CHAPTER IV 

 THE WILD FRUITS OF CALIFORNIA 



The wild fruits of California are numerous, and for the most 

 part peculiar to the region, being either of local genera or local 

 species of more widely distributed genera. Very few are identical 

 with the wild fruits common to great areas of the continent. For 

 this reason our wild fruits constitute a very interesting subject 

 for botanical study, and they are now, perhaps, more widely than 

 ever before, attracting the attention of botanical pomologists. 

 Viewed from the standpoint of practical pomology or horticulture, 

 our wild fruits can not be claimed, on the whole, to have attained 

 any very great importance. 



A few fruits, as will be noted further on, have demonstrated 

 their culinary or household value, and are locally sought for, but 

 none have any notable commercial value. This may be due to 

 the fact that some of our most delicious wild fruits are very exact- 

 ing in their choice of conditions, and can not be moved far, even 

 within the limits of our own State, and presumably would not take 

 kindly to longer journeys. 



Another reason why we have made little of our own wild 

 species is found in the fact that our climate favors the superior 

 growth of the best improved fruits of nearly all parts of the world. 

 Therefore, we have little occasion for recourse to the improvement 

 of local wild fruits, because of superior hardiness and adaptation, 

 as has been done in other parts of the country. Neither fruit 

 planters nor propagators have given any special attention to the 

 wild growths, either for fruit or for stocks, although a beginning 

 has been made in both these directions, which may ultimately attain 

 importance. The horticulture of California wild fruits is a thing 

 of the future. 



The distribution of our wild fruits is determined by limitations 

 of areas of similar climatic conditions. In a general way it may 

 be said that fruits are most abundant in foot-hill and mountain 

 regions, and that our great valleys have always been practically 

 destitute of them, except along stream borders. These fruits are 

 most abundant in the northern portion of the State, but some exist 

 throughout the State, usually thriving at higher elevations as they 

 proceed southward. 



Oregon Crabapple (Pirus rivularis). This fruit, though more 

 abundant in the more northerly regions of the coast, as its name 

 indicates, is found in the northwest counties of this State. It 

 chooses a moist situation, becomes a tree fifteen to twenty-five feet 

 high, shows white bloom, and red or yellow oblong fruit, about 



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