APPENDIX B 



NOTICEABLE PLANTS OF THE 

 DESERT 



Botanists must kindly overlook the lack of exactitude 

 in these descriptions, which are necessarily brief and 

 in which technical terms have purposely been wholly 

 avoided. 



It should be borne in mind that a number of plants 

 may be met on the desert, especially about settlements or 

 cultivated areas, that are not native there. A few of these, 

 such as are most likely to come under observation, are 

 included below. If there seem to be omissions in the fol- 

 lowing list, the explanation may be that the plants in 

 question do not properly come under desert classification. 



Abronia aurita. Sand Verbena (not really a verbena, but some- 

 what like that plant in its flowering). A low, trailing, sticky, 

 soft-stemmed plant, bearing close clusters of fragrant, rosy- 

 purple flowers. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Acacia greggii. Cat-claw: Span., Una de Gato. A bush up to lo 

 feet high, crowded with small sharp thorns, common in canons 

 and on hillsides; often mistaken for a small mesquit, the leaves 

 being like those of that tree but smaller. Flower a yellowish 

 "spike" (resembling a pussy-willow catkin); fruit a pod, often 

 curiously twisted. Blooms in early summer. 



Adenostoma sparsifoHum. Red-shank, Bastard cedar: Span., 

 Chamiso, Verba del pasmo. A tall, fragrant bush with red, 

 shreddy bark and fine, stringy foliage. Found in the moun- 

 tains bordering the desert, not widely distributed. Flowers 

 small, white, profuse. Blooms in late spring. 



Agave deserti. Wild Century -plant: Span., Maguey, Mescal. 

 Leaves blue-gray, very large, succulent, with strong prickles on 

 edges and a thorn at apex, starting from the ground. Flower- 

 stalk 8 or 10 feet high, bearing many sets of clustered, yellow, 



