82 S. B. PARISH 



CARRIZO CREEK 



Carrizo is the name used by the Spanish-speaking Califor- 

 nians for Phragmites communis, an occasional grass in wet alkaline 

 soils in the Colorado desert, but not seen along the wash to which 

 it gives a name. Emphatically Carrizo creek indicates that 

 part of the wash, 10 miles beyond Palm Springs, where by the 

 configuration of the bedrock the percolating water is brought 

 to the surface, giving rise to a large tract of damp ground, from 

 which drains a small stream of tepid and slightly alkaline water, 

 soon lost in the thirsty sands. The altitude is 600 feet above 

 sea level, and the place is easily identifiable with the "Ojo 

 Grande" of Emory's report. 



The damp soil is tainted with saline matter, and supports a 

 sod, mainly of Distichlis spicata, with a smaller percentage of 

 Juncus balticus. Where there are shallow pools they are filled 

 with Typha latifolia and Scirpus americanus, and about them 

 grow clumps of shrubby willows. In one of them some Chara 

 was present. In the dryer alkaline soil was the usual growth of 

 Isocoma, Suaeda and Atriplexes. 



In following the course of the wash from Palm Springs Agaves 

 are no longer seen beyond a point about half way to the marsh, 

 and at an altitude of about 800 feet. The mesas were sparsely 

 occupied by common desert shrubs, such as Larrea, Parosela 

 Emoryi and P. Schoitii, and the everpresent Atriplex canescens. 

 A less frequent shrub, Encelia fruitescens, abounded, growing 

 in a compact rounded form, 1-2 feet in diameter, densely leafy, 

 and projecting its solitary rayless flowers on short peduncles. 



SPLIT MOUNTAIN 



Below the Carrizo marshes the road passes over a rough mesa, 

 dotted at wide intervals by stunted Larreas and Atriplexes, re- 

 lieved by no occasional herb. On either hand are low ranges 

 of mountains of baked mud, deeply seamed and barren. The 

 bed of the wash occupies the middle ground, a wide sandy waste, 

 where an occasional Chilopsis or a Mesquite mound afforded 

 the only touch of verdure to relieve the lifeless scene. 



