26 Naturalized Plants. EOE 
Therefore, judging from the small winter series available, there 
seems to be pretty plain evidence of specific difference, but in such _ 
cases one needs a large series at hand for forming an accurate 
decision, : 
NOTES ON THE NATURALIZED PLANTS OF SOUTHERN 
CALIFORNIA. VIII. 
BY S. B. PARISH. 
Arundo donax holds a somewhat uncertain place in the American 
flora. A native of Southern Europe, it may be reasonably thought 
to have reached us from that source. Yet along the banks of the 
Rio Grande River it is found. apparently indigenous.* It is not 
uncommon in northern Mexico, and recently Mr. Brandegee has 
col ected it in Lower California. And now Mr. Lyon sends it from 
Los Angeles, where he reports it as growing in great abundance in 
the river bed, and often springing up in gardens from seed brought 
down through the city water pipes. It has been long established | 
by the river side, Mr. Lyon’s own knowledge of it going back nine- 
teen years, while he learns from others that it was equally abundant 
forty and fifty years ago. An aged native Californian states that 
more than seventy years ago his father was accustomed to have his _ 
Indian peons gather it for building their jacales or huts, considering | 
it more durable for this purpose than tule ( Scirpus lacustris ), which 
was also sometimes. used. ) ! 
It is remarkable that this conspicuous reed, growing in the very | 
outskirts of one of the oldest towns of the State, should have so 
long escaped the notice of botanists, and if it is indeed indige- 
nous Mr. Lyon’s station is not likely to be the only one. The _ 
Spanish-speaking people call it carrizo, a name borne by more than 
one stream of the desert region; but the presence of Arundo by — 
their banks is not to be therefore inferred, since the same Spanish 
term is applied to Phragmites communis, and perhaps to any reed-— 
like grass. : 
The history and manner of growth of this reed at Los Angeles _ 
are such as to render its exotic origin somewhat doubtful, and it: 
would be much more so if it be truly indigenous on the Rio Grande, | 
*Vasey, Agric. Grasses of U.S., 2d Ed., 60. Coulter, Contrib, U.S. Nat. 
Herb., ii, 58. ead . gees: 
