AE. 



more common] y oblong-obovate, mostly obtuse, finely .serrulate, % to V/ 2 in. 

 long, oil petioles 1 to 3 lines long; blade with 1 or 2 glands just above junc- 

 tion with petiole; flowers 3 to K) in short corymbs; drupes 4 or 5 lines long, 

 bright red, the pulp intensely bitter. — (Cerasus emarginata Dougl.) 



Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, abundant at 4,000 to 8,000 feet, also at 

 lower levels near the ocean, as in cool canons of the Berkeley Hills at 500 

 feet; mountains of Southern California (5,000 to 9,000 feet). Forms exten- 

 sive shrubby thickets on dry or moist gravelly mountain slopes, and attains its 

 largest size near streams or on moist benches. 



2. P. demissa Walp. Western Choke-cherry. Erect slender deciduous 

 shrub, 2 to 10 ft. high, or rarely a small tree up to 20 ft. high ; leaves oblong- 

 ovate or more commonly oblong-obovate, acute at apex or abruptly short- 

 pointed, finely serrate, 1 to 3^ in. long; petiole % in. long, with 1 or 2 

 glands just below its summit; racemes 2 to 4 in. long, terminating more or 

 less leafy peduncles; drupe red or dark purple, 3^ lines long, astringent. 



Sierra Nevada, 2,500 to 6,000 ft.; Coast Ranges, widely scattered from the 

 sea-coast to the interior. — (Cerasus demissa Nutt.) 



3. P. ilicifolia Walp. Islay. Evergreen shrub or small tree 5 to 25 ft. 

 high ; leaves coriaceous, elliptic or ovate, acute or obtuse, spinose-toothed, 1 to 2 

 in. long, short-petioled; racemes 1 to 2% in. long, on axillary leafless peduncles; 

 flow r ers 2 lines long; drupe red or dark purple, 6 to 8 lines thick, slightly ob- 

 compressod, apiculate; flesh thin, sweetish when ripe. — (Cerasus ilicifolia Nutt.) 



Mostly near the coast: Cordelia, Oakland Hills, San Francisco, Santa Cruz 

 Mts. and southward to Southern California. Also called Evergreen . Cherry. 



4. P. subcordata Benth. Sierra Plum. Deciduous shrub 4 to 7 ft. high 

 or sometimes arborescent and 20 ft. high, with crooked and rough gray-brown 

 branches and more or less spinescent branchlets; leaves ovate or elliptic to al- 

 most round, obtuse or truncate at base, rarely subcordate, 2 in. long or less, 

 on petioles 2 or 3 lines long; flowers appearing with the leaves, 2 to 4 in a 

 cluster, on pedicels % in. long; sepals linear or slightly acute, 1% lines long; 

 pet ;ils obovate, somewhat concave, 4 lines long; stamens 25 or 30; drupe red, 

 % to nearly 1 in. long, the pulp rather hard but more or less edible. 



Southern Sierra Nevada to Siskiyou Co. and south in the Coast Ranges to the 

 Vaca Mts., Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalpais, rare in our region and mostly 

 toward the interior. The author has never observed it to set good fruit in the 

 Bay region. 



14. HETEROMELES Roem. 



Evergreen shrub with simple coriaceous serrate leaves. Flowers white, small, 

 numerous, in little cymes disposed in a terminal corymbose panicle. Calyx 

 turbinate, 5-cleft. Petals 5, spreading. Stamens 10, in pairs opposite the 

 calyx-teeth; filaments dilated at base and somewhat connate. Pistils 2 or 3, 

 Lightly united, tomentose above, only lightly adherenl to the fleshy calyx-tube, 

 the thickened persistent calyx-teeth closed over them in fruit. Fruit bright 

 red, ovoid, berry-like. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell. (Greek heteros, different, and 



melon, an apple.) 



1. H. arbutifolia (Lindl.) Roem. Christmas Berry. Toyon. Shrub, 

 rarely a Bmall tree, 5 to L5 ft. high; leaves oblong, acute at base and apex, 

 dark green, lighter beneath, sharply serrate, 2 to 4 in. long, on petioles ' U to % 



iii. long; panicle in anthesis rather dense, 2 or 3 in. high; corolla 2>.j lines in 

 diameter; fruil 3 or 1 lines long, the seeds obovate, flal on one side, convex 

 on the other, ' ._. ;is long. (IMiotinia arbutifolia Lindl.) 





