| BRIDGESII | SPITHAMEA | PINETORUM | GYMNOCARPA | |
| PRICKLES | somewhat thick based, paired | few to numerous | numerous | numerous, slender |
| LEAVES | gen 2-3 per side, finely hairy and/or glandular, tip often blunt (image) | gen 2-3 per side, (sub)glabrous (image) | gen 3 per side, glabrous or hairy (image) | 3-4 per side, glabrous (image) |
| PEDICELS | glabrous or glandular | gen glandular | glabrous or glandular | prominently stalked-glandular (exc in Siskiyou Mts) (image) |
| SEPALS | not deciduous, gen glandular, tip < body | not deciduous, gen glandular, tip = body | not deciduous, gen glandular, tip = body | deciduous in fruit, glandular or not, tip short (image) |
| HIPS | rarely glandular, ovoid in bud, pistils 5-20 (image) | prominent stalked glands, ovoid in bud, pistils 10-20 (image) | glabrous, round in bud, pistils 10-20 (image) | glabrous, slender in bud, pistils < 10 (image) |
| SIZE | ca 1-2 ft tall | ca 0.5-2 ft tall | ca 2-4 ft tall | to 6 ft tall |
| HABITAT | open floor of lower montane forest, to rocky ridges | mixed forest (esp. after fire) & coastal scrub | Monterey pine forest | mostly forest shade (chaparral on serpentine) |
| DISTRIBUTION | Sierra Nevada & southern Cascades (map) | north & central Coast Ranges, Siskiyou Mts (map) | Monterey Peninsula and nearby stands of Monterey pine (map) | north California, Coast Ranges, disjunct on Palomar Mts, to British Columbia & Montana (map) |