FLORA OF THE CAPE REGION. IO9 



the sea and the high mountains the heat is not so great 

 or so enervating as might be expected. Even in midsum- 

 mer the nights are moderately cool, and in the winter 

 light frosts occasionally occur in the high mountains. 



This mountainous region of the Cape is separated from 

 the nearest mountain to the north by a wide extent of level 

 country, and the trail from Todos Santos to La Paz passes 

 over a district apparently seldom if ever more than a hun- 

 dred and fifty feet above the level of the sea. The most 

 northern peak of the Cape Region, La Aguja (The 

 Needle), 5.900 feet in height, is separated by a distance 

 of more than a hundred miles from the nearest of the 

 northern high mountains. 



The Cape Region is, therefore, an isolated region of 

 mountains of considerable elevation, separated from those 

 of the north by nearly two degrees of intervening low- 

 land, and from the nearest mainland coast by a hundred 

 miles of sea, and the flora of a region thus situated may 

 be expected to, and does, show marked differences in 

 forms from its nearest neighbors. 



The list of plants given below is mainly the result of 

 two trips made by the writer in 1890; the first was in 

 January and February from the landing at Magdalena 

 Bay, down the coast on horseback to Todos Santos, from 

 there making an excursion to the Sierra de laLagunaand 

 returning, and thence to La Paz. 



This trip was undertaken at an unfavorable season of 

 the year, nearly all the annual plants excepting in irrigated 

 fields, or high mountain valleys, having dried up and dis- 

 appeared, after the September rains. 



The second trip made in company with Walter E. Bry- 

 ant, sent out by the California Academ}- of Sciences to 

 examine the fauna of the region, occupied the months of 

 September and October, with San Jose del Cabo as a 



