A BOTANICAL ACCOUNT OF CALIFORNIA 



359 



Of shrubs, a half-climbing Caprifc- 

 lium, with small dingy flowers; a Clema- 

 tis, a species of Cercocarpus, and on rocky 

 ground, a patch of Berberis Aquifolium. 



The sides of the mountains, which attain no 

 great elevation, arc thinly covered with 

 oaks. The higher parts, near the Rancho 

 de Tularcitos, are occupied by Pinus ma- 

 crocarpa, which rise to the height of eighty 

 to a hundred feet, with a stem of six to 

 eight feet in circumference. The larger 

 trees had not yet ripened their cones, but 

 the smaller ones, of twenty to thirty years' 

 growth, ripen theirs at different periods, 

 and furnished me with a few cones. On 

 my return thence, over El Toro, a high 

 mountain, destitute of trees or shrubs, but 

 thickly covered with wild oats (Avenae spe- 

 cies,) I found, on the north side, in a ravine, 

 a few small trees of Pinus Sabiniana, the 

 highest of them not exceeding thirty feet. 

 In this situation they appear to produce 

 their cones when yet very young. Some 

 trees, measuring from eight to ten feet in 

 height, and of as many years' growth, had 

 cones on them, which, like the foregoing 

 species, seem to ripen about November. 



On August the 23d, I embarked on board 

 the bark Joven Guipuzcoana, whose owner, 

 Don Jos'' Antonio Aguirre, invited me to 

 take a trip with him up to the Bay of San 

 Francisco. On the following day Ave an- 

 chored off Santa Cruz, where the ship was 

 to remain a day or two. I took advantage 

 of this delay, and made an excursion to the 

 mountains, in a different direction from that 

 visited before. Passing through a copse 

 wood, composed chiefly of Pavia californi- 

 ca, Quercus californica, Ceanothus thyrsi- 

 fiorus, a Corylus, Rhus viride, called Ye- 

 dra, and justly dreaded by the inhabitants 

 for its poisonous properties, I entered a 

 beautiful pine wood. The leaves of this 

 species of pine stand in threes; are longer 

 than the cones, usually eleven inches in 

 length; cones five inches long, by two and 

 a half at the broadest part, of a reddish 

 brown, the centre of the scales terminating 

 in a small sharp point, bent downwards. 

 The trees rise to the height of a hundred 

 feet, with a stem three to four feet in di- 

 ameter, producing the cones in clusters of 

 three or four, which ripen towards Septem- 

 ber, or in about ei^ht months from the time 



of flowering. This handsome speci 

 pine, which appears to be new, I have 

 named, in compliment to the late secretary 

 of the society, George Bentham, Esq., Pi- 

 ous Benthamiana. 



Another kind of pine that 1 found within 

 a few hundred yards of the foregoing spe- 

 cies is, probably, the doubtful and little 

 known Pinus californica; the trees seem to 

 be of slow growth, and do not attain any 

 great height, seldom more than twenty-five 

 feet by eight inches in diameter. The 

 leaves are in bundles of three, four and a 

 half inches long; cones, five to five and a 

 half inches long by two broad, the outer 

 surface curved, the inner straight, scales on 

 the outer surface more developed, enclosing 

 two small, flat, winged seeds. The cones 

 are only produced on the main stem ; when 

 ripe, they are of a light brown colour, and 

 stand off at nearly a right angle ; when old, 

 of a silvery grey, pressing firmly upon the 

 stem, and remain on the trees for a series 

 of years without opening or shedding their 

 seeds. 



On August the 23th, the bark got under 

 weigh for Ycrba Buena. The whole of the 

 coast is destitute of trees or shrubs, with 

 the exception of Point Ano Nuevo, where 

 some pines or cypresses seem to grow. On 

 September the 2d, we were opposite the 

 narrow but safe entrance to the bay of San 

 Francisco ; a large inland sea, divided into 

 several branches, forming not only the prin- 

 cipal port in California, but the largest and 

 safest on the whole western coast of Ameri- 

 ca. About noon we anchored off Ycrba 

 Buena, a small town, rising rapidly in im- 

 portance. 



The vegetation about Yerba Buena is 

 poor ; the sand hills that surround the town, 

 and which extend for several miles into the 

 interior, are but thinly covered with brush- 

 wood of oak, (Quercus californica, Ceano- 

 thus thyrsiflorus, Rhus, " Toyon," a Pru- 

 nus, and a Baccharis.) 



On September the 10th, I went across 

 the bay to Sausalito. Early the following 

 morning, we were joined at the mission of 

 San Rafael, by General Vallejo. After en- 

 joying the hospitable board of General Val- 

 lejo for three days, I left my companions 



and proceeded with F , an Englishman, 



to his farm at San Miguel, distant thirty 



