TEXAS 93 



The landscape is that of a very open park dotted with 

 light trees, such as the acacia- like mesquite, walnuts, and 

 others, either single or in sparse groves, resembling open 

 oak -copses. The grass grows taller than that of the 

 more northern prairies, and is also more diversified. 

 Limestone hills, naturally drier, are covered with a 

 scrub of thorny shrubs, which shed their leaves during 

 the period of drought. The mesquite and allied species, 

 various kinds of acacias and other Leguminosae, with 

 a light foliage and stunted growth, compose this scrub 

 or ' chaparral ', which farther west becomes such a special 

 feature of the landscape. 



At last the great Staked Plain, or Llano Estacado, is 

 reached. It is an almost level and typically semi-arid 

 short grass country, with a fine loose soil. Here new types 

 from the hot and dry regions give a peculiar stamp to 

 the vegetation : they are the well-known yuccas, agaves, 

 cacti, cerei, opuntias, and other fleshy or ' succulent ' 

 plants, many of which yield fibres. These plains are 

 rich in bulbs and tubers, and most plants have deep, 

 swollen roots. Extensive salt clay tracts are strewn 

 over the surface of the Llano, all marked by strands, and 

 open colonies of the usual succulent salt-bushes. 



Towards the Rio Grande, the character of the vegeta- 

 tion becomes still drier. Grass grows scarce, and is only 

 represented by dense bunches of stiff straw. On the 

 naked, stony soil of the rolling downs a scattered brush 

 appears, almost entirely composed of the prickly bunches 

 of the yuccas, sotol, agaves, &c, studded with giant cerei 

 and tree opuntias. This is the margin of the desert 

 of New Mexico and Arizona, which extends beyond the 

 Rio Grande over into Mexico. The valley of the latter 

 river, now contracting into a canon clad with scrub, now 

 expanding into a rich alluvial and agricultural plain, 



