Rosacea.] 



CALIFORNIA.— SUPPLEMENT. 



337 



axin interiorem loculi affixa. Fructus compositus, e drupis (abortione) 3, 2 vel 1, subsiccis, oblique obo- 

 vatis, subincurvis. Putamen chartaceum. Semen 1, pendens, obovatum. Albumen nullum. Cotyledones 

 late obovatte, compressse. Radicula supera. 



1. Nuttallia cerasiformis. Torr. et Gr. 27. of N. Am. ined. — (Tab. LXXXII.) 



The greater part of the accompanying drawing of this entirely new genus, was made from imperfect specimens 

 gathered on the Columbia by Mr Douglas and Dr Scouler in 1825. It has since been sent me, in various 

 states, from the " margins of pine woods,'' in the same country, by Dr Gairdner and Mr Tolmie, and from 

 these specimens the drawing was completed. It now appears in Mr Douglas' Californian collection ; and I have 

 lately received the same plant from Mr Nuttall, gathered by that gentleman on the Columbia, and bearing the 

 ms. name of Nuttallia cerasiformis of Torrey and Gray, a name which I have the greatest pleasure in thus per- 

 petuating. Nor could the name be attached to any plant with greater propriety than to one inhabiting a 

 district of country where that gentleman has so eminently signalized himself by his recent laborious researches 

 and discoveries. We here subjoin Mr Nuttall's description, drawn up on the spot, as copied from his ms. 

 by my friend Dr Gray, and which shows how well he distinguished all its remarkable features. 



" A small forest-tree, about the size of Amelancliier Botrijapium, exhaling a faint scent of Bitter Almonds 

 with a smooth brown bark on the branches, and alternate, oblong, entire, thin leaves. Racemes filiform, 

 connected at the base with a branchlet, both included in the common bud. Leaves alternate, entire, 

 cuneate-oblong, apiculated, and attenuated below into a short petiole, more or less pubescent or glabrous 

 beneath ; the same bud producing both leaf and raceme. Raceme pendulous, and, with the white flowers 

 and unguiculate oblong petals, resembling Amelancliier Botrijapium. Bracts membranous, narrow, and 

 acuminated. Male calyx campanulate, half-way 5-cleft. Segments lanceolate. Stamens about 12-15, in- 

 serted on and below the margin of the calyx. Female calyx dividing circularly towards the base ; the base 

 remaining beneath the fruit. Stamens minute and rudimental, fewer. Germs 5, roundish, 2-3 usually soon 

 abortive ; styles filiform, deciduous ; stigma small, 2-lobed. Germens for some time gibbous, the mature 

 drupe at length nearly straight, the internal indehiscent suture scarcely visible ; pulp a mere succulent 

 blackish-brown skin, furnished with a bloom. Nut 1-seeded ; no perisperm or albumen. Embryo straight, 

 the radicle inserted towards the summit of the fruit. The fruit is greedily eaten by robins and other baccivorous 

 birds, though almost bitter to the taste, and with the heavy odour of the bitter almond." 



Tab. LXXXII. Nuttallia cerasiformis. — A. Branch of a male plant in flower. — B. Branch of a female 

 plant, from which the calyx and petals have fallen, and exhibiting the fertilized ovaries. — C. Branch with 

 ripe fruit: — nat. size. — Fig. 1. Flower ; Jig. 2. Calyx of a male flower laid open, showing the situation of 

 the stamens ; Jig. 3. Female flower, after the calyx has fallen away; Jig. 4. Pistillum ; Jig. 5. The same, 

 laid open ; Jig. 6. A single fruit ; Jig. 7. The same, laid open ; Jig. 8. Embryo : — magnijied. 



1. Cercocarpus parvifolia (Nutt.) ; foliis late obovatis dentatis (junioribus pra^cipue) 

 subtus pubescenti-hirsutis, floribus geminatis recurvis, fructus Cauda longissima. Nutt. in 

 Herb. Hook.— Torr. et Gr. Fl. ined.— Hook. Ic. PI. t. 323. 



This species comes so very near the description of the Mexican C. fothergilloides, H. B. K. Nov. Gen. 

 Am. t. 559, that until we examined specimens lately sent by Mr Hartweg, we hesitated whether it should 

 not be referred to that plant. All the specimens, however, from Mr Douglas, as well as one collected by 

 Mr Nuttall on the Platte River, have the leaves smaller, and more downy beneath, than Humboldt's species, the 

 flowers not clustered, but geminate and recurved, the fruit larger, and the Cauda much longer and more 

 plumose. A second speeies, found by Mr Nuttall (C. betuloides, Nutt. ms. in Herb. Hook., and Hook. 

 Ic. PI. t. 322), is also quite distinct from the Mexican plant; while a third species, C. ledifolia (Nutt. 

 ms. in Herb, nostr., and Hook. Ic. PI. t. 324), is extremely different from all the rest. 



With regard to the genus itself, it must rank very close to Pursliia, from which it scarcely differs, except 



2 u 



