IN CALIFORNIA 7 



The hospitality of her soil and climate seems bound- 

 less, and the tree lover finds himself in California 

 in a paradise where he can study in the open, as in 

 a great botanical garden, individuals of practically 

 every important arboreal family of the whole world 

 from the tropics to the Arctic circle: a paradise 

 where palm and pine grow side by side. 



Palms and Peppers 



The first to attract the attention of most visitors 

 are perhaps the palms those princes of plant life, 

 as Linnaeus considered them. In some eyes these 

 tropical aristocrats seem somewhat out of keeping 

 with the miscellaneous company in which they find 

 themselves in California, but as a matter of fact, 

 Nature has set the seal of her approval upon the 

 association since one species extensively planted 

 both as a street tree and for ornament in private 

 grounds, is a native of the State. This is the 

 Washingtonia filifera of botanists, the generic name 

 being in honor of the First President. It grows 

 indigenously in canons and alkaline oases of the 

 desert portions of San Diego and Eiverside coun- 

 ties. The great spreading leaves look like immense 

 palm-leaf fans, and the tree is popularly known as 

 the desert palm, or California fan palm. The dis- 

 covery of this noble tree is credited to the exploring 



