FLOWERING PLANTS AND FERNS OF ARIZONA 547 



45. Euphorbia serrula Engelm. in Torr., U. S. and Mex. Bound. Bot. 

 188. 1859. 



Chamaesyce serrula Woot. and Standi., Contrib. U. S. Xatl. 

 Herbarium 16: 144. 1913. 



Peach Springs (Mohave County). Tucson (Pima County), and at 

 several localities in Cochise County. 2.400 to 5.000 feet. Western 

 Texas to Arizona and northern Mexico. 



65. CALLITRICHACEAE. Water-starwort family 



1. CALLITRICHE. Water-starwort 



Aquatic plants with, slender stems and small opposite entire leaves, 

 these often crowded at the ends of the stems; flowers minute, axillary, 

 perfect or unisexual, without a perianth, subtended by 2 saccate 

 bracts; stamen and pistil 1 ; fruit at maturity separating into 4 nutlets, 

 these 1-seeded. 



1. Callitriche palustris L., Sp. PL 969. 1753. 



Chuska Mountains (Apache County), Kaibab Plateau (Coconino 

 County), Young to Payson (Gila County), Tucson (Pima County), 

 in streams and ponds. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemis- 

 phere. 



66. BLXACEAE. Box family 



1. SIMMONDSIA. Jojoba, deerxut 



An evergreen, dichotomously branched shrub; leaves opposite, 

 simple, entire, thick, leathery; flowers unisexual (perhaps always 

 dioecious), apetalous. in dense axillary clusters, small, yellowish; 

 stamens 10 to 12; fruit an acornlike capsule, usually with only 1 

 large seed. 



Also known as goatnut. wild-hazel, coffeebush, and quinine-plant. 

 It is a rather handsome shrub, seldom more than 2 m. (6.5 feet) high 

 in Arizona, and is the best browse plant within its range. The "nuts" 

 are rich in an edible oil (chemically, a liquid wax). This reputedly 

 has medicinal virtues and is used in small quantities in the manu- 

 facture of hair oil. In early days the Indians and white settlers made 

 a substitute for coffee from the fruits. The "nuts" may be eaten 

 raw or parched but are too bitter with tannin in their natural state 

 to please the white man's palate. 



1. Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneid., Handb. Laubholzk. 2: 141. 

 1907. 



Bums chinensis Link, Enum. PI. 2: 386. 1822. 



Simmondsia calij ornica Nutt., London Jour. Bot. 3: 401. 1>44. 



Greenlee County to southern Yavapai County, south to Cochise, 

 Pima, and Yuma Counties, 1,000 to 4,300 feet, common, often abun- 

 dant, dry slopes and along washes, December to July. Southern 

 Arizona, southern California, Sonora, and Baja California. 



