Introduction 



11 



the slender stemmed thelesperma, purple horsemint, twisted 

 leaved yucca, queen's delight, deep lavender, woody-stemmed 

 daleas, and long-stemmed, yellow headed daleas of the white 

 limestone hills. Covering the flat-topped rocks is the tiny, fleshy 

 leaved stonecrop and pendant from the pockets of the vertical 

 walls of limestone bluffs is the little yellow composite, laphamia. 



Late fall also has charm. Unlike the autumnal reds and 

 browns of the North, the earth is still bright with the colors of 

 Spring. The chalky hills are tinted with a variety of blossoms 

 ranging from violet-shaded blazing star, through golden asters, 

 to tiny white asters crowded along shrubby stems, and wide 

 spreading clumps of white mountain daisies. Ending the list in 

 November is Eupatorium, a white flowered, spreading bush, 

 hanging over ledges and rocks, and the violet aster of the ravines 

 and shaded grounds. Evergreen sumac liekwise when rainfall 

 is abundant puts forth a second attire of white clustered 

 blossoms. 



To the south is a vegetation as varied and full of contrast as 

 is offered by the hills and valleys of the north. Mesquite covers 

 wide areas in the flats, forming thickets known locally as 

 1 1 mesquite flats ■ ' that thin out gradually as the ground rises into 

 long even swells. These are frequently intermingled and 

 bordered with patches of w T hite brush. Here and there are cactus- 

 covered hilltops, and scattered clumps of white brush, inter- 

 mingled with thorny growths of brazil, lote bush, guayacan, 

 lycium and catsclaw. Further to the southeast, scattered and 

 mixed with the post oak, black jack, and bur oak is the hickory. 

 Most common among the flowering plants, both in pastures and 

 along roadsides are the white-flowered horsemint, Tiny Tim, 

 wide spreading patches of white or pink evening primroses, 

 thickets of long- flowered catsclaw, feathery-leaved acacias, 

 yellow evening primroses dotting the weed patches of open fields, 

 copper colored lillies and great stretches of fragrant yellow 

 daisies (Amblyolepis). 



The riverbottoms are heavily w r ooded with wide spreading 



