otherwise unknown south of the Santa Lucia mountains, nor 

 in other directions nearer than the mountains of Arizona, 

 so that it is separated by hundreds of miles from any con- 

 generic species. 



F'ollowing- the road, as it leaves Cottonwood Station and 

 climbs the Potrero Grade up the flank of Tecate, the first 

 Cypresses are seen about a mile and a half above the cross- 

 ing, and at an altitude of about 1,100 feet. They are few in 

 numl^er, and are scattered among the Oaks and Sycamores 

 which scantily fringe the ravine of Potrero Creek. Presently 

 they appear on the right among the rocks filling the bottoms 

 of the steep and narrow gulches which seam the side of Te- 

 cate. They are scattered here at intervals, mostly in small 

 clusters, and do not in the least tend to extend up the banks. 



The whole side of the mountain is densely overgrown 

 with a mixed chaparral, in which no one species predominates. 

 Into its composition enter Rhus ovata, Arctostaphylos bicolor, 

 Prunus ilicifolia, Rhamnus ilicifolia, Adenostoma fasciculatum, 

 Heteromeles arbutifolia, Cercocarpus betulifolius. Clematis 

 pauciflora, Hazardia squarrosa, Ceanothus sp. and Lonicera 

 sp. Quercus dumosa, which at somewhat higher altitudes is 

 often almost the exclusive chaparral shrub, is very sparingly 

 represented, but by individuals presenting the diverse forms 

 of leaf and acorn common in this species. The subordinate 

 vegetation includes Helianthemum scoDarium, Artemesia 

 californica, Diplacus puniceus, Gutierrezia sarothrae. Salvia 

 californica, Dicentra chrysantha, Convolvulus occidentalis, 

 Gnaphalium californicum, Stet)hanomeria virgata and a varie- 

 tv of annual grasses and other herbs, unrecognized in their 

 dry and broken remains. 



As it grows in these gulches the Cypress is a slender tree, 

 at most 20 feet in height, but all the individuals, even the 

 smaller, have the appearance of small trees rather than of 

 large shrubs. They present an aspect of adolescent vigor, 

 but no seedlings, or very young specimens, were seen, nor, 

 on the other hand, any which might be termed aged, nor 

 were there remains of old trees to be found. But I am in- 

 formed by Ad^r. Frank Stephens that on the summit of Tecate 

 there are several hundred trees, some of which appear of 

 great age. They are bent and scraggy, as is usual on wind- 

 swept heights, but while they do not exceed 25 feet in height 

 they are said to have trunks two and three feet in diameter. 

 It was with regret that I found mvself unable to visit these 

 trees, but the summit of Tecate is practically inaccessible 

 from the American side, by reason of its steepness, and of 

 the dense chaparral which covers it. On the Mexican side 

 it may be reached by a trail from the hamlet of Tecate, but 

 there are political as well as physical obstacles in the way 

 of this ascent. 



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