CHAPTER. 1¥. 
THE WILD FRUITS OF CALIFORNIA. 
The wild fruits of California are numerous, and for the 
most part peculiar to the region, being either of local genera or 
local species of more widely distributed genera. Very few are 
identical with the wild fruits common to great areas of the con- 
tinent. For this reason our wild fruits constitute a very inter- 
esting subject for botanical study, and they are now, perhaps 
more widely than ever before, attracting the attention of botan- 
ical pomologists. Viewed from the standpoint of practical 
pomology or horticulture, our wild fruits can not be claimed, 
on the whole, to have attained any very great importance. 
A few fruits, as will be noted further on, have demonstrated 
their culinary or household value, and are locally sought for, 
but none have any notable commercial value. This may be due 
to the fact that some of our most delicious wild fruits are very 
exacting in their choice of conditions, and can not be moved far, 
even within the limits of our own State, and presumably would 
not take kindly to longer journeys. 
Another reason why we have made little of our own wild 
species is found in the fact that our climate favors the superior 
growth of the best improved fruits of nearly all parts of the 
world. Therefore, we have little occasion for recourse to the 
improvement of local wild fruits, because of superior hardiness 
and adaptation, as has been done in other parts of the country. 
Neither fruit planters nor propagators have given any special 
attention to the wild growths, either for fruit or for stocks, 
although a beginning has been made in both these directions, 
which may ultimately attain importance. The horticulture of 
California wild fruits is a thing of the future. 
The distributions of our wild fruits is determined by limita- 
tions of areas of similar climatic conditions. In a general way 
it may be said that fruits are most abundant in foot-hill and 
mountain regions, and that our great valleys have always been 
practically destitute of them, except along stream borders. 
These fruits are most abundant in the northern portion of the 
State, but some exist throughout the State, usually thriving at 
higher elevations as they proceed southward. 
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