1881. | Botanical Notes from Tucson. 8s 
and often finding a straight plant and about the right size, will clean 
off the thorns, and then by much labor clean out the pith from 
the stem, leaving a stick which is full of holes of all sizes, and 
which makes a useful and ornamental cane. Then the common 
prickly pear (Opuntia) forms immense patches, covering acres of 
ground, and sometimes forming hedges eight and ten feet high. 
The fruit is known as a “tuni,” and is eaten by the Indians and 
: Mexicans. It is of a very mucilaginous nature, sweet and in- 
sipid, but not very palatable to ordinary tastes. 
It is characteristic of many of the plants of the desert to be 
; provided with thorns, and where there are many thorns there is 
; relatively a small amount of leaf surface. The immense number 
of cacti are by no means the only spine-bearing plants, and one 
of the most remarkable, outside of that family, is the Holacantha 
emoryi. This grows in the dryest and most barren spots of the 
desert, and forms a large mass of what appears to be nearly all 
branches and thorns, but it is intermixed with innumerable clus- 
ters of small yellow flowers. The small leaves are not apparent 
when the plant is in bloom, but come out soon afterward. An- 
other plant of a peculiar character, common at Tombstone, sev- 
enty-five miles south-east of Tucson, is the Molina terana, It 
has a long branching spike of white flowers, intermixed with 
; linear, sharp-pointed leaves. At the base of the stem great num- 
; bers uf long sharp leaves spring in all directions, some being 
eighteen inches or more long, and presenting a formidable appear- 
ance. It abounds in the dryest localities. 
Besides the desert itself, with its peculiar flora, there are one 
or two other places in the vicinity of Tucson which are excel- 
lent for plant gathering. One is in a patch of low ground where 
a small stream has been dammed up forming a pond which 
serves to keep the ground in the vicinity quite moist. Here 
Se ae SS ee fet ek eee Peer ley 
: entirely unfamiliar. Among the former, growing very luxu- 
_tiantly, is the Aspelopsis guinguefolia, apparently the same as the 
eastern form, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Apocynum cannabinuin, 
 Samolus valerandi var. americanus, Medicago sativa, Scirpus olneyi, 
Similar to S. pungens, and Funcus balticus, a native of Europe as 
Well as of the Eastern United States. Among the unfamiliar forms — 
is Amorpha californica, a small shrub with pinnate leaves and long | 
-Tacemes of purple flowers, very similar in appearance to A. fruti- . 
. Oe ee 
VOL, XV.—No, XI, 
some few familiar forms are to be found, mixed with others — : 
