Flora of Pasadena and Vicinity. 



By Alfred James McClatchie, A. M., 



Professor of Botany , Throop Polytechnic Institute. 



The list of plants that follows was compiled, not because it was sup- 

 posed that all of the plants growing about Pasadena were known, but be- 

 cause of the kind and urgent request made by Dr. Reid that I should 

 undertake the task. Our flora is too varied for one person to become 

 familiar with it during a three years' residence. The Hst simply includes 

 all that have been collected and identified up to the time of going to press ; 

 but each month adds several to the list, and will, undoubtedly, continue to 

 do so for some time 3'et. 



The region of which the plants are listed extends from the Lincoln 

 Park hills on the south to the summit of the range north of Pasadena, 

 designated by various names, but referred to in this list as the San Gabriel 

 mountains. On the west the region is bounded by the hills across the 

 Arroyo Seco and extends from there eastward to Sierra Madre and Santa 

 Anita. Thus it is about ten miles in extent north and south, and about six 

 miles east and west. The altitude at the southern limit is about 500 feet, 

 while the summit of the mountains varies from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. The 

 altitudes at the eastern and western boundaries are about the same. Hence 

 the region might be thought of in a general way as a surface having a 

 parabolic curve, one end resting against a range of low hills and the other 

 resting upon a support ten miles away and a mile higher. The western 

 edge of the region is traversed by the Arroyo Seco, whose precipitous banks 

 average about fifty feet in height. At the bottom flows a swift stream, not- 

 withstanding the fact that the name is the Spanish for " dry gorge." About 

 a mile south of Pasadena is the lip of the geological basin that has been 

 filled with soil for a site for our city. From this lip flow six nearly parallel 

 streams, each about one-fourth to one-half mile from the next. Along these 

 streams grow luxuriant forests of oak, sycamore, cottonwood, and alder, 

 among which great numbers of higher fungi flourish during the wet season, 

 and their waters abound in algae and other water plants. To this region 

 Dr. Reid and Mr. French have given the name Glacial Terrace. [See 

 page 574.] 



Between this lip and the foot of the mountains extends a sloping plain 

 which bore, when in its natural state, principally herbaceous plants and 

 small shrubs, some of which still remain scattered over the region. The 

 mountain region is traversed by two large canyons that begin near the 



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