FLORA OF THE CAPE REGION OF BAJA 

 CALIFORNIA. 



BY T. S. BRANDEGEE. 



By the " Cape Region " is meant that part of the pen- 

 insula south of a line drawn along the northern base of 

 the mountains from Todos Santos to La Paz. This re- 

 gion is mostly hilly or mountainous, with few broad val- 

 leys or level areas. The highest peaks are in the central 

 portion, and most of them have the appearance of isolated 

 cones rising sharply from the rough elevated region sur- 

 rounding them. The largest valley is that of the Rio 

 San Jose, which empties into the ocean at San Jose del 

 Cabo. This valley supports several villages, and some 

 of its tributary canons are occupied by cattle ranches. 

 In fact throughout this region the valleys and canons, 

 however small, are occupied, wherever unfailing water is 

 found, by one or more families who irrigate small patches 

 of ground, and look after their flocks of goats and their 

 cattle. 



The mountain peaks, according to the maps of the 

 Coast Survey, reach a height of six thousand feet above 

 sea level. Their tops during the rainy season (June- 

 October) are enveloped in clouds, and thunder storms 

 are of frequent occurrence. Running water can be found 

 in the larger canons throughout the year, but it usually 

 disappears in the sand soon after reaching the foothills. 

 The Rio San Jose contains water during the whole year 

 and several species of fresh water tish inhabit it, but in 

 most of the water courses, even when twenty or thirty 

 miles long, no running water excepting near their sources 

 was seen at the close of the rainy season. 



The Tropic of Cancer runs through Todos Santos and 

 the climate is necessarily a warm one, but tempered by 



2d Sek. Vol. III. July 1*. 1891. 



