VACATION NOTES. 
DOUGLAS HOUGHTON CAMPBELL. 
I. NOTES ON THE CALIFORNIAN FLORA. 
DurinG the past summer my vacation was spent in visiting 
various parts of the Pacific Coast, my travels extending as far 
north as Skagway. While it must be admitted that the various 
trips made were intended primarily for recreation, rather than 
for scientific purposes, still a botanist could not fail to be deeply 
interested in the rich and striking flora of our western posses- 
sions, and I have tried here to jot down some of the impressions 
made upon me in my wanderings over this most picturesque 
part of our country. 
It is hardly necessary to remind the botanist how very marked 
are the differences between the floras of the Atlantic and Pacific 
regions of the United States, especially in the more southern 
parts. The topography of the Pacific slope, with the lofty Sierra 
extending practically without a break from Alaska to Mexico, 
produces climatic conditions very different from those of the 
Atlantic States. The differences in climate, together with 
other factors affecting the origin and distribution of the west- 
ern plants, have resulted in a flora which makes most of Cali- 
fornia seem very unfamiliar to the eastern botanist. 
The Santa Clara Valley, in which Stanford University is sit- 
uated, is thoroughly representative of middle California. This 
is the great fruit region of the state, and the level floor of the 
valley and lower foothills are largely given up to orchards of 
prunes, apricots, and peaches, while extensive vineyards are 
also planted, and large quantities of wine are made in some 
sections of the valley. 
The valley opens at the north upon a long extension of San 
Francisco Bay, and here the extreme width of the valley is 
perhaps fifteen miles, narrowing rapidly as we go south. To 
299 
