CHAPTER 3 



Conspicuous Vegetation of the Region 



trees 



To the tourist and the casual observer the country 

 about the Carlsbad Cavern might well seem treeless, 

 for one can sweep the circle of the horizon without recog- 

 nizing a tree head-high. The yuccas and sotols are 

 generally the tallest forms of vegetation in sight above 

 the rims of the canyons, unless with a field glass one 

 picks out the yellow pines on the Guadalupe Mountains, 

 or the slender lines of cottonwoods along the Pecos and 

 Black River valleys. The Guadalupe and Sacramento 

 mountains are more or less covered with cool, dark 

 evergreen forests. The desert cottonwoods, tall and 

 spreading, as they grow at Washington's ranch on the 

 banks of Black River might well inspire the soul of an 

 artist. Admitting these as real trees, let us follow the 

 rocky trail over the ridge to Oak Springs, from which 

 the patient burro brings daily loads of water to the cave 

 workers, for along the cool slope of the deep little can- 

 yon the April air is rich with fragrance of the Mexican 

 madrones, with their polished red boles, large evergreen 

 leaves, and masses of tiny bell-shaped flowers. They 

 belong higher up in the mountains, but come down on 

 cold canyon slopes even below the level of the cave 

 opening as round-topped trees twenty to forty feet 

 high. 



Several species of oaks, mainly the chestnut oak, 



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