360 



A BOTANICAL ACCOUNT OF CALIFORNIA. 



miles, where he is established with two of 

 his countrymen in raising grain and rearing 

 horses and cattle. The face of the country 



about Sonoma and San Miguel is perfectly 

 level towards the bay, and capable of greal 

 agricultural improvements. Several spe- 

 cies of oak (Quercus) thrive well in the 

 fine black vegetable mould, and are dis- 

 posed into large irregular clumps, giving 

 the country the appearance of an immense 

 park, enlivened by numerous herds of elks 

 and antelopes. A ridge of mountains which 

 rises at a short distance from San Miguel 

 is thinly scattered over with oaks, and a 

 few Abies Douglasii interspersed. No other 

 kinds of pine occur here. In the shaded 

 dells I found a Viburnum, Euonymus, and 

 a large leaved Calycanthus in seed. 



From San Miguel I went to Bodega, 

 where the Russians a few years back had 

 an establishment granted them by the Mexi- 

 can government, in order to supply their 

 possessions in the north with wheat, &c. 

 When their term expired, it was purchased 

 by Captain S , an American, who erect- 

 ed a steam saw-mill there, for which the 

 redwood trees that cover the mountains 

 supply him amply with material. This is 

 the most northern limit of this magnificent 

 tree, growing at intervals from the latitude 

 of 32 3 N. up to the River Ross in 38° 15'. 

 From Bodega I returned by way of San 

 Rafael to Sausalito, passing over a beauti- 

 fully undulated prairie, destitute of water 

 or trees. On October the 7th I returned to 

 Monterey. 



With the beginning of November the 

 periodical rains have set in ; they are un- 

 accompanied by thunder, but continue for 

 several days without intermission, and ter- 

 minate by the end of March. The heavi- 

 est fall of rain occurs in January and Feb- 

 ruary. Judging from the quantity that 

 fell up to the middle of December, it would 

 seem that the rains will be more abundant 

 than for some years past. El Toro, which 

 lies due east of Monterey, has already been 

 twice covered with snow, but it soon disap- 

 peared again. The rainy days are suc- 

 ceeded by frosty mornings, but the cold is 

 seldom so intense as to freeze water. The 

 thennometer, which ranges in Monterey 

 during the summer months from 62° to 65° of 

 Fahr., is now from 50° to 55° during the day. 



With January the rains set in unusually 

 severe ; the Salinas and other rivers, which 

 are fordable during ordinary seasons, have 

 now become impassable. The first indica- 

 tions of the returning spring I observed in 

 the flowering of Garrya elliptica, Berberis 

 Aquifolium, Ribes speciosum, R. malvace- 

 mn, some Arctostaphylos, a Vaccinium, a 

 dwarf shrubby Rrunus, with white pendu- 

 lous flowers, and an Ornithogalum. 



When the weather permitted it, I con- 

 tinued my rambles on foot in the mountains 

 of Monterey, and discovered on the western 

 declivity, within two miles of the sea shore, 

 a species of pine which I had not found 

 previously. The leaves are two in sheath, 

 three to five inches long; cones in clusters 

 of four to seven, oval, three inches long by 

 two broad, of a reddish brown before they 

 are perfectly ripe, then changing into light 

 brown; scales pyramidal, terminating in 

 an ash-gray sharp point. The trees attain 

 no great elevation, averaging twenty feet, 

 rarely thirty, with a stem of twelve inches 

 in diameter; they are confined to half a 

 square mile, and like P. insignis, by which 

 they are surrounded on all sides, thrive in 

 coarsely decomposed granite. This spe- 

 cies, which appears to be new, I have. 

 named, in compliment to Thomas Edgar, 

 Esq., the society's treasurer, Pinus Edgari- 

 ana. In the same locality with the above 

 pine, I observed a cypress (Cypressus) with 

 smaller cones than C. macrocarpa, of which 

 it seems more than a variety, being a stunt- 

 ed shrub six or ten feet high. 



Returning by a different route, through 

 a thick brushwood of Arctostaphylos and 

 Ceanothus, I found on the steep acclivity, 

 in a shaded dell, a Rhododendron, without 

 seeds or flowers, forming a shrub five feet 

 high, well beset with flower buds, and Cas- 

 tanea chrysophylla* in the same condition; 

 this evergreen chestnut forms a shrub three 

 to eight feet high, of a pyramidal shape, 

 with persistent lanceolate leaves, green 

 above, and of a rich golden yellow below. 

 From its situation, and habit in general, it 

 may be expected, if I am fortunate enough 

 to introduce it, to withstand the ordinary 

 winters about the neighborhood of London, 

 since it is known from experience, that 



* What w;us culled so formerly is a different species of Cas- 

 tiinea. 



