nutely velvety above, whitish and canescent beneath; clusters subsessile,
axillary and terminal.
California, Douglas !—Branches numerous, whitish with an exceedingly
minute hoanness. Leaves an inch or more in length, rather crowded. Flowers
white, in dense subglobose clusters, from very short and thick spurs or
axillary branches.
7. C. oliganthus (Nutt, mss.): “ stem and branches villous; leaves elliptical
ovate, nearly glabrous above, villous beneath, glandularly serrulate, rather
obtuse; panicles lateral and terminal, very short, few-flowered, naked, or
leafy towards the base, persistent; disk pentangular; ovary with 3 protuberances
at the angles nearly as large as itself.
“ Bushy woods on the hills of St. Barbara, California.—A shrub. Leaves
on moderately long petioles. Clusters of flowers scarcely longer than the
leaves. Flowers white, rather large”. Nuttall.
8. C. hirsutus (Nutt, mss.) : “ somewhat spiny and almost hirsute, particularly
the young branches; leaves cordate-ovate, glandularly serrulate, nearly
sessile, rather obtuse; panicle terminal, elongated, leafy,; disk obscurely pentangular
; protuberances of the. ovary small.
In thickets, with the preceding, to which it is nearly allied.—A straggling
shrub. Young branches, leaf-buds, and bracts very hairy ; the upper
surface of the leaves also almost villous. Fruit rather small.” Nuttall.
9. C. thyrsiflorus (Eschs.) : stem straight and erect, with angular branches;
leaves ovate-oblong, obtuse, rather thick, strongly veined beneath, glandularly
serrate, glabrous or slightly hairy above, canescent beneath and minutely
pubescent on the veins; flowers in ovate or oblong very dense clusters,
on long morrT or less leafy axillary and terminal peduncles.—Eschs. in
mem. acad. St. Petersb. (1826); Hook. Jl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 125; Hook. §
Am. inbot. Beechey, p. 136.
Monterey, Upper California, Eschscholtz, Douglas ! Nuttall ! North
West Coast, Menzies.—A small tree, with a stem sometimes as thick as a
man’s arm: branches strongly angular. Leaves 12-15 lines long,' 4-6 lines
wide, narrowed at the base; petioles about 2 lines long. Clusters 1-2 inches
long ; the flower-buds at first surrounded by numerous ovate woolly bracts,
most of which at length fall off. Calyx and corolla bright blue even when
dry.
10. C. microphyllus (Michx.) : stem much branched from the root; leaves
minute, obovate, rigid, fascicled, glabrous above, strigose below, entire or
sparingly denticulate; peduncles slender; thyrsus short, nearly simple, rather
loose.—Michx.! fl. 1. p. 154 ; Pursh.fl. 1. p. 167; Nutt.! gen. 1. p. 154 ;
Ell. sk. 1. p .2 9 2 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 32.
Sandy pine forests, Georgia ! to East Florida ! April.—Stems 1-2 feet
high, rather rigid, glabrous, yellowish. Leaves 2-3 lines long. Peduncles
1—2 inches long. Flowers white.
11. C. serpyllifolius (Nutt.): decumbent, diffusely branched; branches
filiform; leaves very small, ovate-elliptical, serrulate, obtuse, the lower surface,
as well as the petioles, strigose ; peduncles axillary ; flowers few, in a
simple corymbose head.—Nutt.! gen. 1 .p. 154; DC.prodr. 2. p. 32.
Near St. Mary’s, Georgia, B a ldw in!—A very small slender species.
Leaves 3-5 lines long; the upper surface nearly glabrous; the early ones
somewhat crowded; later ones rather distant. Peduncles 1-1J inch long,
12-15-flowered. Flowers white. 12
12. C. divaricatus (Nutt. ! mss.): “ somewhat thorny, nearly glabrous;
leaves elliptical-oblong or oblong-ovate, lucid, somewhat obtuse, minutely
and glandularly serrulate, pubescent (particularly on the nerves) beneath ;
flowering branches divaricate; leafy thyrsus interrupted; rather loose; ovary
subglobose, without protuberances.
