SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, gi 



aspleuifoliiis are occasionally met on the south coast heights, 

 but it is on the north coast that it ever follows— who can say 

 why— ledges of exposed rocks as trails and under these be- 

 clouded crests it marches in long defiles like a conquering army, 

 one to two feet in diameter ; ten to twenty-five feet high ; strong, 

 heavy trunks, and never an entire leaf; it should stand as a 

 species by itself; the same tree which thrives in similar expos- 

 ures on Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands, while on Catalina, 

 the trees have a different aspect ; entire leaves, and assume tall 

 tapering figures. 



Under these same heights in San Clemente, too, the oaks 

 are seen in companies; Quercus tomentella and Q. chrysolepis, 

 low and defiant often, with gray dead tops and outspread limbs ; 

 gnarled trunks one to two feet in diameter; you can skirt the 

 coast-line in a skiff and look up and count the companies of the 

 oaks and Lyonothamnus trees by defiles as you pass rowing; 

 count them to the very summits. 



The descent from the heights to the sea in these regions 

 is perilous in the extreme. Clovers are four to six feet high, 

 Trifolium tridentatum being the most common growth, is so 

 dense under the feet that neither trail nor rocks can be dis- 

 cerned and you have to feel your way with hands and feet over 

 jagged rocks, while the strong clovers trap you at every step 

 like vines. 



Trifolium Palmeri is common, nearer the sea than T. graci- 

 lentum or T. tridentatum. 



Besides all these hindrances, there is yet to be mentioned 

 the chains which guard San Clemente Island, whose links are 

 caves innumerable. It is a relief to the eye to come across a 

 stretch which has not its gaping rents ; the gorge is everywhere 

 present and the rock-strewn terrace and the leaping arroyo ; 

 but the light of the caves is the Convolvulus macrostegius. 



There is one open mouth on the "nor '-west" coast where 

 the Dendromecon flashes— never in truer glory or more pro- 

 fusion of bloom. It was also seen towards the East End at the 

 heads of some of the precipitous dips, seven years ago, though 

 of course not so large as in this protected mouth. 



Antirrhinum speeiosum is as common in every break as are 

 the boulders which take their places as sand on the beaches ; 

 happy under all circumstances ; enkindling the darkest gulches 

 where the o'er-toppling walls are shutting out the sky. 



Cereus Emory traverses the entire south coast, swinging 

 from many a gaping cave, while Opuntia prolifera increases in 

 numbers as you near the East End, until it fairly besets the 

 trail, making it a serious undertaking for foot of man or beast. 

 Opuntia Engelmanni var. littoralis is not frequent, but seems to 

 bloom profusely and to bear well in an occasional spot. 



