HEATB FAMILY. 



369 



in a one-sided raceme; petals with two tubercles at base inside. — 

 Northern Sierra Nevada. 



:;. LEDUM L. 



Low shrubs with fragrant herbage. Leaves alternate, entire, with 

 revolute margins. Flowers white, small, in terminal umbel-like 

 clusters from large scaly buds. Pedicels slender. Calyx of 5 almost 

 distinct segments, very small. Corolla of 5 obovate and spreading 

 distinct petals. Stamens 6 to 10; anthers opening by terminal pores. 

 Capsule 5-celled, dehiscing from the base upward, many-seeded; 

 placenta) borne on the summit of the axis of the fruit. (Greek Ledon, 

 ancient name of the Cistus.) 



1. L. glandulosum Nutt. Labrador Tea. E\ « jrgreen shrub, 3 

 to 5 ft. high; leaves rather thickly clothing the stems, oblong, acute 

 at each end, mucronate at apex, 1 to 2\ in. long, green and glabrous 

 on both sides, or light colored beneath with a dense close glandular- 

 dotted felt; petals elliptic-ovate, 2\ to 3 Lines long; stamens 4 to 10; 

 filaments ciliate toward the base; capsule oval, nearly 2 lines long. 



Point Reyes Peninsula, Brandegee, Davy, the only recorded station 

 within our limits; Noyo, Mendocino Co. and northward: Sierra 

 Nevada. June. 



4. RHODODENDRON L. 



Ours shrubs with alternate entire leaves crowded on the flowering 

 branches. Flowers in umbels or corymbs, from terminal buds with 

 thin deciduous scales. Calyx very small. Corolla funnel-form to 

 campanulate, cleft, often somewhat irregular. Stamens 5 or 10; 

 filaments filiform; anthers short, without awns or appendages, the 

 cells opening by a terminal pore. Style filiform; stigma capitate or 

 somewhat lobed. Fruit a septicidal capsule, the valve separating 

 from the columella. (Greek rhodos, rose, and dendron, a tree.) 



Deciduous; flowers commonly white; stamens 5 1. i?. occidcntale. 



Evergreen; flowers rose-purple ; stamens 10 2. It. Californicum. 



1. R. occidentale Gray. Western Azalea. Shrub, 3 to 8 ft. 

 high; leaves narrowly or broadly obovate, 1 to 4 in. long, ciliate, 

 otherwise nearly glabrous; flower buds terminal, surrounded at base 

 by leaf buds which give rise to the shoots of the season; calyx 

 f)-parted, its lobes oblong or oval; corolla white, \\ to nearly 2 in. 

 long, or sometimes rose-tinged, 5-cleft, slightly irregular, the upper 

 lobe with a large yellow splotch; tube conspicuously funnel-form, 

 glandular-viscid outside; capsule oblong, f in. long. 



Deep canons of the seaward and middle Coast Ranges, by stream 

 banks: Santa Cruz Mountains; Marin Co., etc. Also in the Sierra 

 Nevada. A handsome shrub in June when in full bloom, the corolla 

 promptly deciduous from the receptacle, but held pendant for a time 

 by the tangle of stamens and style. K. Sonomense Greene is a form 

 with rose-colored flowers occurring from Sonoma Valley to Mt. St. 

 Helena. 



'2. R. Californicum Hook. California Rose Bay. Erect, 4 

 to 8 ft. high; leaves coriaceous and evergreen, oblong or elliptic, 



2<i 



