APPENDIX 369 



The common flat-lobed cactus of the coast, found also on the 

 desert mountains. Flowers pale yellow, sometimes with red- 

 dish tinge, set in a row on edge of lobe: fruit dark red, edible, 

 but covered with fine prickles. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Opuntia echinocarpa. Deer-horn cactus. A very branching cac- 

 tus up to 5 feet high, the joints pale green, very spiny 

 though less so than O. bigelovii. Flowers greenish with bronzed 

 look outside. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Opuntia ramosissima. Similar in habit to O. echinocarpa, but 

 with much slenderer stems and fewer but stronger spines. 

 Flowers small, brown. Blooms in late spring. 



Cassia armata. A low bushy plant with handsome yellow flowers, 

 found in the desert mountains, but rare. Blooms in mid- 

 spring. 



Centaurea melitensis. Star thistle: Span., Jocalote. A small, usu- 

 ally single-stemmed plant a foot or so high, with narrow gray- 

 green leaves. Flowers small, yellow: flower-heads very prickly. 

 Blooms in mid-spring and summer. 



Cercidium torreyanum. Span., Palo verde, Lluvia de oro. A tree 

 up to 30 feet high, noticeable for the smooth green bark of the 

 entire tree. Foliage small, scanty, and short-lived, so that the 

 tree is usually bare: the twigs bear short thorns. Flowers pro- 

 fuse, bright yellow: fruit a pod. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Chilopsis linearis. Desert willow ( not properly a willow, but be- 

 longing to the Bignonia family). A small, willow-like tree, up 

 to 20 feet high, usually found in washes. Leaves narrow: flowers 

 handsome and plentiful, white marked with lilac and yellow, 

 fragrant: fruit a pod, very long and narrow, remaining on the 

 tree after the seeds have fallen. Blooms from mid-spring to 

 autumn. 



Chorizanthe brevicornu. A small, leafless, yellow-green plant, re- 

 sembling the dry yellow moss sometimes found on pine trees. 

 Flowers inconspicuous. 



Coldenia plicata. A hardy looking, mat-like plant with small, 

 deeply -veined, dark-green leaves and tiny white flowers. 

 Blooms in mid-spring. 



Croton californica. One of the commonest desert plants. A thin 

 bush 2 or 3 feet high, with many slender straight stems and few 

 light-gray oval leaves. The plant gathers into a goblet-shaped 

 tuft as it dries. Flowers small, yellowish. Blooms from late 

 spring to late summer. 



