PLANTS FROM BAJA CALIFORNIA. 141 



different colors are on different trees, and have no relation 

 to their sex. The calyx is usually of a deeper tint. — Mag- 

 dalena and Santa Margarita Islands, San Pablo, and north- 

 ward nearly to San Fernando. Known locally as " Copal- 

 quien." 



The genus differs from Rhus in its valvate sepals, accres- 

 cent petals and thin-walled fruit. It is a somewhat singular 

 circumstance, considering its wide distribution and the fact 

 that its bark is exported for tanning, that mature fruit is 

 still unknown. Only flowering specimens were to be found 

 from January to the end of April. On Magdalena Island, 

 early in January, some trees blossomed while in full leaf, 

 but all the flowers withered without forming fruit, and were 

 probably out of season. The figure in Bot. Sulpli. was 

 drawn from a branch blooming in this way. 



The first allusion to Veatchia of which I have any knowl- 

 edge is found in Mr. Hinds' introduction to the Botany^ of 

 the Sulphur, p. 5, where he says: '*I have also seen some 

 attempts at trees; imagine what the bones and muscles of 

 a giant would be distorted into three feet, such looked these 

 trees. Thf^y twisted and twirled, but coukl not assume the 

 erect position. Their diameters were far from inconsider- 

 able." 



The description given by Dr. John A. Yeatch* in the 



* "The Elephant Tree is one of the curiosities of Cerros Island. It derives 

 its name from the elephantine proportions of its sturdy, heavy looking trunk 

 and branches. The main trunk of a full-grown tree will probably average 

 TWO feet in diameter, the height being but little more, and often less than 

 the diameter. In some favorable situations I observed a few that reached 

 an elevation of six feet; this was, however, an unusual occurrence. The 

 trunk divides into several ponderous branches that shoot off horizontallj', and 

 are bent and contracted into grotesque resemblances of the flexed limbs of a 

 corpulent human being. These huge branches often terminate 'suddenly in 

 a few short twigs, covered with a profusion of red flowers, reminding one of 

 the proboscis of an elephant holding a nosegay. The resemblance is height- 

 ened by the peculiar brown, skin-like epidermis ihat forms the outer b^uk, 

 which splits and peels off annually, accommodating the increase of growth. 



