FLORA OF HUMBOLDT, TRINITY AND SHASTA. 185 



The diversity of soil and climatic conditions thus presented 

 was exceedingly great and was well illustrated by tlie various 

 distinct floras encountered. 



The region about Humboldt-Bay lies in the very heart of 

 the redwood-belt, which is here nearly twenty miles in width 

 and has already been pierced through by the ever advancing 

 encroachments of the logging camps, though a few tracts of 

 virgin forest still remain within a short distance of Eureka. 

 An annual rainfall^ that often exceeds fifty inches, and the 

 prevalence of heavy ocean-fogs, present favorable conditions 

 for the development of coniferous trees, and besides the 

 luxuriant growth of redwoods, that give prosperity to the 

 coiinty, are found splendid examples of Pseudoisiiga faxifolia, 

 Abies grandis, Picea SUchensis, Tsuga AferteTisiana, and 

 more rarely Chamcecyparis Laicsoniana and Taxus hrevi- 

 folia. Of all these none exceed in symmetry of form and 

 beauty of foliage the " tide-land spruce, " Picea Sitchensis. 

 Beneath the dense sliade of these trees is found that assem- 

 blage of more humble plants so distinctively characteristic of 

 the redwood-belt. Some of the more striking features of this 

 are^tangled growths of Puhiis speciahilis, Brossa'a ShaUoni 

 Bei'heris nervosa, Vaccininm p ami folium and Rliododen- 

 dron Californicnm, great matted clumps of Lomaria spicanf, 

 Aspidiiim mnnitum and A. spinulosum var. dilataiiim, and 

 nearer the stream-margins a great abundance of saxifra- 

 gaceous plants, representing the genera Heuchera, Therofon, 

 Tiarella^Mitella a,ud Whipplea. Beneath all is found a verdant 

 carpet of Oxalis Oregana frequently interspersed with such 

 plants as Anemone deltoidea, Vancouveria parviflora, Car- 

 damine Breioeri, Viola sarmeniosa, Loins crassifolius, 

 Scoliopiis Bigelovii, Clintonia Andreicsiana, Maianihemum 

 hifolinm, and Aclilys iriphylla. 



As one passes inland^ the redwood gradually gives place to 

 the Douglas spruce, the tan-bark oak and the madrono, and 

 when one reaches the so-called "prairies" almost the only 

 trees to be met with are occasional specimens of the Kellogg 

 oak, though in the river-bottoms many of the common trees 



