144 
CALIFORNIA. 
[ VacciniecB. 
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 ferrugineaf from which it may he 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. se., the 
original plant from Mr. Menzies, and from which Mr. Pimsh 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 j 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- 
ennantibus ovalibus obovatisve coriaceis nitidis minute reticulatis pungenti-mucronatis gla- 
briusculis tenui-marginatis subintegerrimis, racemis terminalibus brevibus, floribus bracteatis. 
Habit of Arbutus Uva Ursi, and with leaves of the same size, but sufficiently distinct, being broader, upon 
longer petioles, often quite obtuse, or even retuse at the base, downy with a whitish pubescence except the 
oldest, more or less sei-rated, and always terminated by a very sharp pungent point. Flowers small, ur- 
ceolate. 
Ord. XXV. VACCINIErE. Be Cand. 
1 . Vaccinium ovatum; erectum, valde ramosum, i-amis pubescenti-hirsutis, foliis peren- 
nantibus oblongo-ovatis coriaceis nitidis breve petiolatis marginibus revolutis serratis, petiolis 
birsutis, 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 fu’st detected by Mr. Menzies, and after- 
M’ards, according to Mr. Pursh, found by M. Lewis on the Columbia. 
