63 



Pseudotsuga, and Libocedrus decurrens. At still higher levels 

 occur nearly pure growths of Pinus Murrayana, while about 

 Crater Lake (altitude 6,000-8,000 feet) are subalpine forests of 

 Tsuga Mertensiana, Abies magnifica, A. lasiocarpa, etc. 



Leaving Medford, the party journeyed directly to the Yosemite 

 National Park, via San Francisco. Upon entering the foothills 

 of the Sierras, after crossing the grassy San Joachim Valley, the 

 most striking difference in the vegetation, as compared with that 

 farther north, is seen in the presence of Pinus Sabiniana, one of 

 the most distinctive Californian conifers. The first night in the 

 Sierras was spent at El Portal. From here the party traveled by 

 stage to the Yosemite Valley, thence to Wawona and the Mari- 

 posa big-tree grove. A stop of a day and a half was made here. 

 On the return trip to El Portal a night was spent at Glacier Point, 

 which commands a splendid view of the Yosemite Valley. The 

 chief features of botanical interest in this region are the Sierran 

 forests and the big-tree {Sequoia gigantea) groves. Like prac- 

 tically all forests west of the Great Plains, those characteristic 

 of the high Sierras, and magnificently developed in the vicinity 

 of Wawona, are coniferous. The largest and most conspicuous 

 tree is Pinus Lambertiana, with which are associated Libocedrus 

 decurrens, Abies concolor, Pinus ponderosa, and Pseudotsuga. 

 The shrubby undergrowth is mainly chaparral. The big-tree 

 occurs in scattered groves, usually intermixed with other trees, 

 and only rarely forms pure stands. The excursionists remained 

 for the better part of a day in the Mariposa grove, wandering 

 about like Lilliputians in the land of Brobdingnag. 



In the vicinity of San Francisco a profitable day was spent on 

 Mount Tamalpais with its evergreen-scrub forest of chaparral, 

 and in Muir Woods where the acquaintance was made of Sequoia 

 sempervirens. 



The objective point of the excursion upon leaving San Fran- 

 cisco was Tucson, Arizona, But the thousand-mile railway 

 journey was interrupted by several stops, notably at Monterey, 

 the home of Cupressus macrocarpa and the center of one of the 

 most remarkable communities of endemic plants in existence, 

 and at Mecca, where studies were made of succession along the 

 margin of Salton Sea. 



