7^ 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN BOTANY NO. li 



founcf tHtir way into the hancL? of Dr. Kellopjg of San Francisco, who 

 publisher] them. Of late years Greene, Dr. Palmer, O^citt, myself, Prin- 

 gle, Purpus, Bhind^gee and varrous Government men have made extensive 

 —'''*-^'—' ''- Mexico, and tlie literature embodying the botanical results is 



^' - • • • - ' ' in Mexico was 



who made the 



coITe<tjons in 

 nither txtensiVe. 



Then came Pringle, a pririce of colTectors, 



but whose work as an explorer was much inferior to 

 Palmer's specimens were a disgrace to any botanist. 



ed to get together in a brochure on the 



Br:in<le]^'ee. 

 finest specimens, 

 thnt o-f BVandeetee, 



Recently S'tandley has attemp' 



Shntl»* and Trees 

 pHafion is 



Mexico 



and as a com- 



goodl 



But the great mass of herbaceous plants is yet to be 



many 



worked up. 



To give even « - — ^. ...^ ..^.,^ ...^,, ,,.,., ,,^,^ .^j^..^.^^ .„w — 



Mexfco would be out of the question here, for I am interf5ted only in the 

 northern flora, that bordering on our southern limits. 



Geologicairy the peninsula fs an upthrust caused by pressure from 



San Ta 



the east, 



formation 



raricre. California, to La Paz, Lower California, as is shown, by the 



I the form of inter- 

 san Pedro Martir ranj2;e, which extends 



sharp escarpment rising abruptly out of the Gulf, 

 njpfcd precipices farming 



from Alamo nearly to Muleje, and then again rises 

 Gft::»nta which extends some distance south of Loreto. 



rpment 



foTn.4 the backbone of the peninsula, and is triangular in cross section, 

 w:^h the western section sloping more gently toward the sea, and the crest 

 Tercbiiig 8,000 feet altitude on the park-like summit of the San Pedro 

 Mr^rtirs and" 6,000 feet altitude; in the Sierra Gipanta. Toward the sea at 

 the north there has been some crumpling of the sedimentaries into lower 



forminsi valleys between, but these val- 



which 



le 



v-^ 



cut 



flows, 



l>ecame less frequent as you go south in the interior, and u. .^l.^,... ^^- 

 entirely absent from Loreto to La Paz, leaving a vast plain rarely ele- 



rnast on tne 



vate<r over 1,000 feet above the sea. 



the immediate sea 



vv St from 



thrown up low voicaiuc ranges ol uplifted strata some 

 islands in the 



north of San Quentin bay to the Cape other orumpllng has 



of which form 



Natindad", 



sea, such 



Cedros, 



Santa Magdalena and Margarita islands, or scattered coast 

 ranges of hills. TJie peculiar situation geographically, due to the lack of 

 impingmg currents and the air stagnation, has made the region south of 

 the San Pedro Martirs very arid, and in consequence there has been a 

 special adaptation of plants that has produced strange vegetable forms. 

 rhe most peculiar being Idria columnaris, an adaptation of Fouquieria. 

 Yucca valida, a form of Y. australis, certain Cactaceae, Veatchia Kel- 

 loggu, Ipomoea Jicama, and a few other species and genera with special 

 features. This arid condition has led Brandegee and Goldman and Grin- 

 nell to a false conclusion as to Hfp ^nn^ Ti,^,r „„. ;«„ *v 



pper 



conclusion 



Pedro 



a 



aniined 



