BULLETIN 
OF THE 
TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. 
Vol. XVIII New York, November 15, 1891. (No. fl. 
Botany of the Marysville Buttes. 
By Wiis L. JEPSON. 
Almost in the center of the Sacramento Valley and on the 
level plain between the two great forks of the Sacramento River, 
the upper Sacramento and the Feather, lie the Marysville Buttes. 
Entirely isolated from either the Sierra Nevada or the Coast 
Range, rising abruptly on every side to a considerable elevation 
from the level plains, these mountains with their ragged summits 
and sharp slopes form a striking landmark visible from nearly 
every portion of the northern Sacramento Valley. 
I made my way to the Buttes by means of a river steamer. 
The banks of the stream were fringed with a dense growth of 
box elder, oak, willow, cottonwood and sycamore, with a thick 
undergrowth of Rudus, Vitis, Sambucus and Baccharis. An 
occasional break revealed the extensive tule swamps bordering 
the river for miles, all aglow with great patches of Cotu/a. It 
was as yet too early to expect much along the river banks and 
bottoms in the way of annual growths, the winter freshets having 
only lately receded. But on the plains around Yuba City there 
was plenty of vegetation and the flora appeared little different 
from that of the valley sixty miles below; the characteristic spring 
plants were there in abundance, lupines, clovers, larkspurs, butter- 
cups, Brodiczas, Tritelias, Layias, Eschscholtzias, Allocaryas and 
Orthocarpfi. ‘But the moment I reached the Buttes the flora to all 
appearances changed entirely. 
