22 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 360. 



knowledge, and, more than that, the substantial and in- 

 disputable truths here acquired will probably avail to keep 

 them from many costly mistakes by showing them the im- 

 })racticability of projects which to the utterly uninstructed 

 might seem promising. 



We are glad that the iirst horticultural institute of this 

 sort has been held under such favorable auspices. We 

 consider it a step forward in the means and methods of 

 popular instruction. A little knowledge is not a dangerous 

 thing when it is rudimentary and fundamental knowledge. 

 The dangerous kind referred to by the poet is a superficial 

 smattering. 



Notes on the 



Tree Flora of 

 Mountains. — II. 



the Chiricahua 



A SCENDING the canon, on the mountains at either side, 

 /\_ were large areas of Scrub Oak, including Quercusundu- 

 lata, Q. hypoleuca and Q. chrysolepis vacciniifoha. Two 

 other Oaks, Q. Gambelii and Q. reticulata, were found farther 

 up among the Pines andCypress. Quercus Gambelii is known 

 as Pin Oak, and, although here a small shrub, produces a 

 trunk eighteen inches or two feet in diameter farther north. 

 Q. reticulata is also generally a shrub, but in moist places in 

 deep canons it not infrequently approaches a tree in size and 

 habit. This species, although very near Q. grisea in spe- 

 cific characters, is quite different in general appearance. 

 The bark is much smoother, the foliage a deeper green, 

 and the cups, with their long peduncles, remain on the 

 branches several months after the acorns have fallen. In 

 July the peduncles of the former year were still on the 

 branches. An Oak was found at old Camp Rucker which 

 has been referred to Q. grisea, but which lias the general 

 aspect of Q. oblongifolia. It has the same bluish cast to 

 the leaves, and but little roughness on the under surface. 

 The peduncles are long, something like those of Q, reticu- 

 lata. By e.xamining the acorns of these three species it 

 will be seen that they are almost identical. They are very 

 astringent, and the cotyledons are a deep purple color. 



Yucca macrocarpa was found in abundance throughout 

 the south and central portions of this range. It is strictly 

 a mountain plant, frequent in shady cations at an elevation 

 of from three to six thousand feet. This species seldom 

 gets beyond the foot-hills, and is in full bloom by the 20th 

 of July and ripens its fruit by the loth of September. Y. 

 baccata is a more northern plant, but covers large areas on 

 the east slope of the Chiricahua Mountains between Gay- 

 ley ville and Fort Bowie. Its habit of growth is entirely dif- 

 ferent from Y. macrocarpa. The caude.x, if at all long, lies 

 prostrate on the ground, while Y. macrocarpa is always 

 upright. Yucca elata, the most widespread Yucca of Arizona, 

 is frequent on the mesa at either side of this range. It is a 

 plains plant, and never found in the mountains. It reaches 

 its maximum size in south central Arizona, and is in full 

 bloom by the first of June, and ripens its fruit a month or 

 six weeks later. The Yucca of the Colorado plateau, which 

 has been referred to this species, is quite different, and 

 should, I believe, be considered a new species. 



Two arborescent species of Cacti — namely, Opuntia ar- 

 borescens and O. fulgida — are frequent in the valley west 

 of the mountains. Both of these species form small trees, 

 with trunks sometimes eight or ten inches in diameter. 



A few miles below old Camp Rucker the first Pines were 

 observed, and from here they increased in size and fre- 

 quency almost to the summit. The first species observed 

 were Pinuscembroides and P. Chihuahuana * (see page 24). 

 Several miles above the old camp were many large speci- 



* This species, whicli is well di^tinguislied from all other Pine-trees bearin^'their 

 leaves in clusters of threes by the deciduous-leaved sheaths, was discovered by 

 Wislizenus on die mountains of Chihuahua, and first described filty years aijo by 

 Dr. George Engehnann, to whose lung and patient studies we aie indebted tor 

 much exact information on the Pint-trees of western and south-western North 

 America, the great headquarters of the genus. Much later, Pinus Chihuahuana was 

 found on several of the mountain ranges of southern New Mexico and Arizona, 

 where, scattered among Pinus Arizonica, Pinus ponderosa and Pinus refle.xa, near 

 f he upper borders of the Live Oak forests which cover the lower slopes of these 

 mountains, it is a comparatively rare tree, and seldom grows to the height of sixty 

 or seventy feet. The wood is soft and brittle, and Pinus Chihualiuana, although it 

 possesses considerable scientific interest, has little economic significance as- an 

 inhabitant of our forests. 



mens of P. lalifoliaf (see page 25) and P. ponderosa. I am 

 inclined to the opinion that all the long-leaved, broken-cone 

 Pines of southern Arizona are at most only varieties of 

 Pinus ponderosa. There seems to be all variations, from 

 the long-leaved to the short-leaved forms. 



