222 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



Only very immature pods could be found, but these are 

 twisted and curved. 



200. Albizzia occidentalis. — A small tree, 5-7 m. 

 high, glabrous having usually a smooth, dark ash-colored 

 bark: leaves 2 dm. long: pinna; 4 pairs, the lower pair 

 having each 3 pairs of leaflets, the next 4 pairs and 

 the upper ones 5 pairs; leaflets obliquely oval, apiculate, 

 very shortly pedicellate, 2-4 cm. long, the lower ones 

 smallest and gradually increasing in size to the upper- 

 most: flowers ochroleucous, capitate: calyx 3 mm. long, 

 teeth short, deltoid: corolla 9 mm. in length, the lobes 

 lanceolate, thickened at tip, half the length of the tube 

 and unequal: stamens numerous, twice the length of the 

 calyx and connected into an exserted tube: pod 15^-2 

 dm. long, 4 cm. wide, tapering at the base into a stipe 

 I cm, long, pointed at the tip, straight, flat, thin-coria- 

 ceous in texture, margins through which the valves separate 

 raised above the sides; seeds about 10, orbicular, flat, 

 I cm. in diameter. 



This tree is common in the Cape Region of Baja Cal- 

 ifornia, and is well known by the name " Palo Escopeta,'' 

 and grows along the base of the mountains from Todos 

 Santos on the west to San Jose on the south and Mira- 

 flores on the east. Its favorite habitat is the broad sandy 

 wash at the mouths of large canons, but it is not uncom- 

 mon amongst the small trees throughout the region near 

 the level of the sea. It was first collected by Xantus, 

 who found no flowers; and Dr. Gray, uncertain as to its 

 proper genus, referred it doubtfully to Leuccena tnacro- 

 fhylla, with the remark: " From the pod and look of the 

 foliage it may be an Albizzia." Senor Cypriano Dodero 

 has obligingly sent me flowers from the trees growing 

 along the plaza of San Jose, and from them its true 

 botanical position has been determined. The flowers 



