VII. 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 culti- 

 vated 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 

 following 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 

 somewhat like that plant in its flowering. ) A low, 

 trailing, sticky, soft-stemmed plant, bearing close clus- 

 ters of fragrant, rosy-purple flowers. Blooms in mid- 

 spring. 



Acacia greggii. Cat-claw, Uiia de gato. A bush up to 10 

 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 sparsifolium. Red-shank, Bastard cedar, Cha- 

 miso. Verba del pasmo. A tall, fragrant bush witli 

 red, shreddy bark and fine, stringy foliage. Found in 

 the mountains bordering the desert, not widely dis- 

 tributed. Flowers small, white, profuse. Blooms in 

 late spring. 



Agave deserti. Wild Century-plant, ]\Iaguey, 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, bell-shaped flowers. 



