International Excursion in America. 273 
scrub of Quercus chrysolepis on the alternating talus slopes. On the 
top of El Capitan Pinus Murrayana and the subalpine species P. 
Jeffveyi occur. 
In the afternoon the party drove via Inspiration Point and 
Chinquapin to Wawona. Magnificent views of the Yosemite with 
El Capitan in front were obtained in ascending the side of the valley, 
through forests of Quercus Kelloggii, Q. chrysolepis, Lihocedrus and 
Abies concolor with Rhamnus californicus, Ceanothus integerrimus, 
Acer macrophyllum, and Castanopsis as undergrowth. On the 
Wawona side the forest was dominated mainly by Pinus ponderosa 
with Lihocedrus decurrens and Abies concolor abundant, both showing 
very free regeneration. Arctostaphylos viscida and A. patula 
occurred in quantity in open woodland with Cercocarpus and 
Ceanothus cordulatus in the open and the bipinnate Chamcebatia 
foliolosa often covering the ground in great sheets. At the higher 
elevations near Chinquapin, Pinus Lambertiana increases very much, 
forming twenty or thirty per cent of the forest growth, and freely 
springing from seed, like the yellow pine and the other conifers. 
Ceanothus prostratus also appeared here. The Sugar Pine is a 
magnificent tree, generally exceeding 100 feet in height, and often 
reaching nearer 200 feet. 
Wawona, at the bottom of the valley on the South Fork of the 
Merced River, was reached late in the evening. 
The next day, September 9th, was spent in a visit to the 
famous Mariposa Grove of Big Trees (Sequoiagigantea). The forest 
in which the lower and upper “groves” of Big Trees occur is 
composed of Abies concolor, Pinus ponderosa, Lihocedrus decurrens 
and Pinus Lambertiana, all rejuvenating well, the first-named most 
abundantly. The undergrowth consisted of Ribes Nevadensis, 
Corylus rostrata, Cornus pubescens ; Ceanothus cordulatus and other 
species very abundant, often covering the ground in pure patches; 
also Arctostaphylos patida, Ribes Roezlii, Chamcebatia foliolosa, the 
raspberry-like Rubus Nootkatensis, Prunus emarginata and Pteridium 
aquilinum. The Big Trees themselves occur scattered through the 
woods, but particularly in groups. There are nearly 500 trees 
altogether in the Mariposa Forest. Though not regenerating so 
freely as in the groves further south on the Sierras there is quite 
good reproduction in places. The Big Trees are of course extra¬ 
ordinarily impressive both in size and height, dwarfing as they do 
even the great Sugar Pines, but some hours have to be spent 
among them before one begins to take in their grandeur, and it would 
be necessary to live among them before one could get anything like 