Abies concolor, Pseudotsuga taxifolia and Cupressus 

 Arizonica were not infrequent in the canons above five 

 thousand feet. The Arizona Cypress is a rare tree, only 

 growing in a few of the mountain ranges of the territory. 

 The largest specimens observed here were eighteen inches 

 in diameter and fifty feet high. There is a large grove 

 containing many thousand of these trees at the Natural 

 Bridge in central Arizona. They are very symmetrical, 

 and many of them fully three feet in diameter. The bark 

 has a reddish cast and peels off in long shreds. This char- 

 acter, however, was not observed in the specimens seen in 

 the Chiricahua Mountains. 



I much regret that I was unable to get to the highest 

 point of these mountains, as there are probably trees grow- 

 ing there which are not in the following list. I was informed 

 by. a Mr. McGray, a ranchman thoroughly familiar with the 

 mountains, that a White Pine and a Larch were growing 

 at the summit. It is not improbable that a White Pine, 

 probably Pinus reflexa, does grow there, as it is found in 

 many of the other ranges of southern Arizona. I seriously 

 question the possibility of finding a Tamarack there. 



In Turkey Creek cafion, which opens toward San Simon 

 Valley, just south of Fort Bowie, were fine specimens of 

 Acer barbatum grandidentatum. A. Negundo and Prunus 

 serotina. This latter species shows a great variation in the 

 size and flavor of the fruit. The trees in this caiion were 

 especially noticeable for their large fruits, with coinpara- 

 tively small pits. It is not impossible that this species 

 might be made of considerable horticultural importance. 



Cercocarpus parvifolius paucidentatus and Rhamnus 

 Purshiana tomentella are frequent throughout the entire 

 range. The forrfier appears very different from Cercocar- 

 pus parvifolius, and very likely is specifically distinct. Large 

 areas of San Simon Valley are covered with a stunted 

 growth of Prosopis juliflora and Koeberlinia spinosa. The 

 spines of the latter species are said to be poisonous, and 

 produce a stinging sensation when they pierce the skin. 



I append a list of the trees collected in the Chiricahua 

 Mountains and in the adjacent valleys. Of course, it is 

 understood that a large percentage of this list were ob- 

 served in several of the ranges visited. Jt is quite remark- 

 al)le that this one range in the very south-eastern portioit 

 of Arizona has over fifty species of trees, or more than 

 one-ninth of the total number in the United States ; 



Condalia obovata, Koeberlinia spinosa, Rhamnus Pur- 

 shiana, Rhamnus Purshiana tomentella, Acer barbatum 

 grandidentatum, A. Negundo, Sapindus marginatus. Acacia 

 Berlandieri, A. Greggii, Robinia Neo-Mexicana, Prosopis 

 juliflora, Parkinsonia Torreyana, P. microphylla, Eysen- 

 hardtia orthocarpa, Prunus serotina, Vauguelinea Califor- 

 nica, Cercocarpus parvifolius paucedentatus Cereus gigan- 

 teus, Opuntia arborescens, O. fulgida, Sambucus Mexi- 

 cana. Arbutus Arizonica, Bumelia spinosa, Fraxinus 

 velutina, Chilopsis saligna, Celtis Mississippiensis reticu- 

 lata, Morus celtidifolia, Platanus Wrightii, Juglans rupes- 

 tris, Quercus Gainbelii, Q undulata (several widely vary- 

 ing forms), Q. oblongefolia, Q. grisea, Q. reticulata, Q. 

 chrysolepis vaccinifolia, Q. Einoryi, Q. hypoleuca, Q. n. 

 sp., Alnus oblongifolia, Salix nigra, S. longifolia, van, S. sp.. 



t In vol. ii. of Gai!den and Forest (page 498) this Pine tree, closely related to 

 Pinus ponderosa, which had been found by Dr. Henry Mavr, the German forester, 

 some lime previously on the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona, was described and 

 figured. It is distinguished by its very long broad leaves and bv the stout 

 recurved umbos of the more or less mammseformed basal cone scales: and in 

 these characters appears very unlike forms of that well-known and very variable 

 tree from more northern regions. There is such a resemblance to other tbrms of 

 Pinus ponderosa, however, in the bark, habit and general appearance of this 

 Arizona tree which were not known when Dr. Mayr's specimens were desci-ibed 

 that it is not improbable, when this western American Yellow Pine group is studied 

 in all its forms, that it will be necessary to include among them the long-leaved 

 Arizona tree, of which there are two or three remarkable varieties. On the Santa 

 Rita. Huachuca and Chiricahua Mountains this tree is not rare at elevations of 

 about seven thousand feet above the sea, where it grows on stony slopes with a 

 short-leaved variety of Pinus ponderosa just below the belt of Pinus cembroides, 

 which covers, with a rather dense forest, the highest slopes of these mountains. 



