146 ERYTHEA. 



twelve to fifteen feet high, and witli the trunk from six to eight 

 inches in diameter. It branches at four or six feet from the 

 ground and, apparently unable to bear its weight, bends forward, 

 while from the branches long shoots ascend, reminding one of the 

 peculiar growth of tlie elder. The bending and shooting are repeated 

 again and again ; meanwhile, it has turned to a neighboring shrub 

 (invariably Ceanothus cuneatus var. macrocarpus) and the new 

 branches and young shoots adapt themselves with the greatest 

 dexterity to the twists and turns of the Ceanothus, leading one to 

 suspect that prehensile branches have been given the Dendromecon, 

 because of necessity; for thus the weight of the branches are 

 borne by other trees and the trunk of the Dendromecon saved 

 from breaking. There are several fine Poppy trees which are lying 

 broken into a hundred pieces, having ci-ashed down at the falling of 

 their support — Ceanothus cuneatus. The Tree Poppy is very brittle ; 

 it is almost impossible to gather flower or pod without, splitting off 

 large branches. Ceanothus cuneatus, though tough when young, 

 grows brittle as it is gradually uprooted, and it is always being 

 washed out at the roots in the rains. Growing in dry, craggy 

 places, the Tree Poppy finds no better support than the little twisted 

 " White Lilac," so its fate can be readily perceived, and it is not 

 strange that in the length of the island it has been found in but 

 eight different localities. 



The writer is deeply indebted to Mrs. A. Wheeler, former resi- 

 dent amateur- botanist at Avalon, for information in regard to the 

 habitat of many of the island's rare plants, and to Miss Alice 

 Eastwood, Curator of the Herbarium of the California Academy of 

 Sciences, for the naming of many specimens. 



Santa Catalina Island, 1897. 