“ Mountains of St. Barbara, California, and also near the town. April.—
A straggling shrub. The abortive branchlets at length become spinose.
Leaves 8-12 lines long, somewhat coriaceous, 3-nerved from the base, the
lateral nerves obscure: petioles about 2 lines long. Thyrsus oblong, with
several remote fascicles in the axils of the leaves. Flowers blue. Fruit
about the size of a peper-corn.” Nuttall.
* * Leaves l-rihbed, pinnalely veined.
13. C. spinosus (Nutt.! mss.) : “ glabrous ^branches thorny ; leaves cune-
ate-oblong, or oblong, obtuse or emarginate, lucid, entire, or obscurely glandularly
serrulate towards the apex; flowering branchlets divaricate, leafy;
thyrsus oblong; ovary subglobose, without protuberances.
Mountains of St. Barbara.—A straggling shrub. Leaves somewhat coriaceous,
obscurely veined, pubescent beneath in the young state, 8-10 lines
long. Flowers white or blue: pedicels 2-3 lines long.” Nuttall.—Nearly
allied to the preceding species. There is a pair of obscure nerves from the
base of the leaf; but they are scarcely as large as the veins which proceed
from each side of the midrib.
14. C. cuneatus (Nutt.! mss.): “ branchlets pubescent; leaves fascicled
from numerous very short lateral branches, and apparently opposite, thick
and coriaceous, narrowly oblong-cuneiform, entire, obtuse, glabrous above,
whitish and minutely tomentose-canescenl beneath ; flowers in lateral
pedunculate nearly simple umbels; fruit with 3 projecting appendages at the
summit.”—RhamnusT cuneatus, Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 124; Hook. <$•
Am. in bot. Beechey, p. 136.
Dry gravelly islands and bars of the Wahlamet above the Falls, Nu tta ll!
Douglas. California, Beechey. March.—A A .cb 6-16 feet high, with
somewhat thorny grayish terete branches, very closely interwoven, sometimes
forming thickets. Leaves half an inch or more in length, and about 2 lines
wide, very rarely with one or two teeth near the extremity ; the numerous
regular simple and oblique veins rather conspicuous on the lower surface.
Flowers in small axillary umbels : the peduncles and pedicels increasing in
length as the fruit ripens. Calyx and corolla wh ite: petals cucullate, un-
guiculate. Styles united above the middle, and then spreading. Fruit as
large as an ordinary pea, subglobose ; the exocarp somewhat pulpy, with 3
rather soft horn-like projections from the summit of the angles: the coherent
base of the calyx unusually large. Seeds even on both sides, black, polished.
•—-The whole plant (like several succeeding species) exhales a balsamic odor,
and the mature fruit is covered with a bitter varnish. Hooker describes the
branches as ferrugineous, which is not the case in our specimens: they are
so, however, in the C. macrocarpus, which, judging from our specimen, we
were certainly inclined to unite with the present species; but Mr. Nuttall
assures us that it is perfectly distinct.
15. C. macrocarpus (Nutt.! mss.) : “branchlets canescent with a rusty-colored
pubescence; leaves alternate, rather crowded, sometimes a little fascicled
in the axils, thick and coriaceous, obovate-cuneate, entire, often emarginate
glabrous above, whitish and minutely tomentose-canescent beneath ; flowers
in lateral pedunculate nearly simple umbels; fruit very large, with three projecting
horn-like appendages at the summit.”
Mountains of St. Barbara, California, Nuttall!—A shrub 3-6 feet high.
Fruit twice or thrice as large as in the preceding.
16. C. verrucosus (Nutt.! mss.): “branches verrucose, and (as also the
viens of the lower surface of the leaves) somewhat canescent with a rusty