THE VEGETATION OF CAPE BLANCO 
MORTON E. PECK 
To most of us the name of Cape Blanco has a familiar sound, 
bringing back as it does recollections of the geography lessons 
of our early school days, when we learned that it was the most 
westerly point of the United States south of Alaska. We may 
possibly have learned also that it is one of the most dangerous 
points for vessels on our western coast. Beyond these two 
brief facts the knowledge of very few of us extends. 
On June 26 and 27, 1919, the writer visited this most interesting 
locality and made a brief survey of the flora. The results of 
his observations are recorded in the present paper. The area, 
limited as it is, merits a much more detailed study than it has 
received, but the facts here set down may have a certain interest 
for those who have little personal acquaintance with the plant life 
of the Pacific coast. 
Cape Blanco is on the coast of Curry county, Oregon, about 
ten miles south of the Coos-Curry county line, and nearly sixty 
miles north of the Oregon-California line. It is twenty miles further 
west than the point where the latter touches the coast, and to the 
north of the cape the shore line falls away to the eastward about 
as many miles in an equal distance. It thus forms a prominent 
geographical feature on the western coast, — the most conspicu- 
ous, in fact, between Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay. 
Topographically it is peculiar, consisting, except at the extreme 
point, of an almost dead level promontory barely a mile in length 
and less than half that distance in width at its eastern end or 
base. Its seaward extremity curves sharply to the northward, has 
a more irregular surface, and ends in precipitous cliffs. In line 
with the extreme point are two or three high rocky islets of the 
same character as the shore cliffs and cut from them by wave 
erosion. The descent to the sea is nearly everywhere more or 
less precipitous, and the distance is somewhat less than two hun- 
dred feet. 
Cape Blanco is certainly the windiest point in Oregon. It is 
fully exposed to the violent storms of winter, which are of very 
frequent occurrence, and during summer strong gales are blowing 
from the northwest almost continually. High winds, rendered 
