MK. HARTWEG'S JOURXAL OF A MISSION TO CALIFORNIA. 221 



On the first evening we encamped under a large oak, near 

 Pine creek, a little mountain rivulet; liere I found Asagraea, 

 No. 273, Lychnis, No. 286, Umbellifera, No. 302, Triteleia, 

 No. 301, with a head of pink flowers supported on a twining 

 stem, five feet long ; in the creek Saxifragea, No. 296 ; of 

 shrubs and trees, Ceanotlius, No. 285, evergreen and deciduous 

 Oaks, and Pinus Sabiniana. This species of Pine, of which I 

 saw some small trees near Monterey last year, rise here to the 

 height of fifty or sixty feet, with a stem of six feet in circum- 

 ference, and possesses none of the regularity so characteristic of 

 the Pine tribe. The branches, which in other Pines stand in 

 whorls, are in this species quite irregular (except when young), 

 which, combined with the paucity of its partly bent down, 

 glaucous leaves, gives the tree a peculiar appearance. 



Early tlie following morning we ascended the gradual 

 acclivity, and passed through a brushwood entirely composed of 

 Ceanothus, No. 285. At noon we arrived at the edge of a noble 

 Pine forest ; a few moments' rest, during wliich one of our compa- 

 nions shot a deer, enabled me to collect Viola, No. 287, Erythro- 

 nium. No. 288, Prunus, No. 289, Lilium, No. 294, Cyclobothra, 

 No, 295. The species of Pine composing the forest is principally 

 Pinus Benthamiana, with a few trees of P. Lambertiana, Abies 

 nobilis, and a species of Thuja intermixed, No. 309, Ceanothus, 

 No. 284, spreading on the ground, and Cornus florida, No. 297, 

 Avere the only plants observed in the pinewoods. 



On our return through a steep ravine, I found a shrubby 

 Cercis, No. 282, with pink flowers, Prunus, No. 283, and again 

 Cyclobothra, No. 295. 



By the end of April the prairies in the Sacramento valley 

 assumed a diffigrent aspect ; two weeks ago they were a carpet 

 of flowers, which liave now disappeared, and a yellow, sickly 

 tino-e pervades the whole : such is the rapidity of vegetation 

 under the cloudless sky of a tropical sun. Bulbous plants now make 

 their appearance ; the most common being Triteleia laxa, which 

 not only grows in the open prairie, but also in the shaded and 

 damp lowlands ; a pure white variety of it I also found : it is, 

 however, by no means common. Calochortus, No. 306, is also 

 very frequent ; a whitish variety occurs occasionally along with 

 Brodisea congesta, B. No. 274, B. No. 326, Liliacea, No. 250, 

 and Liliacea, No. 300. 



Being now aware of the rapidity of Californian vegetation, I 

 lost no time in collecting such seeds as were worth taking, and 

 returned to my head-quarters bj^ the beginning of May. Most 

 kinds had, during the fortniglit 1 first saw them in flower, ripened 

 their seeds, and it was with difficulty I found a few grains of 



