.^rowing only two or three inches liigh. The hitter's resem- 

 blance to eastern holly is more particularly in the stiff, smooth 

 leaves with prickly edges. "The effect of the whole plant is of 

 a little sprig stuck in tlie sand." Atriplex hymenelytra grows 

 to a bush over two feet high, and two or three feet across, with- 

 out the sharp points on the leaves. 



It is found sparsely in central and western San liernardintj 

 County, California, and more abundantly in Arizona and New 

 Mexico. An isolated patch grows northeast of Bryman Station 

 on the ]\rojave River, on the lower southern slopes of three high 

 buttes. The soil is granite in all stages of disintegration, from 

 large boulders to fine dust, but the plants do not grow in the 

 loose earth. They are hard to dig u]) because the stems, 

 branches and roots are very brittle, and the latter are covered 

 by, and twist around large stones, but do not go down much 

 over two feet, as there is no underground moisture, and the 

 rainfall is only six to eight inches. It is difficult to tell in a 

 plant that has been washed free from earth where the stalk 

 ends and the roots begin, for the external structure and appear- 

 ance are almost identical. They are woody, fibrous and gnarled, 

 reminding one of the dwarfed and deformed trees of the Japan- 

 ese gardener. 



Desert holly is becoming better known not only in the 

 Southland, but in the east as well. There is an insistent de- 

 mand for it from the florists at Christmas, and a clip])ing from a 

 Chicago paper, last December, stated that the very latest style 

 in doing up Holiday packages was to tie to them a tiny spray 

 of "California white holly." It is not of rapid growth, for it 

 has to fight for its very life, and though now rather plentiful, a 

 few seasons of popularity will exterminate it, except in rough, 

 inaccessible spots. 



Its right to be called 1k)11}' at all is only from the curly 

 leaves which look spiked on the edges, but are not so. During 

 the late winter and spring they are soft and velvety, somewhat 

 succulent and salty, of a lovely Avhitish-gray color underlaid with 

 a tinge of greeny-lavender. From May to January they grad- 

 ually dry out. so that by Christmas the greenish hue is gone, and 

 the name "Ghost Holly" is entirely appropriate. In the early 

 stage it is like Dusty r^Iiller, and in the later, like Edelweiss. 



The plant puts out its new growth from January to May, 

 when the underlying green of leaves and small stems is very 

 pronounced. But in addition, the tiny new leaf and flower 

 buds, are alternate, growing to an inch across and three-quar- 

 ters of an inch in length, the main veins pronoimced. the fine 

 ones not visible without a magnifying-glass. 



The flowers are dioecious, very minute, growing close to 

 the stalk at the base of the leaves, in clusters of a cerise, 



38 



