TKEES AND SHRUBS 105 



PLATANUS L. Sycamore. Aliso. 



Ours is a large tree, 30 to 50 feet high, with bark deciduous 

 in thin, brittle plates, brownish, the young bark white or pale green- 

 ish; leaves large, 6 inches to 1 foot in diameter, deeply 5-lobed, the 

 lobes triangular lanceolate, acuminate, densely tomentose, especially 

 when young; flowers monoecious, in racemes of 3 to 5 spherical 

 heads along an elongated peduncle; fruiting heads 20 to 25 mm. in 

 diameter, on pedicels half as long; achenes glabrous, about 6 mm. 

 long, exceeding the basal hairs. 

 A single species in our range. 1. P. wrightii. 



Creosote Bush (CoviUea glutinosa) is an 

 much branched shrub, generally 4 or 5 feet high, with dark 

 green resinous coated leaves and yellow flowers half an inch 

 in diameter, that grows on the gravelly mesas of the southern 

 end of the State. Its American name comes from its odor, 

 and the Spanish name, Hediondillo — which means stinking — 

 is also given on account of its odor, which is especially con- 

 spicuous when the plant is wet. A common mistake which is 

 made in connection with this plant is to call it greasewood; 

 to which it is not even remotely related, and its odor, which 

 is distinctly like that of creosote, renders this kind of a mis- 

 take all the more inexcusable. This shrub when in cultivation 

 and supplied with a little extra water maintains a beautiful 

 glossy green color, and grows very rapidly if supplied with 

 plenty of water. Under very favorable conditions of soil and 

 moisture it sometimes reaches a height of 7 or 8 feet. It 

 blooms profusely in the early summer. As a hedge plant or 

 for decorative planting in masses, it is a very desirable plant. 

 Experience has shown that it is rather difficult to transplant 

 and requires a very large amount of water to start it growing. 

 It grows from the seed tolerably readily, and doubtless this 

 would be the most convenient method of starting it, since the 



