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THE CONIFERS OF THE SA^TA LUCIA MOUNTAINS. 

 By Alice Eastwood. 



The Santa Lucia Mountains take their name from their highest 

 peak, wliich rises near tl)e middle of the chain in Monterey County 

 to an elevation of 6,100 feet. These mountains extend along the 

 coast of Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties from Monterey 

 Bay southward, parallel with the coast. South of San Simeon 

 Bay they trend towards the southeast, losing their identity in the 

 low hills of the Carisa Plain. From Pt. Sur to beyond Pt. Gorda 

 they present a precipitous front to the ocean, rising abruptly from 

 8,000 to 4,000 feet from the very edge of the ocean. Numerous 

 mountain streams come tumbling down through quickly descending 

 canons and widen them, delta-like, forming small tracts of compar- 

 atively level land. These little benches are very fertile and well 

 supplied with the purest water ; so that, in spite of their isolation 

 and limited area, they have been taken up by settlers, who are 

 known throughout the county as " The Coasters." 



These mountains are especially interesting to tlie botanist, since 

 they are the southern limit of the flora that follows Sequoia i^em- 

 pervirens and is so characteristic of the northern coast- forests. They 

 also contain species most abundantly represented in the Sierras, as 

 well as many peculiar to themselves. These different floras have 

 their representatives among the Coniferse, so that the distribution of 

 the Coniferre will indicate, somewhat, the distribution of the different 

 floras. 



Sequoia sempervirens and Pseudotsuga taxijolia are associated 

 together, as in the forests further north ; but the latter is not con- 

 fined to the coast canons, being found also within sight of the ocean 

 on the ridge above, near the Los Burros mine, and in other places 

 not visited by the writer. The redwoods scarcely venture above 

 the fog-line, which, in tliese steep mountains along the coast, is dis- 

 tinctly visible to the eye, as well as instantly perceptible to the 

 sense of feeling. They are rarely found outside of the canons, 

 since the steep slopes of the hills offer an environment that is too 

 dry. The soil is dry and the air also. It must not be thought that 



Erythea, Vol. V, No. 6 [30 June, 1897]. 



