188 DAVEXPORT ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, 



A New California Lily. 



BY DR. C. C. PARRY". 



On one of my last botanical excursions in the vicinity of San Bernar- 

 dino, Southern California, in the early part of July, 1876, 1 improved tlie 

 opportunity to accept an often repeated invitation to visit the intelligent 

 brothers, J. G. and F. M. Ring at their mountain retreat near San Gor- 

 gonio Pass. Leaving the broad and picturesque basin of the Santa 

 Anna Valley, near the emergence of this stream from the rugged moun- 

 tain wall of the San Bernardino range, our route, after crossing Mill 

 Creek, one of its largest eastern artluents, hugged close to the foot-hills 

 bordering the upper Yucaipa valley, thence by a more rapid ascent in a 

 nearly direct easterly course, we reach an elevated bench, variously 

 scattered with pine and oak groves, overlooking the broad sweep of San 

 Gorgonio Pass, now traversed by the eastern extension of the Southern 

 Pacific Railroad. In one of these mountain nooks the Messrs. Ring 

 have located a potato ranch, the elevation of over 4,000 feet above the 

 sea level giving a sufficiently cool moist climate, while the adjoining 

 mountain slopes afford an extensive summer cattle range long after the 

 herbage of the lowlands has dried up. 



Owing to the lateness of the season, the early vegetation of this dis- 

 trict had already given place to a more sparse mid-summer growth. In 

 scattering groves of Pinus Coulteri, the ground was abundantly strewn 

 with the massive cones of tliis peculiar species, its dense scales armed 

 with formidable hooked spines ; many of the largest cones were fully six 

 inches in diameter, with a length of nine inches. At lower elevations 

 throughout this district we find the large fruited Douglas spruce quite 

 common, this well marked variety in other particulars exhibiting the 

 specific characters of this species in more northern and eastern localities. 

 Among the rarities of this district we were able to secure a few speci- 

 mens of Habenaria elegans Bolander. The occasional perennial water 

 courses here met with are mostly confined within deep and inaccessible 

 ravines, but more frequently scant springs ooze out from beneath deep 

 layers of porous strata, and spi'ead out into boggy marshes generally 

 choked up with rank willow and older growths, and occasionally expand- 

 ing into small meadows of coarse grass and sedges. Near one of these 

 largest expanses of moist, rich soil, is located the potato ranch of 

 Messrs. Ring, the special object of our visit. It is quite unusual, though 

 none the less agreeable, to find in such secluded and unpretentious resi- 

 dences indications of a refined taste exhibited in an excellent library, 

 largely composed of scientific works, and books of exploration and 

 travel, besides the necessary instruments for keeping up a meteorological 

 record! Xo doubt from such resources the bachelor brothers find some 

 relief from the tedium of their isolated location, and after the excite- 

 ment and hardships of extensive travels on the north-west coast, seem 

 reconciled to the independent solitude of a mountain ranch. 



Succeeding a cordial welcome, and the necessary care of our riding 

 animals, the vegetation of this curious nook engaged our attention. On 



