154 CHANNEL ISLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 



At first glimpse San Clemente impresses many as 

 being absolutely barren, and as an island whose plant 

 life must have a fierce struggle for existence; yet an 

 extraordinary list of plants has been made here by 

 botanists during the past quarter of a century, and 

 doubtless it is far from complete. I visited the island 

 first in 1887. In the party was a botanist, and the 

 list of plants he extracted from the seemingly barren 

 islands astonished me, though I believe I gave him an 

 equal shock in the wonderful marine forms I collected 

 at low tide along the rocks and in the little natural 

 aquariums. The botany of the islands has been 

 worked up and studied by many botanists. I met 

 Dr. Sargeant of Boston on the islands years ago, 

 when Mrs. Wheeler was showing him some botanical 

 treasures. Dr. Hess, Dr. Brandegee, Dr. Holmes, 

 Professor Ellis, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Blanche Trask, 

 Mr. Harry PoUey, and Mr. Lyon, of the Forestry 

 Service, have made careful studies on the islands, and 

 their reports are found in various publications. One 

 of the most interesting papers is that of Mrs. 

 Trask previously referred to. In wandering over San 

 Clemente you will come upon saxifrage; wild buck- 

 wheat; the groundsel {Senecio lyoni); the island Islay 

 {Laurocerasus lyoni); the island Ceanothus, flowering 

 from January to April; the horehound {Marubimn 

 vulgare) ; lupine (L. perennis). Mustard, or Brassica 

 nigra, adds glory to some of the barren valleys. The 

 turquoise flower {Gilia nevinii) ; Eriophyllum nevinii, 

 Aphanisma, and many more, all chronicled by Mrs. 

 Trask in her list referred to. 



Lyon found the blue-berried elder (Sambucus glauca) 

 here in 1884, the sumach (Rhus), and the pear-leaved 



