272 



SAXIFRAGACRffi. 



Rare in the Bay Region: Loma Priela (Santa Cruz Mountains) and 

 Marin Co.; more common in the Sierra Nevada. 



7. WHIPPLE A Torr. 

 Small and low under-shrub with opposite leaves and clusters of 

 small white flowers on a terminal naked peduncle. Calyx-tube wholly 

 adnata to the lower portion of the ovary which is about § free. 

 Stamens 10, rarely 8, 9, 11 or 12, those opposite the petals some- 

 what shorter, all dilated at the base or below the middle. Ovary 3 to 

 5-celled, with a single suspended ovule in each cell; styles distinct, 

 subulate; stigmas introrse. Capsule septicidally dehiscent into 3 to 5 

 cartilaginous 1-seeded portions which open down the ventral suture. 

 (Dedicated to Lieutenant A. W. Whipple, commander of the Pacific 

 Railroad Expedition from the Mississippi River to Los Angeles in 

 1853 and 1854.) 



1. W. modesta Torr. Stems slender, diffuse or trailing; branch- 

 lets, peduncles and calyx-tube pubescent; calyx-lobes glabrous; foliage 

 with scattered hairs, on the older leaves often pustulate-dilated at 

 base; leaves | to 1\ or rarely If in. long, ovate or oval-ovate, 3-nerved 

 from the base, crenate above the middle, short-petioled; clusters 

 mostly 4 to 9-flowered, the flowers soon becoming somewhat greenish; 

 petals oblong or ovate, contracted at base, exceeding 1 line, larger 

 than the linear caltx-lobes; capsule globular; styles deciduou>. 



Thickets or woods of the Coast Ranges from Monterey to Mendocino 

 Cos. and eastward to Mt. St. Helena, F. P. McLean, 1872, and Miller 

 Canon of the Vaca Mountains, Jepson, 1885. Mar.- Apr. First col- 

 lected in Marin Co. by Dr. J. M. Bigelow, the botanist of "Whipple's 

 Expedition. 



8. RIBES L. Gooseberry. Currant. 

 Shrubs, either unarmed or prickly. Leaves alternate, palmately 

 lobed, the stipules adnate or none. Flowers in racemes or solitary, 

 the pedicels bracteolate. Calyx-lobes, petals and stamens 5 in all the 

 Californian species except R. speciosum. Calyx-tube adnate to the 

 1-celled ovary and more or less produced beyond it. Petals inserted 

 on the throat of the calyx, the stamens alternating with them. 

 Placenta? 2, parietal. Styles 2, distinct or more or less united; stigma 

 terminal. Fruit a berry. (Ancient Arabic name.) 



Thornless and without prickles; raceme many-flowered (except no. 1); berry 

 unarmed, rarely glandular-bristly.— Currants. 

 Leaves convolute in the bud; flowers bright yellow; calyx-tube salver- 

 form: var. tcnuifloram of 1. It. aureum. 



Leaves plaited in the hud; flowers rose-red varying to white. 

 Leaves thin, glabrous or nearly so; var. glutinonttm of 



2. It. sanguincum. 



Leaves thick, very rugulose, more or less white-tomentose beneath . . . 



3. F. malvaceum. 



Thorny and often prickly; leaves plaited in the bud ; raceme 1 to 4-flowered. 

 - Gooseberries. 



Petals plane, fan-shaped; anthers obtuse and pointless; styles long- 

 villous; berry glabrous 4. /?. divaricatum. 



Petals involute; anthers sagittate, mucronate-tipped; styles glabrous; 

 berry prickly. 



Calyx greenish white 5. R. Victoria. 



