148 THE PLANT WOELD 



Briefer Articles 



THROUGH THE ARID LANDS OF THE SOUTHWEST. 



An erroneous impression often prevails that the deserts of the 

 Southwestern States, inhospitable though they be, are wholly desti- 

 tute of plant life. A glimpse of those arid wastes will correct this im- 

 pression wonderfully. It is true, however, that there are regions of arid 

 plains and barren mountains. The soil is of sand, encrusted with 

 alkali, and the mountains are rocky, bold and inhospitable, with miles 

 of disintegrated rock sloping away from their bases — wrenched and 

 worn by the action of the waves upon this prehistoric ocean shore. In 

 vain the moisture-laden clouds from the Pacific attempt to glide over the 

 snowy summits of the San Bernardino Mountains ; or, if they do suc- 

 ceed in their endeavor, they are generally dissipated into imperceptible 

 vapor by the intense heat of the sun. Strange, then, that not only do 

 plants grow there, but flowers bloom and forests dot the dreary wastes, 

 forming one of those queer paradoxes that are so hard to understand. 

 The grease-wood, a bush with minute leaves of a dull olive-green color, 

 grows in considerable abundance ; and a number of other pale sickly 

 looking plants spring mysteriously out of the sand. But the so-called 

 Yucca palms and the cacti are the most conspicuous and characteristic 

 plants of the desert ; and they are quite in keeping with their inhospi- 

 table surroundings by being well armed with spines, thorns, or barbs, 

 which make them wicked neighbors when one comes too closely in touch 

 with them. The Yucca palm, known also as the Joshua tree, is the most 

 conspicious growih on the Mojave Desert. It is a weird, fantastic form 

 growing to a height of fifteen to twenty feet, with long, stiff, bristling 

 green daggers all over its trunk and limbs in place of leaves, and with 

 its branches bent and twisted into strange shapes. Growing isolated 

 or in patches, this tree forms veritable forests in places. 



The countless species of cacti may also be found there, as well as 

 in the Colorado Desert, which, at Salton, the lowest point, is 263 feet 

 below sea level. The species of cacti known to the eastern collector as 

 potted plants, and of which he is very proud if their slow and prickly 

 growth assumes the size and proportions of a cocoanut, develop in the 

 Colorado Desert and in Arizona such wonderful growths as to compare 

 favorably with forest trees. 



Nature, it seems, intends that everything shall serve a purpose, and 

 though the cactus is a fierce and rebellious thing to handle, neverthe- 

 less, man has discovered a variety of uses to which it may be put. Rid- 



