530 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



from a thicket of barreta bushes {Helietta ijaTvifolici) growing 

 farther clown the slope. The most characteristic plants of the conn- 

 try through which we had come were the gobernadora, or creosote 

 bush {Covillea tridentata) ; candelilla {Eu/phorhia antisyphilitica) , 

 with rigid vertical wax-covered leafless stems; the green thorny leaf- 

 less junco [Koeherlinia spinosa) ; sotol {Dasylhnon texanuin)^ with 

 remotely toothed bayonet-shaped leaves; pita samandoque {Hesper- 

 aloe funifera)^ with the margins of its linear leaves bearing loose 

 fibrous threads; and the low, rigid, sharp-leaved agave called lechu- 

 guilla, which yields much of the commercial fiber from northern 

 Mexico. 



On the very crest of the mountain range, growing in little rock 

 pockets, we found E chinocactus muUicostatus (pi. 4, fig. 3) , the object 

 of our search, scores of plants, with many sharp radiating ribs which 

 look like accordion plaiting. This plant belongs to a group in which 

 there is considerable variation of the spines. Farther south, near Sal- 

 tillo, I collected plants apparently of this species, but with stouter 

 spines, and near Aguascalientes a form with spines so numerous and 

 broad as almost to conceal the flower (pi. 4, fig. 5). On the mountain 

 crest associated with this plant was a rosy-flowered composite {Pina- 

 TOpappus roseus), a pretty little daisy-like flower (Chaetopajypa mo- 

 desta) with blue-tinted rays which were just closing in sleep, and Me- 

 nodora coidteri^ sometimes called " mountain jasmine," with yellow 

 flowers like rockroses (Helianthemum). Characteristic shrubs were 

 a barberry {Berheris trifoliolata)^ sometimes called " paloamarillo," 

 from its wood, which yields a yellow dye, or agritos, from its acid 

 berries; an Acacia (^1. herlandieri) with white odorless flowers, 

 called "huajillo'"' in northern Mexico; the chapote prieto, or black 

 persimmon [Brayodendron texamim) ; and a little farther down So- 

 pJiora secundif-ora^ a bush with clusters of blue wistaria-like flowers 

 having the odor of ripe grapes and followed by scarlet-seeded pods 

 called " frijolillos," or " colorines." 



It was pleasant to see the affection with which our host seemed 

 to regard each little cactus plant. One of them from which the root 

 had been broken had been thrown aside and was lying on a bare 

 rock. He knelt down and carefully replanted it in a crevice, putting 

 a handful of black soil about its base, saying: '"'' P obrecita^ dejela 

 que viva! " 



Farther down the mountain side I collected a tiny Mamillaria (pi. 

 4, fig. 2), with a delicate hooked central spine on each areole sur- 

 rounded by a number of spreading radials. It was very probably 

 Mamillaria carretii^ a species closely allied to M. hocasana; but that 

 species has more than one hooked central and spreading wool-like 

 hairs growing from each areole (pi. 4, fig. 4). Other species col- 

 lected here were three Echinocacti, already mentioned — E. horizon- 



