A BOTANICAL ACCOUNT OF CALIFORNIA. 



[We borrow the following article from the 

 Journal of the Horticultural Society of Lon- 

 lon. It was written by Mr. Haktweg, a 

 botanical collector, employed by the society 

 to explore Mexico and the coast of the Pa- 

 cific some time ago. His journey in Cali- 

 fornia took place in 1846; and he wandered 

 through the valley of the Sacramento with- 

 out a dream of the wonderful changes 

 which a couple of years would make in the 

 destiny and appearance of that country. 



Of the beautiful California Horse Chest- 

 nut and the Evergreen Oak, described by 

 Mr. H., we trust some of our California 

 adventurers, returning home, will bring 

 pockets full of seeds, that a trial may be 

 made of their fitness for adorning pleasure- 

 grounds here. Ed.] 



I left Mazatlan on the 11th of May, and 

 arrived at Monterey on the 7th of June, 

 after a passage of twenty-six days. 



The verdant fields and pine-covered 

 range of mountains at the back of the 

 town form a pleasing contrast to the dried- 

 up vegetation about Mazatlan. The pre- 

 dominating trees are an evergreen oak 

 (Quercus californica,) forming a tree thirty 

 feet high, with a globular crown, and 

 having the branches much distorted. It 

 occurs principally in low but dry situations. 

 The higher parts are occupied by Pinus in- 

 signis, a tree 60 to 100 feet high, with a 

 stem of two to four feet in diameter. This 

 species is liable to vary much in the size 

 of the leaves (which stand in threes) and 

 in the cones, according to local circumstan- 

 ces. In close woods, a mile or two from 

 the sea-shore, at an elevation of 200 to TOO 

 feet, the leaves usually measure four and a 

 half to five and a half inches, and cones 

 four to four and a half inches in length by 

 two and a half broad ; towards the beach, 

 where the trees arc mostly one-sided — a de- 

 fect caused by northwest winds, Avhich blow 

 for the greater part of the year — hot b leaves 

 and cones diminish in size. These differ- 



. which are too insignificant to estab- 

 lish even varieties of Finns insignis, have 

 given rise to the names Finns tuburculata 

 and radiata, which were, according to Lou- 

 don, collected by the late Dr. Coulter near 

 the sea-shore at Monterey ; that locality, no 

 doubt, is Point Pinos, as it is the only habi- 

 tat near Monterey where pines grow close 

 to the beach ; it is at the same time the 

 place where I made the foregoing observa- 

 tions. In all situations the cones grow 

 three or four together in a cluster, remain- 

 ing on the trees several years after shed- 

 ding the seeds ; are pendulous, with the 

 apex somewhat recurved; deformed, that 

 is, the scales on one side are more developed 

 than on the other, and enclose two winged 

 seeds under each scale. The cones are 

 about eighteen to twenty-four months in 

 ripening. 



On the dry banks of ravines, to the north- 

 east of the town, the Californian horse 

 chestnut (Pavia californica,) is common. 

 This extremely ornamental shrub or low 

 tree rises to the height of twenty-five feet, 

 is of a globular shape, and produces its fra- 

 grant whitish flowers of a delicate pink 

 hue in great abundance on spikes twelve 

 inches long; one of these spikes, which I 

 had the curiosity to count, had more than 

 400 open flowers and buds upon it. Of 

 shrubs I observed Ceanothus thyrsiflorus 

 very common in the pine woods, and form- 

 ing an evergreen shrub ten to fifteen feet 

 high; a Sambucus, Lonicera racemosa, 

 Spiraea ariasfolia, Ehus, 3 sp., Caprifolium 

 Douglasii, a Diplacus, Garrya elliptica, a 

 Eosa, Lupinus arboreus and ornatus; Eibes 

 speciosum and malvaceum ; Adenostoma 

 fasciculata, a neat little evergreen shrub 

 allied to Spiraea ; Arctostaphylos, 3 sp., a 

 Vaccinium, Gaultheria Shallon, an ever- 

 green Prunus resembling the Portugal Lau- 

 rel. Of annuals and perennials, a Huge- 

 lia, Delphinium, 3 sp., Leptosiphon andro- 

 saceus and densiflnrus ; Collinsia bicolor, a 

 Convolvulus, a Malva, Lupinus succulen- 

 tus and densiflorus ; a Castilleja, an O2no- 

 thera, a Chironia. Of bulbs, Calochortus 

 luteus, Cyclobothra alba, Brodiaa congesta, 



