35S 



A BOTANICAL ACCOUNT OF CALIFORNIA. 



Calliprora flava, Hesperoscordum lacteum, 



and a Zyyadenus called Amole, of which 

 the bruised roots serve as a substitute for 

 soap. 



On June the 22d I left Monterey for the 

 mission of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz is 

 across the bay, due north, of Monterey, and 

 at a distance of sixty miles by land, whilst 

 by water it does not exceed twenty-five 

 miles. Passing along the sea-shore over 

 the plains, which present the same vegeta- 

 tion as about Monterey, we arrived in the 

 afternoon at the mission, after a gallop of 

 seven hours. The mountains of Santa 

 Cruz are well wooded with Taxodium sem- 

 pervirens, called by the American settlers 

 redwood or bastard cedar. In close forests 

 it grows to an enormous size, averaging 

 200 feet in height, with a stem of six to 

 eight feet in diameter, which is as straight 

 as an arrow, and clear of branches up to 

 sixty or seventy feet. One tree, that is 

 termed by the Americans " the giant of the 

 forest," is 270 feet high, with a stem mea- 

 suring fifty-five feet in circumference at six 

 feet from the ground. The bark of the 

 redwood is from six to twelve inches thick, 

 reddish and smooth ; the timber is of a 

 beautiful red colour, like pencil wood, fine, 

 close grained, light, but brittle ; it is well 

 adapted for in and out door work, as the 

 boards when seasoned do not warp, nor is 

 it attacked by insects. Large quantities of 

 timber are annually exported to the Sand- 

 wich Islands ; 1,000 feet of one-inch boards, 

 delivered on the beach at Santa Cruz, are 

 worth 81. Some fine trees of Abies Dou- 

 glasii are found in the mountains of Santa 

 Cruz; they do not form masses of them- 

 selves, but are thinly scattered among the 

 redwood trees, with which they vie in size. 

 The mountain oak (Castanea chrysophylla ?) 

 also occurs here, forming a tree fifty feet 

 high ; of a pyramidal shape, with persis- 

 tent lanceolate leaves four inches long, ser- 

 rulate on the margin ; below they are 

 covered with a rusty, yellowish down, which 

 in the young leaves also covers the upper 

 surface. The fructiferous catkins are pro- 

 duced on the points of last year's wood, and 

 do not exceed two inches in length, whilst 

 the catkins on the young wood are from 

 four to five inches long, and sterile. The 

 nuts, or rather acorns, are covered, in an 



unripe state, with down, and enclosed in 

 an open cup, which on the outside is 

 clothed with coarse scaly hairs. The moun- 

 tain oak grows invariably in close shaded 

 woods, and seems to be widely dispersed 

 over the country west of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Some Indian tribes eat the acorns 

 either raw, or make a sort of bread of them. 

 On the outskirts of the woods I observed 

 Arbutus procera fifty feet high ; a Laura- 

 ceous tree with linear light green leaves of 

 nearly the same dimensions; two species 

 of Ceanothus ; a Corylus, a Spiraea, a So- 

 lanum, and Zauschneria, the latter with 

 scarlet flowers like a Fuchsia. 



On July the 2d I returned to Monterey. 

 The few days of absence produced a great 

 change even in the vegetation ; the fields 

 and woods, which before were covered with 

 flowers, are now gradually drying up, from 

 the total absence of rain during the sum- 

 mer months ; even the bulbous plants had, 

 during that time, shed their flowers and 

 ripened their seeds. Crossing the wooded 

 heights near Monterey, I arrived at Carmel 

 Bay, after an easy walk of two hours ; 

 here I found a Diervilla, Cupressus marcro- 

 carpa, attaining the height of sixty feet, 

 and a stem Qf nine feet in circumference, 

 with far spreading branches, flat at the top, 

 like a full grown Cedar of Lebanon, which 

 it closely resembles at a distance ; Esch- 

 scholtzia crocea, E. californica, Platyste- 

 mon californicum, a scarlet Castilleja, a 

 Mesembryanthemum, resembling M. rubro- 

 cinctum ; a Cheiranthus, Stenactis specio- 

 sa, an Echeveria, Abronia rosea, and A. 

 mellifera. These two species, the former 

 with pink, and the latter with orange flow- 

 ers, are spreading on the sands near the 

 sea shore, and delightfully scent the air 

 with their perfume towards evening. 



Another excursion, which I made to the 

 Rancho de Tularcitos, led over the mission 

 of Carmel. Following up the narrow val- 

 ley of the Carmel river, I entered a beauti- 

 ful wood of alders, willows, and plane-trees, 

 some of the latter attaining the height of 

 eighty feet, and twelve in circumference. 

 Of herbaceous plants, I observed two spe- 

 cies of Solidago, Mimulus cardinalis, a La- 

 biate plant, an Asclepias, an annual, with 

 an extremely powerful smell, which, if in- 

 haled in excess, produces bleeding at the 



