TWO BOTANISTS IN NEW MEXICO. 

 Bj A. A. Heller. 



ONE day last winter while looking up the literature of a certain 

 group of plants, I came across the statement concerning a 

 newly described species, "that its home will be found among 

 the mountains back of Santa Fe, a region examined by Fend- 

 ler a half century ago, and totally neglected since his day." 



As the Southwest is a region of great botanical interest, the as- 

 surance that this particular region has not had its botanical harvest 

 reaped during the past fifty years, decided me to spend the summer 

 vacation there. Accordingly, early in May, Mrs. Heller and myself 

 started for the historic old town of Santa Fe, where we spent nine 

 weeks exploring the surrounding country within a radius of fifteen 

 miles, although several trips were made to points much more distant. 



Santa Fe lies in a shallow valley just below the point where the 

 creek of the same name cuts its way through the mountains, and has 

 an elevation of 7,200 feet. Northeast and east of the town are several 

 peaks which rise almost 5,000 feet higher, among which are " Baldy " 

 and " Lake Peak." Somewhere near the summit of the latter are sev- 

 eral small lakes, where Santa Fe creek rises. From these peaks the 

 mountains rapidly decrease in size, and end fourteen miles southeast 

 of Santa Fe. They are clothed with a scattered, stunted growth of 

 conifers, and at some places with oak and poplars. As a rule they are 

 barren and do not afford good collecting ground, except in a few 

 places where small streams trickle down. 



South and southwest of the town stretches an almost level plain, 

 bounded by a region of cinder cones and/' blow outs " on the west, 

 and on the south by mesa land. It is not good botanizing ground, 

 harboring nothing but a few species of cacti and a monotonous growth 

 of several species of Compositae. On the north and west, extend- 

 ing to the Rio Grande river, a distance of from eighteen to thirty 

 miles, is a succession of low, gravelly hills, the home of an interesting 

 and varied flora. The arborescent growth on these hills is represented 

 by two species of conifers, the Nut Pine or Pinon, here a low, spread- 

 ing bush, rarely over six feet in height, and a shrub Jimiper. Both 

 of these trees are the hosts of parasites, two species of Mistletoe, 

 and each unwelcome guest appears to stick religiously to its own 

 particular host, although the two species of trees often grow side by 

 side. 



In the open spaces between the scattered conifers, were blooming 

 several showy species, some of the first spring flowers. One was 



