1889.] NEW YOKE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 79 



distinct. Poas and SporoMus are also abundant, and it was 

 here, I think, that I collected Agropyrum Scribneri, Vasey. 

 Oxytropus LamUrti, Pursh, one of the'' Loco-weeds,'' is much 

 too abundant among these pastures. Two very handsome forms 

 of Senecio Fendleri, Gray, grow in dense tufts, afoot in diameter 

 and one to two feet high. In the same manner grow Bu^jJiorMa 

 Pringlei, Eng., and E. campestris, Ch. and Sch. A little swamp- 

 land near the mountain is filled with Salix rostrata, B.ich. The 

 herbage is closely cropped by the sheep, but we collect Ranun- 

 culus Hooheri, Kegel {R. cardioj^hyUus), Claijtonia 'perfoliata, 

 Don., and Geranium cmspitosum, James. Near the base of the 

 mountain is a ranche, tbe door-yard filled with a luxuriant 

 growth of Aster foUaceus, var. Burlcei, Gray — a rich and beauti- 

 ful aster, growing in large, loose clumps, with ascending stems 

 a foot or eighteen inches high. A mound of scoria in the 

 distance presents a golden surface of Helenium Hoopiesii, Gray. 



This exceedingly meagre outline of the flora of the San Fran- 

 cisco Mts. will apply generally to similar peaks scattered through 

 this forest. On Bill Williams' Mountain, however, situated 

 some fifty miles to the south-west, I collected quite a number of 

 additional species of interest. Among them were Heucliera 

 ruhescens, Torr. ; Pentstemon Bridgesii, Gray, Berber is repens, 

 Lindl., Potentilla rivalis, Nutt., var. inillegrana, W&ts., Mi^nu- 

 lus floribmuhis, Dough, Taraxacum, Aster jmticiflorus, Nntt, 

 Polygonum Bistorta, L., Smilacina sessiUfolia, Nutt., Disporum 

 tracliycarp'um, several Trifoliums and a Cimicifuga in flower 

 only, perhaps our G. racemosa, Nutt. 



Besides its mountain flora, the forest region has a distinct class 

 of plants characteristic of the dry, stony knolls, 100 to 150ft. 

 high, which abound there. Of such plants I collected Erigeron 

 flagellaris, Gray, several species of Muhlenberg ia, Mentzelia 

 IcBvicaulis, T. and G. (?), Si^lmralcea Emoryi, Torr._,_ and a 

 species which has been referred to StephanomeriaWrighfii, Gray, 

 but which I am persuaded is distinct from that species. S. 

 WrigJitii is characterized by great brittleness, with a weak, soft 

 root, while the specimens here referred to possessed stems almost 

 as tough as those of the flax, and long, tough, and hard roots. 



The timber, though heavy over the level portion, is not dense, 

 and the sharply stony surface is lightly and thinly carpeted with 

 forest grasses, chiefly Sporobolus of several species, with quanti- 

 ties of Muhlenbergia Wrightii, Vasey, here and there. Every- 

 where thickly sprinkled among the grasses are numerous flower- 

 ing species. Perhaps the most abundant plant throughout this 

 region is Pentstemon Unarioides, Gray, which displays a great 

 variety of forms. Other of the most characteristic species are 

 Oxalis decapMjlla, H. B. K., Astragalus Arizonicus, Gray, 



