162 AMYGDALACEiE. cerasus. 



OSMARONIA. 



C. mollis Dougl. 1. c. Prunus emarginata var. mollis Brew. A small 

 straight graceful tree 20-50 feet high by 2-20 inches in diameter, with red- 

 dish, characteristic cherry bark and slender ashy-gray or reddish branch- 

 lets: young branches and inflorescence soft-pubescent : stipules lanceolate, 

 pectinate, 1-2 lines long; leaves obovate to oblong or oblanceolate, mostly 

 acutish, crenately serrulate, 1-3 inches long, narrowed below to a short 

 petiole, pubescent beneath, nearly smooth above : corymbs 5-10-fiowered ; 

 calyx turbinate, the oblong, obtuse, entire lobes soon reflexed, not more 

 than half as long as the tube; petals obovate, on short claws, 2 lines long: 

 fruit bright red, about 3-4 lines long, intensely bitter : stone wrinkled, 

 carinate on one edge, rounded or barely acute on the other. Common in 

 forests, Brit. Columbia to California. 



§ 2. Padus T. & G. 1. c. 410. Flowers in racemes terminat- 

 ing leafy branches, appearing after the evolution of the leaves : 

 leaves deciduous. 



C. demissa Nutt. T. & G. Fl. i, 411. Prunus demissa Walp. An erect 

 slender shrub 2-20 feet high: leaves obovate or oblong- ovate, usually 

 broadest above the middle, abruptly acuminate, mostly rounded or some- 

 what cordate at base, sharply serrate with straight slender teeth, more or 

 less pubescent beneath, 2-4 inches long, the petiole usually biglandular 

 just below its summit: racemes 3-4 inches long, many-flowered, longer than 

 the leaves, usually nodding ; calyx hemispherical, the lobes short and ob- 

 tuse, glandularly ciliate, much shorter than the tube; petals white, orbic- 

 ular to elliptical, 2-3 lines long: fruit globose, purplish-black or red, 

 sweet and edible but astringent : stone globose. On rocky hills and river 

 banks, Brit. Columbia to California and the Rocky Mountains. 



3 OSMARONIA Greene Pitt, ii, 189. 



NUTTALLIA T. & G. II. & A. Bot. Beech. Supp. 336 t. 82. 



Shrubs with simple alternate deciduous leaves without sti- 

 pules and polygamo-dioecious white flowers in loose nodding 

 bracted racemes which appear with the branchlets from the same 

 buds. Calyx 5-lobed, deciduous. Petals 5, alternate with the 

 lobes of the calyx. Stamens 15, in two rows, 10 inserted with 

 the petals and 5 lower down upon the disk that lines the calyx- 

 tube, those of the fertile flowers all with abortive anthers. Car- 

 pels 5, inserted upon the persistent base of the calyx, free ; 

 styles lateral, jointed at base ; ovules two in each carpel, pendu- 

 lous. Fruit 1-5, 1-seeded drupes with thin pulp and smooth 

 bony stone. Cotyledons convolute in the bud. 



O. cerasiformis Greene 1. c. 191. Nuttallia cemsiformis T. & G. 

 Shrubs with clustered stems 2-15 feet high, dark brown bark and rather 

 slender glabrous branches: leaves broadly oblanceolate, acute or acutish, 

 attenuate to a short slender petiole, entire, smooth above, soft-pubescent 

 beneath, 2-4 inches long: racemes short-peduncled, shorter than the 

 leaves; bracts spatulate, equalling the calyx-tube; deciduous; pedicels (i-7 

 lines long, with a pair of linear, acuminate bractlets near the base of the 

 calyx; calyx campanulate, the short triangular lobes about half as long 

 as the tube: petals spatulate, twice as long as the calyx-lobes, those of the 

 fertile flowers smaller : drupes blue-black with a bloom when fully mature, 

 5-8 lines long, oblong, with a slight furrow on the inner side; stone 

 smooth, somewhat compressed. Common in wooded districts, Brit. Colum- 

 bia to California. Flowering in very early spring. 



