76 MADRONO [Vol. 1, 



The Cornell Botanical Expedition, after a trans-continental trip 

 from Ithaca, New York, arrived in California over Mt. Shasta in 

 September. The party consisted of nine persons traveling in three 

 machines. Three thousand specimens were collected and almost as 

 many species. Dr. K. M. Wiegand headed the expedition. A portion 

 of the party under the guidance of Dr. W. L. Jepson made a trip 

 to the great redwood groves of the South Fork Eel River, studying 

 especially the stand on the Bull Creek flats where are the tallest 

 of the Earth's trees. 



Dr. Olof Arrhenius visited the University of California in August. 

 During a discussion of the outlook for botany he said: "I am sur- 

 prised at the little time you in American universities have for re- 

 search. It is too bad that botany is not regarded in America as a 

 practical science. I notice that public opinion has so much to do 

 with what is given in the University. But what does public opinion 

 know about the needs of the sciences of Physics, Chemistry and 

 Botany? We have disadvantages at home — but public opinion does 

 not control the universities. The universities should be inde- 

 pendent — for scholarship and research." — w. L. j. 



REVISION OF THE CALIFORNIA SPECIES OF THE 

 GENUS ARCTOSTAPHYLOS 

 Willis Linn Jepson 



Hooker and Arnott in the Botany of Beechey's Voyage (1832) 

 record only two manzanitas from California, the two being recorded 

 as unnamed varieties of Arctostaphylos tomentosa. In the Botany 

 of California (1876) Gray described eight species of Arctostaphylos 

 exclusive of Comarostaphylis. In the Synoptical Flora (1878), Gray 

 has for California eleven species and one variety. In the North 

 American Flora (1914), under the generic name Uva-ursi, Abrams 

 recognizes as Californian, twenty-two species but no varieties. In 

 the treatment here presented twenty-three species and eight var- 

 ieties are recognized, but certain species reduced in the North 

 American Flora are retained as valid. 



The segregation of Californian Arctostaphyli into recognizable 

 and satisfactory units presents difficulties. Leaves, flowers and 

 fruits are very uniform in the genus and largely without strongly 

 marked or distinctive morphological characters. The various species 

 as here evaluated differ most obviously in habit and in what may 

 be termed vegetative characters — in stature, in pubescence or 

 glandulosity or lack of these, and also in hue of foliage. These 

 characteristics or adaptations on the whole seem to be specific 

 and rather decisive, and the main types as one sees them in the field, 

 particularly in the Sierra Nevada, usually represent recognizable 

 units which are commonly very distinctive in appearance. The 

 extensive formations of the white Arctostaphylos viscida give a 



