CONSPICUOUS VEGETATION OF REGION 25 



one old tree of unusual height stands against the north 

 face of a cliff in the canyon about two miles below the 

 cave entrance. An hour's walk up the canyon would 

 have taken the Indians to plenty of these bountiful 

 nut-bearers, the sweet and delicious nuts of which fur- 

 nished an important part of their winter's food. 



Two small yellow pines in the mouth of Slaughter 

 Canyon have grown from seeds that drifted down from 

 the head of the canyon and here, two zones below their 

 real habitat, are conspicuous among the sotols, lechu- 

 guillas, and other Lower Sonoran plants. Many tall 

 trees are seen against the sky line at the head of the 

 canyon and beautiful groves of large trees are found 

 just over the main ridge of the mountains. 



The mesquite (Fig. 6), although generally considered 

 a tree, here on the dry plains grows mostly under- 

 ground, sending up branches from two to eight feet 

 high; but occasionally in the bottom of a gulch, where 

 its long roots can reach water, it develops into a real, 

 though small, tree with spreading top, its feathery 

 foliage, like delicate green ostrich plumes, reminding 

 one of the pepper trees along California sidewalks. 

 After a rain its yellow catkins burst out into fragrant 

 bloom and a little later long, mottled bean pods hang 

 from the branches, becoming sweet and sugary when 

 ripe, and yielding a rich food for stock. In former days 

 they formed also an important food for many southern 

 tribes of Indians. The little hard, smooth beans, 

 embedded in thick pods, when swallowed by stock are 

 neither broken nor digested, and so are widely sown 

 over the grazing areas. 



