06 



and both mentioned that they grew chiefly in wet soil. Cedros 

 is over 100 kilometers north of the Sinaloa-Sonora line (about 

 Long. 109° 20' W., Lat. 27° 40' N.), at an altitude of about 

 800 meters, and is situated in a small valley that supports a 

 flora containing a large percentage of Lower Sonoran, desert 

 species. Thus the Cedros station is of considerable interest from 

 three points of view; it is the first station reported for the genus 

 in the state of Sonora, it is at an elevation about 600 meters 

 below that at which the species usually thrives, and it is well 

 out in the desert area, connected with the higher, moister, 

 mountainous regions by the narrow ribbon of the stream. 



There are slightly differing reports as to whether the leaves 

 of T. mucronatum are deciduous or persistent. Rheder (1927) 

 writes, "Also the Mexican Taxodium mucronatum {T. distichum 

 var. m. Henry) with persistent lvs. is not hardy, but is occasion- 

 ally planted in Calif." Pilger (1926) says, "... die Kurzzweige 

 mit gescheitelten Blattern werden erst im zweiten Jahre abge- 

 worfen; ..." and Koch (1873) writes, "... Zweige im Vater- 

 lande in der Regel nicht abfallend; ..." but Standley (1920) 

 describes the tree as having "... leaves (and many of the 

 young branches) deciduous, . . . ". Bentham and Hooker (1880) 

 in their characterization of the genus, say that the leaves are 

 "deciduous or sub-persistent." 



Probably Bentham and Hooker's term "sub-persistent" 

 is a happier one than "persistent" in describing the leaves and 

 young branchlets of T. mucronatum . Pilger's statement implies 

 that the old leaves may be pushed from the branchlets by the 

 new growth as it comes out during the second year, and Koch's 

 that the trees normally have some foliage on them throughout 

 the year. 



At the time the collection (Wiggins 6431) was made at 

 Cedros it was not possible to tell how much of the foliage had 

 persisted through the winter months, for the new growth was 

 already well advanced and practically no leaves from the previ- 

 ous season were still on the trees. However, it was quite obvious 

 that the previous year's growth did not persist through the 

 growing season of the second year. In a half dozen herbarium 

 sheets there was only one small branchlet to which an old leaf 

 remained attached. 



A few mature cones were still on the tree, but the scales fell 



