ocr. 1899.] PLANTS. 143 
It is remarkable that a shrub of such wide distribution, and one dif: 
fering so conspicuously from the tree chinquapin (Castanopsis chryso- 
phylla), should so long escape recognition as a distinct species. 
Quercus californica (Torr.) Cooper. Black Oak. 
[== Q. kelloggi Newb. | 
The only oak of Shasta, where it is confined to the basal slopes of 
the Transition zone, reaching up on the south and west sides to an 
altitude of 4,500 feet. It is fairly common in McCloud Valley, more 
common at Sisson, and increases in abundance to the northward. 
Between Black Butte and Edgewood it is mixed with ponderosa pines 
and is one of the most conspicuous trees. It does not attain such large 
size in this region as nearer the coast and farther south in the Sierra. 
[Quercus garryana was not found immediately about Shasta, and 
Quercus icishzeni, Which pushes up the canyon of the Sacramento along 
distance, does not fairly enter the region. | 
Asarum hartwegi Watson. Wild Ginger. 
Ovcurs here and there throughout the Transition zone, but is com- 
monest in damp places on the lower slopes. It does not reach quite up 
to Wagon Camp, but in a warm lava basin on the west side of the 
mountain was found at an altitnde a little higher than Wagon Camp. 
Eriogonum marifolium T. & G. Yellow Eriogonum. 
Common at Wagon Camp and other points along the lower edge of 
the Canadian zone and in the upper part of the Transition. The species 
seems to belong to the Transition rather than the Canadian zone, and 
Shasta is its type locality. (Identified by J. K. Small.) 
Eriogonum polypodum Small. Small-leaf Alpine Eriogonum. 
The commonest and most widely distributed ELriogonum of the higher 
slopes, where it ranges from the lower edge of the Hudsonian zone up to 
and far above timberline. The highest altitude at which it was obtained 
is 10,000 feet. Its leaves are small and densely covered with a white 
woolly or hairy material, and its tortuous prostrate branches are so 
intertwined as to form little mats several inches in diameter on the stony 
pumice slopes; these whitish mats are vastly more compact and dense 
above timberline than below. The roots are strong but rather slender, 
and, like those of inany other plants that live on the barren, wind-swept 
pumice slopes, are of extreme length. The main root usually slopes 
obliquely for 80 or 90 millimeters, and then divides into four or five 
slender rootlets 900 to 1,000 millimeters in length. The whitish tomen- 
tose leaves rarely rise more than 25 or 30 millimeters above the ground; 
the fruit stems 100 to 150 millimeters. 
This plant and Polygonum shastense are probably the most abundant, 
conspicuous, aud widespread plants of the Hudsonian and Alpine 
zones. They thrive in very dry soils and therefore are not confined 
