114 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



with more or less pilose filaments nearly as long as the short style. Fruit ripening in Au- 

 gust and September, 3'-4' long, about l' thick, usually much constricted near the middle, 



abruptly contracted at apex into a short stout point, dark dull brown or nearly black, 

 with flesh often nearly \' thick; seeds \' wide, rather less than \' thick, with a narrow border 

 to the rim. 



A tree, rarely exceeding 15 in height, with a trunk usually simple or occasionally fur- 

 nished with short spreading branches, and 6'-8' in diameter, usually surrounded by a clus- 

 ter of shorter more or less spreading stems and often clothed to the ground with living leaves. 

 Bark dark brown and scaly. Wood soft, spongy, light brown. 



Distribution. Southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona across the Mohave Desert 

 to the California coast, extending northward to the neighborhood of Monterey, California, 

 and southward into northern Lower California; common and attaining its largest size 

 on the Mohave Desert, and sometimes ascending arid mountain slopes to altitudes of 4000 

 above the sea. 



5. Yucca Schottii Engelm. Spanish Dagger. 



Leaves 2^-3 long, about \\' wide, gradually narrowed upward from the comparatively 

 thin lustrous red base to above the middle, flat except toward the apex, smooth, light 



Fig. 110 



