36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY 



VI. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN BOTANY. 



By Sereno Watson. 

 Presented October 10, 1888. 



1. Upon a Collection of Plants made hy Dr. E. Palmer., in 

 1887, about Quaymas., Mexico., at Mideje and Los Angeles Bay 

 in Lower California, and on the Island of San Pedro Martin 

 in the Gulf of California. 



The peninsula of Lower California and that portion of the Mexi- 

 can-mainland which borders the intervening Gulf, though reputed a 

 sterile land, have always wherever they have been explored yielded 

 a rich harvest of novelties to the botanical collector. Much therefore 

 was expected from so keen and careful a collector as Dr. Palmer, when 

 he undertook to spend a season at Guaymas, and from that point to 

 explore such other places as might be accessible to him. Though the 

 season of 1887 proved very unfavorable on account of its dryness, 

 the result has nevertheless been very satisfactory. Of the 415 native 

 species collected, 89 species, or more than one fifth, are wholly new, 

 and many others are of great interest in various respects. 



The larger part of the collection was made about Guaymas itself, 

 which town lies on the eastern side of the Gulf of California, in the 

 State of Sonora, in lat. 28° N., and 250 miles south of the United 

 States boundary. It is hemmed in closely by very rocky hills and low 

 mountains (of 1200 to 1500 feet altitude), intersected by narrow val- 

 leys. The artificially watered gardens, with their irrigating ditches and 

 brush fences, protecting and favoring the growth of numerous native 

 plants, the rocky islands in the harbor, and the valleys and mountains 

 around, were all alike searched. Dr. Palmer remained here from the 

 middle of June to the middle of November, during which time there 

 were only occasional slight showers, which commenced in August. 

 The species obtained here numbered 283, of which 40 were also 



