B4c co^tRimfTions to western botany no. is 



truly Tropical plants. So they must either discard this plant as a zonal 

 gEifde, and do this arbitrarily, and without ecological reason, or change 



things?" 



done, which is the better way. 

 Now the practical man will ask, "What is the use in scrapping over these 



importance to 



know what life zone you are in if you are to try to breed plants. Mil- 

 lions could have been saved had people known what I know now about 

 life zones. But they went ahead and tried to grow plants that were not 

 '.vdapted to and could not endure the conditions. In addition their tlr> 

 on'es led them to suppose that certain desirable plants, such as dates, 

 could not be grown in certain areas because of extreme aridity, when a 

 very meager idea of zonal conditions would have told them tliat' dates can 

 be grown wherever the giant cactus grows, or the ochotilla. This ali^o 

 applies to the fig, sweet potato and the palms. Brandegee In discussing 

 the distribution of the flora of Lower California trie's to separate the 

 t'tjlr Tropical from other zones by geographical limitations, and the 

 :ittempt falls flat. Goldman also does the same in discussing tlie areas of 

 the Cape region. The attempt to keep up spurious limitations of Merriam 

 leads him into all sorts of confusion. If there were any particular Siig- 

 liificance in the limitations proposed by Goldman and Brandegee the same 

 things would be observed on the mainland eastward on the other side of 

 the gulf, but they do not exist there. There is no place from Nogales 

 ^OlIthward where you can put your finger and say "Here is one zone^'and 

 there is another" and reinforce the 'statement by citing the plants erowin;/ 

 in tho=e areas. The giant cactuses Ceresus titan., C. calvus, C. Pringlei 

 grow indifferently throughout the region from the Cape region to Guayma.s 

 and though there is a marked difference in the flora the 'feathering out is 

 io gradual that no limitations can be found. The peculiar flora of cen- 

 tral Lower California is due to the isolation in recent geological timc> 

 ratlier than to any zonal causes. And the 'strange forms are manifestly 

 developments of indigenous plants, such as Idria columnaris, which is 

 nothing but a peculiar Fouquieria, Yucca valida is nothing but a form of 

 • austrahs. There are, however, a number of species that have reached 

 such fixity as to deserve reco.gnition, such as certain Rhammaceae, Bur- 

 .-eraceae, Euphorbias, etc. The giant cactuses, so far as I can discern, 

 •■ belong to one specimen of Cereus such as C. cahois, Tringlei, Titan, 

 s is afeo true of the Washingtonias, all modifications of W. fllifera. 



all 



...V ^.j....a:, :>ccui Lo uiviae into tnree lairly well differentiated species, 

 such as the green edulis, the blue armata and the pipestem-leaved Brande- 

 ge, all genencally different from Washingtonia filifera. In the southern 

 half of the peninsula the only Yucca is australis. The Agaves are still 



fln/^ "^^^A-""^. confusion, as are the oaks, because the species are 

 founded on individual herbarium material mostly, by men who do not 

 know what a species is. 



Unn.'^f'lt '' ^° ^°"^t ^^^^ the Laguna mountains, which form the back- 

 bone of the southern end of the peninsula, actually extend up and out of 



^.lT3' f^ to their actual sun^its. But up to the present time no 

 r'^al study of zonal conditions has been made in them. In addition there 

 has arisen much confusion a-5 to what are their limtalions. The term 



