THE PACIFIC SLOPE 495 



the red cedar, the tide-land spruce (Picea sitchensis), and the 

 hemlock spruce (Tsuga heterophylla). In places there occur 

 dense thickets of hazel and maple, or of shrubs of the heath 

 family. 



In the southern portion of the Pacific slope (from the forty- 

 first to the thirty-fifth parallel) are found the well-known Cali- 

 fornia evergreen conifers, such as the sugar pine (P. Lambertiana) 

 of the coast, the yellow pine (P. ponder osa), and in the moun- 

 tains the smaller redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and the giant 

 redwood (S. gigantea, Fig. 33), the largest and by far the most 

 monumental of trees. 



Among the characteristic features of the California flora is 

 the abundance of xerophytic shrubs and small trees, many of 

 them broad-leaved (not coniferous) evergreens, forming the 

 chaparral thickets. Among these are members of the oak, the 

 rose, the sumach, the heath, the buckthorn, the composite family, 

 and many others. 



In southern California, on account of the long dry season, 

 plants with large roots or rootstocks, and bulb-bearing plants, 

 many of them belonging to the lily family, are abundant. 



In the deserts and on their borders are numerous cactuses 

 and other succulent forms. Among the most characteristic 

 desert plants are the Spanish bayonets, or Yuccas, some of 

 them tree-like in form and size. 



