244 East and West 
and maple are to the East, the mesquite, 
acacia, palo verde, and ironwood are to the 
desert plateaus of Arizona—leguminous trees 
with small leaves, as befits an arid region 
where evaporation from leaf surface must be 
restricted to a minimum. These trees are 
not without some charm but it is small com- 
pared with our Eastern hardwoods or North- 
ern Conifers. They are a lean and scraggly 
race, fitted to cope with hot sun and little 
water, and armed with thorns that they may 
defend themselves against animals. This 
armed defence is the keynote to the character 
of all typical desert vegetation. It with- 
stands the elements by no such gentle per- 
suasion as do the lithe and feminine birches 
in the far North. Instead it bristles with 
weapons and one cannot pass the ironwood or 
the cat’s-claw acacia but they make known 
their pugnacious and uncompromising atti- 
tude. The mesquite is a little more suave, a 
little less openly hostile, simply because its 
thorns are not recurved as are those of the 
cat’s-claw. 
These small trees of the desert plains do not 
affect us in the manner of our beautiful oaks, 
maples, and elms: they are deficient in per- 
sonality. In the arid region there is but 
