144 



CALIFORNIA. 



[ Vacciniece. 



We refer a very indifferent and solitary specimen of a supposed Arbutus to the A. Menziesii of Pursh, 

 although we only know his plant from the short character above quoted. Ours is a branch, 7-8 inches 

 long-, waved, and as thick as a swan's quill, with excessively hard wood, and having a glabrous, slightly 

 wrinkled, ferruginous surface, from which, however, it appears that a coarse bark has peeled or scaled off. 

 The petioles are an inch or more long ; the leaves 3-4 inches long, oval or elliptic, obtuse at the base and the 

 extremity, coriaceous, almost black (in the dry state,) quite entire, glabrous, pale, and apparently glaucous 

 beneath, with innumerable reticulated, and slightly prominent, rather dark-coloured veins. The racemes are 

 in fruit, and in that state the bark has in a great measure peeled off. Berries about the size of peas, black, the 

 integument areolated, or cracked into a number of small scales. Seeds many. — Mr. Collie had named the 

 specimen " Arbor ferruyinea," from which it may be inferred that the stems and branches, and probably the 

 leaves below, are of a rusty colour. We regret much that we can give no better account of this fine arbor- 

 escent Arbutus. 



2. Arbutus tomentosa; fruticosa, ramis angulatis foliisque cordatis pungenti-acutis cori- 

 aceis pubescentibus vel glabris, petiolis brevibus, racemis subcapitatis terminalibus bracteatis, 

 bracteis inferioribus longitudine fere florum, corollis urceolatis, calycibus glabris ciliatis 

 obtusis. Pursh, Fl. Am. v. 1. p. 282. 



Of this we have several varieties, differing, however, almost solely in the pubescence. — Var. a,., the 

 original plant from Mr. Menzies, and from which Mr. Pursh drew up his character, has the whole specimen, 

 except the flowers, very downy, especially on the underside of the upper leaves and young branches ; and 

 these latter, and the petioles, and lower part of the costa beneath, have numerous long rigid hairs mixed 

 with the pubescence, so as to give the plant a remarkably hispid appearance. This is from the Columbia. — 

 Var./3. is destitute of long rigid hairs ; but has the pubescence on the young stems and young leaves still copious, 

 as is the case with some of Mr. Menzies' specimens, which have no more particular locality than North-West 

 Coast of America, and with some in Captain Beechey's Herbarium. — Var. /3., with the branches slightly pubes- 

 cent, and the leaves almost entirely so, except the petioles and the base of the costa beneath ; and var. 4, with 

 the stems and leaves perfectly glabrous : both these we have from San Francisco, in California ; the former 

 is in the present Collection, and the latter we received from Dr. Fischer, marked " Arbutus Menziesii ?" — 

 In all, the foliage, in a dry state, is of a singularly pale green colour, remarkably coriaceous, and marked 

 with copious but minute reticulations. 



3. Arbutus pungens ; fruticosa, ramis prostratis subpubescentibus, foliis petiolatis per- 

 eunantibus ovalibus obovatisve coriaceis nitidis minute reticularis pungenti-mucronatis gla- 

 briusculis tenui-marginatis subintegerrimis, racemis terminalibus brevibus, floribus bracteatis. 



Habit of Arbutus Uoa Ursi, and with leaves of the same size, but sufficiently distinct, being broader, upon 

 longer petioles, often quite obtuse, or even refuse at the base, downy with a whitish pubescence except the 

 oldest, more or less serrated, and always terminated by a very sharp pungent point. Flowers small, ur- 

 ceolate. 



Ord. XXV. VACCINIE^:. De Cand. 



1. Vaccinium ovatum; erectum, valde ramosum, ramis pubescenti-hirsutis, foliis peren- 

 nantibus oblongo-ovatis coriaceis nitidis breve petiolatis marginibus revolutis serratis, petiolis 

 hirsutis, racemis axillaribus terminalibusque brevibus, floribus cylindraceo-campanulatis 

 bracteatis, calycibus acutis. 



This, in its foliage, almost exactly resembles the Arbutus mucronata of the Straits of Magellan, but the 

 flowers are racemose, and truly those of a Vaccinium. It was first detected by Mr. Menzies, and after- 

 wards, according to Mr. Pursh, found by M. Lewis on the Columbia. 



