The Plant Societies of Monterey Peninsula 153 



position. The great bulk of a season's rainfall is absorbed by 

 this cover of vegetable mold, much of it being gradually given up 

 to the under-lying soil, but not a little of it finds its way out of 

 the forest to some small stream that may seek out a course 

 through the sand dunes ultimately reaching the sea. Here and 

 there one comes upon a low, wet meadow in the depths of the 

 forest, or a bit of marsh land in the open; each due to the con- 

 stant supply of water furnished by the forest cover; and each 

 supporting a Mora comprising numerous plants of hydrophytic 

 habit as well as a large number of the more adaptable meso- 

 phytes, such for example, as Sisyrhinchium bellum, Iris longi- 

 petala, Plantago lanceolata, several grasses, and various legumi- 

 nous plants, any or all of them thriving quite as well in soil much 

 less copiously supplied with water. 



Such typical water-loving plants as Mimulus langsdorffii, 

 Lemna minor, Nasturtium officinale, and Azolla filiculoiiles are 

 apt to be especially abundant in small streams that cut their 

 courses through the sand-dune areas. And one not uncommonly 

 meets with highly specialized xerophytes occupying sand bor- 

 dering some shallow stream, the home of hydrophytic plants. 

 In other words, here one may find the two extremes of adapta- 

 tion with reference to water economy without meeting with any 

 intermediate types. 



Anything like a complete list of the plants occurring in the 

 bogs and open stretches along shore is impossible here as the 

 writer was in the field but six weeks of three consecutive sum- 

 mers, and was somewhat hindered in the identification of species 

 owing to the want of a suitable manual covering especially the 

 flora of the Monterey district. With the aid of Jepson's Flora 

 of Middle Western California upwards of a hundred species were 

 determined, a number doubtless representing considerably more 

 than half the total of the seed plants one might observe during 

 the course of the year. 



With the exception of the typically hydrophytic plants, 

 such as Nasturtium officinale, Ranunculus aquatilis, species of 

 Lemna, Mimulus and Juncus, and such mesophytes as Cotula 

 coronopijolia, Hooker a capitata, H. laxa, H. terrestris, H. ixioides, 

 Calochortus luteus, and a few others, the plants occurring in 

 these open formations are not infrequently found associated with 



