152 THE SALTON SEA. 



the surface and most of them floated there until March 17, when they were dredged out in 

 clumps and placed in a tilted dish (containing soil and Salton water of 1913) in such man- 

 ner that they were stranded. Two days later it was seen that some were beginning to erect 

 the plumules and to show indications of survival, which was followed by complete estab- 

 lishment. The capacity of these seedlings for flotation is a matter of especial interest in 

 connection with the fact that the seeds sink so readily. 



Perhaps no other species has occurred so numerously upon the beaches as Spirostachys. 

 It was notably abundant in the strip of beach at the uppermost level of the lake, where 

 the soil containing a supply of the seeds was moistened for only a short time, and it also 

 arose from seeds falling from stems which had maintained an erect position in the mud. 

 The ready germination of the seed suggests that the species may not be carried far by 

 the flotation of these bodies, although germination might occur soon after immersion 

 at lower temperatures; yet the seeds sink readily. On account of the long period of 

 possible flotation and survival, the plantlets may be carried great distances by currents, 

 and the arrangement of plantlets on the beaches at Imperial Junction and at Mecca 

 suggests the stranding of seedlings which may have arisen by germinations almost any- 

 where about the margin of the lake. 



Spirostachys was notably lacking on the emersion of 1910 at Travertine Terraces for 

 a period after the beach was laid bare and it generally followed the recession of the lake 

 at some distance at this place. Flotation would be excluded as a possible means of dispersal 

 in all such cases, including its appearance on the higher level of Cormorant Island some years 

 after the locations had been left behind by the water. Here and elsewhere the only reason- 

 able supposition would be that seeds had been carried by strong winds or by birds. 



Spirostachys appeared on Travertine Terraces in the emersion of 1912 by the middle 

 of the summer of that year, and during the same season it also arose at other places, in 

 a manner suggesting that the conditions for dispersal were highly favorable, although no 

 reasonable conjecture may be made as to what these may be. 



Plantlets have been found in the mud near the margin of the water, yet the plant 

 survives progressive desiccation without serious changes in the shoot. It is still a member 

 of the formation on the uppermost levels of the Imperial Junction, where it first appeared 

 in 1907, and it has not been lost from any location in which it came as a pioneer with the 

 exception of Travertine Terraces, where seepages from an underflow were seen to furnish 

 a supply of water which possibly contained too little salt. 



Suceda torreyana is an halophyte with soft subterete leaves, and the plant has a some- 

 what indefinite length of existence, maturing its fruits in late summer. With Spirostachys 

 it is the most abundant species of the Sink, and it is especially abundant in places with 

 saline soils. Seeds were collected near Mecca early in March 1913, and as they are retained 

 indefinitely on the stems the supply of fruits lasts throughout the year and renders the 

 species continuously subject to the action of dispersing agencies. Half of a lot placed in 

 Salton water of February 1913 sank within three days and the remainder soon followed 

 Germination began within two days of the wetting. Free seedlings floated, though most 

 were held at the bottom by portions of the utricle from which they had not become freed 

 A number were stranded in the usual manner on March 20, after they had been subjected 

 to flotation for two weeks. 



The seeds must have been present in the soil in immense numbers and those which 



7™ TS Wetted ^ Ut not moved near the u PP er limit reached by the lake in February 

 1907 doubtless constituted the majority seen on the ground laid bare by the recession of 

 that year It has also been noted that many of the stems remained erect although sur- 

 rounded by water, and that the seeds which later fell around their bared bases constituted 

 a part of the pioneer flora of the gently sloping beaches, such as that of Mecca. The species 

 is to be included among those near Travertine Wash which were benefited by the hemmed 



