A SKETCH OF THE FLORA OF SOUTHERN 
CALIFORNIA. 
5. B. PARISH. 
THE name “Southern California” is here restricted to a terri- 
tory somewhat less extensive than that to which it is sometimes 
applied; but even as here limited, to the five southernmost 
counties—Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and 
San Diego—it includes one quarter of the area of the whole 
state, and exceeds in size the great state of Ohio. It has an 
area of 40,889 square miles ( over 100,000 sq. kilometers). Its 
greatest breadth, from north to south, is 210 miles (336*™), 
and from east to west 282 miles (451'™). It lies between 
32° 30’ and 35° 4o’ north latitude, and between 37° 15’ and 42° 
longitude west from the meridian of Washington. Its western 
boundary is formed, for the greater part, by the Pacific Ocean, 
but partly by the counties of Ventura and Kern, and these two 
counties, together with Inyo, bound it on the north, while for a 
short distance on the northeast it touches the state of Nevada. 
The river Colorado separates it on the east from Arizona, and 
on the south it adjoins the Mexican state of Lower California. 
Before proceeding to a consideration of the flora of this 
region it is desirable to speak briefly of the physical character of 
its surface, and of its climate, since these are the most important 
influences by which the development and distribution of its plant 
population have been determined. 
OROGRAPHICAL FEATURES. 
The region is one of mountains, whose ramifications embrace 
numerous valleys of greater or less extent. The main axis of 
upheaval is a continuation of the Sierra Nevada. It enters 
our region at Ft. Tejon, in which neighborhood the Coast 
Range unites with it; and it extends in a course from northeast 
to southwest, culminating in the twin summits of San Bernardino 
and Grayback, respectively 10,100* (3,080™) and 11,725 * 
1903] 203 
