GOLDMAN—PLANT RECORDS OF LOWER CALIFORNIA. 845 
ber 9, at San Andrés, September 21, on Margarita Island, November 29. On Cedros 
Island these trees were seen in 1859 by Doctor Veatch, who published some inter- 
esting notes concerning them, accompanying the description of a supposed new spe- 
cies by Kellogg.!’ He found the main trunks of full-grown trees averaging 60 cm. 
in diameter with the height of the trunk often less than that. A few exceptionally tall 
trees reached a height of 1.8 meters. He further says: “The trunk divides into sev- 
eral ponderous branches that shoot off horizontally and are bent and contracted into 
grotesque resemblances of the flexed limbs of a corpulent human being. These huge 
branches often terminate suddenly in a few short twigs covered with a profusion of 
red flowers, reminding one of the proboscis of an elephant holding a nosegay. The 
resemblance is heightened by the peculiar brown skinlike epidermis that forms the 
outer bark, which splits and peels off annually, accommodating the increase of growth. 
This epidermis, when removed, exposes the smooth greenish-colored surface of the 
spongy inner bark, which is from 1 to 2 inches in thickness. When this bark is cut 
through, a milky juice exudes that soon hardens into a compact mass of gum and 
resin. The quantity furnished from a single cut is considerable. 
‘The branches of the larger trees often shoot out to a horizontal distance of 20 feet 
from the trunk, thus covering an area of 40 feet in diameter. Smaller subordinate 
limbs spring upward from the upper side of the large boughs, and in this way give a 
neat oval appearance to the outline of the tree. When loaded with its bright red 
flowers, the effect is strikingly beautiful, particularly where hundreds of the trees 
stand near each other, intertwining their boughs, and forbidding ingress to the mys- 
terious space they cover and protect. The leaves are minute and fall off before the 
blossoms are fairly developed. The young tree looks a good deal like a huge radish 
protruding from the ground. On the mountain sides, from a little above seashore 
to an elevation of 1,500 feet, these trees grow scatteringly, singly, and in small clumps, 
but in the narrow vales of the ravines they sometimes form groves of several acres in 
extent, presenting the impenetrable and compact form above described. From June 
till August seems to be their blooming season.” 
Brandegee says the species also occurs on Natividad Island. 
Schmaltzia ribifolia Greene.’ 
The type of this species was taken by us at 1,140 meters elevation in San Matias 
Pass at the north end of the San Pedro M4rtir Mountains. It is rather common here, 
growing as a shrub 1.8 to 2.5 meters high and bearing ripe fruit June 28. 
Tapirira edulis T. 8. Brandeg. CrRvELA. PLate 119. 
The ‘‘ciruela,” as it is called in Lower California, is quite unlike the species of 
Spondias with which we became familiar under the same local name on the Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec and along the west coast of the Mexican mainland. The trees are 
somewhat similar in general appearance, but the fruit and leaves of this Tapirira 
are velvety and the fruit tasted by us was by no means so agreeable in flavor. The 
fruit, however, is eaten by the people of the Cape District and Brandegee says: ‘‘The 
ripe fruit is usually very pleasant to the taste, although on some trees it is always 
bitter. On a hot afternoon, far from water, it is always delightful to find the shade 
of one of these trees and eat the juicy ripe fruit with which the ground under them, 
in September, is in most cases plentifully sprinkled.”’ 
The ciruela was first seen by us in the hills between Agua Colorada and Cerro Colo- 
rado, northwest of La Paz. It was abundant at the lower elevations along much of 
our route throughout the Cape District south of La Paz and is a representative here 
of the tropical flora of Mexico. J. E. McLellan, in a field report dated August, 1895, 
mentions the ‘“‘pits” of ciruela fruit as the chief food at that season of the antelope 
1 Hesperian 4: 49-50. 1860. 2 See p. 311. 
