GOLDMAN—PLANT RECORDS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 319 
trict south of La Paz. A flowering specimen was collected along the road from San 
Bernardo to El Satz, January 21. The broad leaves are about a meter in length and 
closely beset with stout pines. The flower stalks vary from 3.5 to 7 meters in height. 
Agave aurea T. 8. Brandeg. 
We first noticed and collected this handsome Agave on the lava-capped mesa a 
few miles north of Comandt, where it at once attracted our attention by its large size 
and showy flowers. The leaves, 25 to 30 in number, are 90 to 120 cm. in length, and 
the flower stems range from 1.8 to 3 metersin height. It is an abundant species at 
180 to 360 meters altitude in the vicinity of Comandt, but was not noted elsewhere. 
It is unevenly distributed, growing in patches usually a few acres in extent, where 
the soil is thickest or where the loose lava bowlders are least numerous on the surface. 
At Comandti we were told that some years previously a company had been organized 
with a view to extracting the fiber on a commercial scale, but that the venture failed 
before thorough tests had been made. It seemed to us that unless the plant grows 
in greater abundance elsewhere than here the field for such an enterprise would be 
small. 
Agave vexans Trel.* PLATE 111, C. 
Five or six miles southwest of El Potrero this recently described species grew 
sparingly on a steep mountain side leading up from about 300 meters altitude to 720 
meters on the summit of a ridge forming here the backbone of the Peninsula. It is 
distinguished from the other species noted in the general region by its small size and 
by the slenderness of the leaves. The fruit stalks stand 1.2 to 1.8 meters high. On 
October 31, when our specimen was taken, the ripe seeds were falling from the cap- 
sules at every jar. 
Agave goldmaniana Trel.* PLATE 111, A. 
This large and conspicuous species is abundant in many places along the Pacific 
slope of the Peninsula from near San Telmo southward to Santo Domingo. The 
flower stalks reach a height of 4.5 to 6 meters. The leaves, for several feet upward 
from the base of the stem, form a mass which appears to become top-heavy, causing 
the plants to assume a somewhat reclining position unlike any other Agave we had 
ever seen. In some sections these plants formed forests over considerable areas. 
The species was described from specimens with ripe fruit collected by us near Yubay, 
September 18. 
SALICACEAE. Willow Family. 
Populus tremuloides Michx. QUAKING ASPEN. 
Quaking aspens were found sparingly, mainly along north slopes in canyons above 
2,100 meters altitude in the vicinity of La Grulla and Vallecitos, in the San Pedro 
MArtir mountains. The species belongs to the Canadian Zone, but reaches down- 
ward along cold streams well into the Transition Zone. 
Populus monticola T. 8. Brandeg. Hvrgico. 
The cottonwood, locally known as “huirigo,’”’ is common along canyons at about 
660 to 1,650 meters in the Sierra de la Laguna. It is a handsome species, growing 
15 to 22 meters high and 60 to 90 cm. in diameter, the bark often smooth and white, 
much like that of an aspen. In the lower part of its vertical range it is associated 
with the tall slender palm, Erythea brandegeei. A specimen with leaves was collected 
along the road from Rancho San Bernardo to El Satiz. On the sugar plantation of 
1 See p. 311. 
