Rosa Minutifolia. 181 



cones, occurs on the San Bernardino Mountains, in California. It 

 has been considered a variety of the typical tree, and by some bot- 

 anists a second species — a view supported by the fact that no inter- 

 mediate forms connecting it with the type have been found, while in 

 the region north and south of that occupied by this large fruited tree 

 the typical Douglas Fir abounds. 



ROSA MINUTIFOLIA. 



Parry's wild Mexican rose was discovered by a little party of 

 botanists in April, 1882, on the shores of Todos Santos or All Saints 

 bay, Baja California, about forty miles south of San Diego, though 

 it requires a full one hundred miles of travel to reach the spot by 

 wagon road. The little town of Ensenada lies just south of where 

 we first encountered this species and may now be reached by steamer 

 in a few hours' time. 



Dr. C. C. Parry, who was of the party, sent specimens of the little 

 rose to his friend, Dr. George Engelmann, who described it in the 

 Bulletin of the Torrey botanical club (vol. ix. p. 97) under the name, 

 Rosa minutifolia. It has been figured in Garden and Forest, i. 102, 

 accompanied with a few remarks by Prof. Sereno AYatson, who says: 



4 Our wild roses have an ill reputation among botanists for the 

 uncertainty which often attends the determination of their species. 

 But there are some, fortunately, about which there can be no doubt, 

 and we have here given the figure of one which carries its distinctive 

 characteristics obtrusively to the front, and cannot be mistaken. 

 Not only is there no other American rose like it, but it stands alone 

 in the genus, forming M. Crepin's section, Minutifolise. Its compact 

 habit, its very small and deeply toothed leaflets, and its small, soli- 

 tary flowers almost sessile upon the short branchlets, together make 

 it a very distinct species. * * * It is a much-branched, compact 

 shrub, armed with numerous stout, straight spines, the small leaves 

 often fascicled, and with numerous pink or white flowers along the 

 branches. The globular base of the calyx is covered with short bris- 

 tles. Evidently the flower in its wild state cannot be commended as 

 well suited to the florist's needs, but from its habit of growth the 

 plant may well prove a decided ornament to the lawn and garden in 

 our more southern States, where it would doubtless be hardy.' 



This rose forms low, dense thickets, two to four feet high, on the 

 dry hillsides and mesas from the shores of Todos Santos bay to 

 southward of San Quintin bay, but Mr. Brandegee did not observe 

 it much south of the latter place in his journey through the Cali- 

 fornian peninsula, though it probably extends further southward in 

 the region of the coast. The flowers are scarcely an inch broad, but 

 very bright and pretty, visibly enlivening the dull brown of the mesa 

 lands on which this rose commonly grows. 



