262 Naturalized Plants. [ ZOE 
to AL. mutabile Haw.,* and subsequently, but still. questioningly, to 
M. dimidiatum Haw.,{ but is now united with 17. eguilaterale.t 
It is not uncommon along the coast southward as far at least as San 
Diego, and has been reported from the islands of Santa Cruz§ and 
San Miguel|| and from San Benito.** As seen on this coast, J/ 
@quilaterale has long, lax stems, which are prostrate on the sands, 
or pendant from the cliffs of the seashore. Its fleshy triquetrous 
leaves are from two to three inches long, and the showy red flower, 
an inch in diameter, is succeeded by an edible fruit which is some- 
times called “beach strawberry.”’ 
| The next species, JZ. crystallinum Linn., has its northern limit at 
Santa Barbara. It is the most abundant and widely spread of the 
three, its range being much greater than is indicated in systematic 
works. It has been collected on most of the coast islands,t} on some 
of which it forms the principal vegetation, and attains its greatest 
luxuriance, single plants frequently covering a circle six feet in di- 
ameter.{{ It is likewise common and abundant all along the coast 
down to the Mexican boundary, and on both sides of the Peninsula 
from San Quentin to Calamujuet and El Rosario.$§ In the neigh- 
borhood of San Diego it covers thousands of acres of saline soil, 
extending as far as ten miles back from the seashore. Here in wet 
seasons it emulates the luxuriance of the insular plants, some speci- 
mens attaining a diameter of three feet and producing leaves eight 
* “The species of this genus are so difficult to determine in the dried state that 
we are by no means certain this one is rightly named.” Torrey, Bot. Wilkes Ex., 
303+ : 
tPac. R. R. Rep., iv, 75; vi, 67. 
{Bot. Calif., i, 251. 
§Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad., ii, 399. 
Greene, Pitt., i, 88. : 
**Brandegee, Pl. Baj. Calif., 165. The southern limit of all the species is ill de- 
fined. That of two of them has been greatly extended by Mr. Brandegee in the 
above cited paper, and his more recent expeditions may be expected to throw still 
further light upon this and other interesting botanical problems. 
ttSan Miguel, Greene, Pitt., i, 82; Santa Cruz, Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad., ii, _ 
399; Guadalupe, Greene, 1. c. i, 223; Santa Catalina and San Clemente, Lyon, 
Bot. Gaz., xi, 333. . 
TfGreene, Pitt., l.c. 
§§Brandegee, 1. c. 
