128 THE PLANT WORLD 



scended, its gradual development in size and advancement, from the 

 shrub at the summit, whose red leaves were just bursting from the bud, 

 to the spreading tree of lower altitude, full-robed in green. We seemed 

 early for flowers, for none were seen that we cared to put in the press, 

 until the noon halt was reached. This we planned to make at a certain 

 little " flat," encircled by majestic trees, where an ice-cold spring watered 

 a tiny meadow, with banks of mosses and thick-standing ranks of " Indian 

 com " ( Veratrum). But we found the sylvan meadow trampled to dust, 

 and occupied by the riide cabins of woodmen, and all its noble trees felled 

 to the ground. A vicious little lumbering railway twisted everywhere, 

 and the whole country side was covered with the wreckage of the forest. 

 It was pleasant to know that most of the forest through which we had 

 passed is protected from a like destruction by the beneficent reservation 

 laws. 



So we drove on, and ate our lunch amid more prosaic surroundings, 

 under a clump of oaks overlooking the sawmill. A few flowers attracted 

 our attention, the most interesting being the mountain iris (/. Hartwegi 

 var.), which, unlike most of its family, is content to grow in dry soil. 



We were now at the rim of the range, which breaks with the greatest 

 abruptness to the valley below, all checkered with orchards and green 

 fields, while the road could be traced winding in mazy convolutions 

 down the mountain's flank. The horses were eager for home, which by 

 a mysterious instinct, they knew was near, and dashed merrily down 

 the curving path. 



The flora was too familiar to invite stoppages, but we interested 

 ourselves in noting the changes of vegetation as we descended. The 

 pines hardlj^ passed the summit, and the oaks, which now reached their 

 best development, soon after disappeared. They gave place to a chapparal, 

 in which Geanothus and Manzanitas abounded. Then came a narrow 

 belt of dwarf pines (P. tuherculata), none of them over fifteen feet high, 

 but all, even those no higher than three feet, bearing cones. These are 

 produced in verticels about the main stem, a new circlet each year, and 

 as they almost never open or drop off, an old tree is well burdened. 

 Below this the Chemiso (Adenostoma) is the prevailing shrub, while the 

 very lowes tslopesare covered with the white and black sages (Aiidibertia), 

 famous for yielding the most limpid and aromatic honey. 



And now, having descended 4,000 feet in the last two hours, we 

 round the last shoulder of the mountain, and at once find ourselves in 

 the orange groves of San Bernandine valley. 



