NATiVE SPECIES OF THE EEGION. 37 



wild oats and alfilerilla, and the later disappearance of one or both of 

 them t>3 T overstocking. This matter will be more fully discussed after 

 the causes of range deterioration have been considered. 



Col. Redick McKee, United States Indian agent, with a military party, 

 passed over the plateau region from Santa Rosa to Humboldt Bay in the 

 fall of 1851. Mr. George Gibbs, who kept the official diary of the party, 

 mentions a that wild oats were very abundant on the slopes of the 

 lower foothills from Santa Rosa northward. Before reaching Feliz 

 Valley, the most northerly Spanish ranch in the Russian River Val- 

 ley, he notes: "The hills passed to-day were covered with bunch 

 grass, the wild oats having disappeared." Wild oats were again 

 observed on what is now known as Walker Mountain, but were not 

 noted from any place to the northward, though bunch grasses are 

 frequentl} r mentioned. There is no mention of alfilerilla. Colonel 

 McKee's party seems to have been only the second white party to 

 make the overland trip. 



What then were the prevalent plant species before the advent of 

 wild oats and alfilerilla? Though no written record appears to exist, 

 this question can be answered in a fairly satisfactory manner by infer- 

 ence. It is unreasonable to suppose that in the comparatively short 

 time (some fifty years only) which has elapsed since these hills were 

 first ranged by white men any of the then prevalent plants could 

 have become extinct. We must therefore look for them among the 

 species still to be found in protected places on the ranges. In fencecl- 

 off areas surrounding some of the springs on the Bell's Springs Range 

 and a few other places, are still to be found luxuriant growths of native 

 clovers, grasses, and other plants which have been somewhat pro- 

 tected from their natural enemies, the range stock. Of course weedy 

 grasses, with alfilerilla and wild oats, have found their way there also; 

 but the native species have been able to hold their own to a greater 

 extent than elsewhere. The vegetation of such places gives us a clew 

 to the former condition of things. Here are found the native annual 

 clovers, Trifoliumcyathiferum, T. bifidum decipiens, T. tridentatum, T. 

 variegatum var., T. microcephalmn, and T. furcatum virescens, mak- 

 ing a luxuriant growth, sometimes almost knee-deep. Sheep fescue 

 (Festuca ovina), danthonia (Danihonicf calif ornica), Sitanion multi- 

 setum, S. planifolium, S. villosum, and Elymus angustifolius, all pro- 

 miscuously known as ' k bunch grasses," together with ' ' wild pea- vines " 

 (species of Lathyrus) and "wild sunflower" (species of Wyethia), are 

 also plentiful. In dry, rock}' places California melic grass {Melica 

 ccdifornica) , Lemmon's bunch grass (Stipa lemmoni), and one or two 

 species of meadow grass (Poa, allied to P. fendleriana) are frequently 

 found. These are also called "bunch-grasses." 



a Gibbs, George: ' 'Journal of the expedition of Col. Redick McKee. United States 

 Indian agent, through northwestern California, performed in the summer and 



fall of 1851." Published in Dr. Henry Schoolcraft "s Archives of Knowledge, : 



99-177. Philadelphia, 1860. 



