346 TJie Flora of Sonora. [zoe 



The street railway of Guaymas ends in a semi-public park, in which 

 grow two trees with willow-like leaves that would not be recognized 

 as belonging to the fig family by anyone knowing only the cultivated 

 figs of California. The owner says they were brought from below 

 San Bias, and Dr. Palmer says that at least one of them grows also 

 wild in the neighboring caiions. These two trees from which were 

 collected the typical specimens of Fiais fasciculata and F. Sonorcs^ 

 are separated by a short distance; one bears numerous aerial rootlets 

 and sends down to the earth roots from its branches; the other has 

 neither of these peculiarities, but, as F. Palnieri, of Lower Califor- 

 nia, sometimes produces an abundance of aerial rootlets, and more 

 often has none, their presence or absence cannot be considered a 

 specific character. The two trees of Guaymas bear a general re- 

 semblance to one another; the leaves are alike, and at the time I 

 thought they were one species, and afterwards was surprised to learn 

 from Dr. Palmer that they represented types of two distinct species. 

 Dr. Gustav Eisen, a well-known expert in fig culture, who has seen 

 these same two trees, thinks it possible that they may represent the 

 male and female forms of a single species, and says: '' F. fasciculata 

 possesses in the April crop of figs very few male flowers, about half 

 a dozen to each fig, and these male flowers are situated in the region 

 around the eye (osteolar region), and are not found dispersed among 

 the female and gall flowers lower down." 



Along the railway from Guaymas to Hermosillo and in the sur- 

 rounding region, one of the most abundant plants is the thorny bush, 

 or small tree, Olneya Tesota. At this time all its flowers were open, 

 and they were so numerous that horses and cattle become fat eating 

 them from the branches within reach, and from the ground where 

 they have fallen. 



The irrigated fields and gardens about Hermosillo were quite green 

 when compared with the surrounding country, and much vegetation 

 of interest was found, especially along the ditches and^-in the hedge 

 rows. The dry rocks and hills of course did not produce many 

 plants at this time of the year, but some collections of Perityle made 

 among them, and by Dr. Eisen at San Miguel de Horcasitas, gave 

 evidence that the awns of the pappus may be present or absent in 

 the same species. Hircea viacroptera, a perennial plant, very com- 

 mon in the vicinity of Hermosillo, does not seem to suffer from the 

 lack of moisture, for along the roads and in the very driest situations 



