646 RELATION TO ENVIRONMENT. 



southwesterly follows the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, Techahapi, 

 and Tejon mountains, and covers the whole of the Mohave and Colorado 

 deserts and all the rest of southern California except the mountains. It 

 sends an arm over most of the peninsula of Lower California, and another 

 northward over the San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys. 



"The Lower Sonoran area comprises the most arid deserts of North 

 America, and is characterized by a flora and fauna of extreme interest. 

 Among the commoner plants are the creosote bush, mesquites, acacias, 

 cactuses, yuccas, and agaves. . . . The region, wherever water may be had 

 for irrigation, is of great agricultural importance, particularly for fruit. 



"Raisins and wine grapes, oranges, lemons, olives, prunes, peaches, 

 apricots, English walnuts, and almonds are among the important products 

 of the Lower Sonoran area, and the figs ripen several crops each year. 

 Although too far south for the highest development of cereals, several kinds, 

 as the Australian and Sonoran wheats, the red rust-proof oats, and the 

 white-gourd seed corn, do well. Cotton, tobacco, pyrethrum, and the opium 

 poppy thrive in certain localities, and alfalfa, cow-peas, and canaigre (a 

 plant valuable for tanning) do better than in any other area." 



b. The Austroriparian area. "The Austroriparian area occupies the 

 greater part of the South Atlantic and Gulf States. Beginning near the 

 mouth of Chesapeake Bay it covers half or more than half of Virginia, 

 North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, the whole of Mis- 

 sissippi and Louisiana, eastern Texas, nearly all of Indian Territory, more 

 than half of Arkansas, and parts of Oklahoma, southwestern Kansas, 

 southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, the extreme southwestern corner 

 of Indiana, and the bottom lands of western Kentucky and Tennessee. 

 The long-leaf and loblolly pines, magnolia, and live oak are common on 

 the uplands; the bald cypress, tupelo, and cane in the swamps. . . . This 

 is the zone of the cotton plant, sugar-cane, rice, pecan, and peanut, and 

 of the scuppernong grape and oriental pears (LeConte and Kieffer)." 



c. The Semitropi-cal or Gulf strip. "The Gulf strip, or southern part 

 of the Austroriparian area reaches from Texas to southern Florida, covers 

 a narrow strip in southern Georgia, and probably follows the coastal low- 

 lands northward into South Carolina. It has a semitropical climate and 

 is the home of a number of plants not found farther north, among which 

 are the cabbage palmetto and Cuban pine. . . . The Gulf strip, though 

 small in area, is of very" great importance from the standpoint of agricul- 

 ture and horticulture. It is the belt in which rice, sugar-cane, and the 

 much-prized sea-island cotton are produced in greatest quantity and 

 value; and, as a fruit belt, has no competitor, except the Lower Sonoran 

 areas of California and Arizona. Bitter oranges, loquats, granadillas, figs, 

 Japanese persimmons, pecan nuts, and numerous varieties of peaches 

 and grapes thrive here, and the citrus fruits (oranges, mandarins, lemons, 



