ROSE AND STANDLEY—PLANTS -FROM THE PINACATE REGION. 1] 
who has dry mesquite for his camp-fire; for without it fire making is a serious problem. 
It burns freely, makes a hot fire, and quickly produces a good bed of coals for the 
baking of bread and the frying of meat. 
‘“‘In the simple house building of the deserts, mesquite constitutes well-nigh the 
only wood that is available. The stems are used to support the earth roofs of houses, 
to build into fences for corrals and cultivated fields, and to repair broken wagons. It 
is said that the Mexicans also use it in the making of furniture.”’ 
Olneya tesota A. Gray, Mem. Amer, Acad. IT. 5: 328. 1855. PLATE 3. 
Type locality, ‘‘On the table-lands of the Gila.” 
No specimens of this were collected, either, but it is common about the Pinacates 
and in southern Arizona, where it is known asironwood. Ofit Doctor Hornaday says:? 
‘The ironwood tree is not of sufficient importance to justify prolonged attention. 
It looks very much like the mesquite, but its wood is as hard as its name implies, and 
so heavy that it will not float in water. The largest specimen I noted particularly 
was @ conspicuous part of our aforesaid bivouac on Pinacate. A trunk fully a foot in 
diameter and twenty feet long was twisted almost into a figure-8 knot, but it was what 
cattlemen call a ‘lazy 8,’ for it lay upon the ground.” 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE 3.—From a photograph by Dr. D. T. MacDougal. 
Parosela emoryi (A. Gray) Heller, Cat. N. Amer. Pl. ed. 2. 6. 1900. 
Dalea emoryi A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. II. 5: 315, 1855. 
Type locality, ‘‘On the desert table-lands of the Gila,” 
Adair Box, November 20, 1907, Sykes 65. 
Parosela spinosa (A. Gray) Heller, Cat. N. Amer, Pl. ed. 2. 7. 1900. 
Dalea spinosa A. Gray, Mem. Amer. Acad. II. 5: 315. 1855. 
Type locality, ‘‘Arroyos on the Gila; and on the Californian desert west of the Col- 
orado.”’ 
Sandhills, Adair Box, November 20, 1907, Sykes 64. 
This is spoken of as the “‘spiny smoke tree.”’ It is well illustrated in the ‘‘Camp- 
Fires.’’ ? 
Phaseolus wrightii A. Gray, Smiths. Contr. Knowl. 3: 43. 1852. 
Type locality, ‘‘Declivity of a mountain, near El Paso.” 
Papago Tanks, Sonora, November 17, 1907, MacDougal 48. 
Covillea glutinosa (Engelm.) Rydb. N. Amer. Fl. 25%: 108. 1910. 
Larrea glutinosa Engelm. in Wisliz. Mem. North. Mex. 93, 1848. 
Type locality, ‘‘Olla and Fray Cristobal,’’? New Mexico, 
The common creosote bush, occurring nearly throughout the arid Southwest. 
Again we quote Doctor Hornaday from the ‘‘Camp-Fires:” ® 
‘“‘Last of the important bushes and trees of the desert—but often it is the first—is 
the creosote bush. It is by far the most omnipresent representative of the plant 
world throughout the region we traversed. I think we saw hundreds of square miles 
of it, and most of all was on the trail from the Ajo mines up to Gila Bend. 
“The specimen shown with Mr. Sykes and the grave of the murdered Mexican is 
an excellent picture of a creosote bush, which may be regarded as the type of ten 
million others. The creosote bush is a big cluster of small and brittle woody stems, 
covered with smooth brown bark. The stems do not branch until near their tops, and 
there they send off a few fine twigs to support the irregular clusters of tiny leaves that 
form the outer surface of the bush. The leavesare of a rich, bright green color, and so 
shiny that they look as if recently varnished. They taste unpleasantly like creosote 
(oil of smoke), and no animal can eat them. 
1 Page 52. ? Plate opposite page 182. 3 Page 53. 
13540°—12——2 
