- 
VOL. 11.] The Flora of Sonora, 345 
The cacti of the vicinity of Guaymas seem to have been somewhat 
neglected and are not noticed in the accounts of its flora. Of course 
they are difficult plants to make into botanical specimens, and disa- 
greeable to come in contact with, but some of them, when in bloom, 
are very attractive, and there is a species of Platopuntia, often grow- 
ing among nearly black rocks that contrast so strongly with its bright 
red joints as to make it seem from a distance like a mass of brilliantly 
colored flowers, in fact at first I made the boatman land me on the 
rocks, which I climbed, so as to be certain what it might be. This 
cactus is known as ‘‘durasnillas,”’ and a little village near Hermosillo 
that we visited later is named from it Las Durasnillas. A few plants 
of ascarlet-flowered cereus grow ona sandy island, and afterwards it 
was seen in abundance in the interior. 
Near the city and in many parts of Sonora, Cereus Schottii, which 
on the peninsula received not long ago the additional name C. 
Sargentianus, is common and assumes the various forms in which it 
grows on the peninsula of Lower California. The most distinct is 
the one in which the top bears spines similar to the lower part, and, 
although flower-bearing, large and old, entirely lacks those long 
white spines so characteristic of this species. 
Notwithstanding the adverse conditions, some of the well known 
plants of the Guaymas flora were in full bloom. ofmetsterta cras- 
sifolia blooms in the dry season, as does its near ally, H. fasciculata, 
of Cabo San Lucas, and was now crowned by its myriad of light-pink 
“flowers, and like its Lower Californian relative delights to grow on 
cliffs just beyond the reach of the ocean spray. Now and then a 
small tree of Guaiacum Coultert disdaining to follow the example of 
the other members of its species, covered its leafless branches with 
a mass of dark sky-blue flowers, and the brilliant effect of its erratic 
conduct was increased by the staidness of its surroundings, for it was 
a cloud of blue amongst a crowd of leafless grayish-brown bushes, 
resting on an ash-colored and baked adobe soil. 
Cesalpinia, Hyptis, Jacquinia, and other shrubs were evidently 
endeavoring to produce blossoms and fruit, but the drought was so 
excessive that only withered flowers were the result. That slender, 
drooping acacia, 4. Willardiana, full of flowers and ripe pods, was 
found to be abundant on rocky ledges west of the city, and again 
later I was pleased to see it growing on a rocky hill almost within 
the city limits of Hermosillo. 
