Tlie West American Scientist. 



Vol. I. San Diego, Calif., October, 1885. No. 10. 



BOTANY OF THE CORONADOS ISLANDS. 



On the 16th. of May last on my return course from Guadaloupe 

 and Cedros in company with Mr. Dunn, I had the pleasure of a 

 three hours ramble on the principle one of the group of rocky 

 islets above named. The chief object I had in view on landing 

 was the obtaining of good specimens and a more thorough knowl- 

 edge of the little known Lavatera insularis, peculiar to this island. 



On a single mile's length of rocky ridge rising sharply from 

 the sea, no great number of species of flowering plants would be 

 looked for. The only portion of the island presenting any level, 

 or even gently sloping, surf ace is the north end; and here would 

 have been found, at an earlier date in the year, a rank growth of a 

 very considerable number of the familiar annuals of Southern 

 California. This year, the early drought had brought them to a 

 dwarfed and early maturity. 



Almost the only species remaining in good condition, of both 

 flower and fruit, proves to be a new MalaCothrix. 



The southern half of the island was not visited; but its rocky 

 and sterile aspect is not inviting. The Lavatera occurs in consid- 

 erable abundance, on the east side, about midway of the ridge and 

 near its highest part, mostly in the shade of high, precipitous 

 rocks. 



The following list of nearly seventy species of flowering plants 

 and ferns will hardly prove exhaustive. A more favorable season 

 as regards rainfall and more thorough exploration of all parts of 

 the islet may raise the number to eighty or ninety species. A^- 

 on all our coast islets where no goats or sheep have yet grazed, 

 the luxuriance of the plants is something to delight every botanist. 

 On these little spots only can one form a just conception of what 

 meadows of the Pacific coast were fifty years ago. 



Clematis paucitiora, Nutt. 



Delphinium simplex, Dougl. 



Eschschokzia peninsularis, Greene, 



Lepideum nitidum, Nutt. 



Isomeris arborea, Nutt. 



Oligomeris subulata, Boiss. 



Silena laciniata, Cav. 



