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The Atlantic to the Pacific: What to See and How to See it (1873), by John Erastus Lester

TREES AND PLANTS GROWING IN AND AROUND THE YO-SEMITE VALLEY.

Adiantum pedatum.
Aspidium argutum.
Acer macrophyllum.
A. glabrum.
Aconitum nasubum.
Alnus viridis.
Abies Douglasii	The Douglas fir.
Azalea occidentalis	The swamp cheese.
Arctostaphylos glauca	Manzanita.
Adenostema fasciculata.

Boykinia occidentalis.
Bahia confertiflora.

Calamagrostis canadensis.
Cheilanthes gracillima.
Comandra umbellata.
Chaenactis achilloefolia.
Cystopteris fragilis.
Cornus Nuttallii.
Ceanothus integerrimus.
C. divaricatus.

Epilobium angustifolium.

Frangula Californica.

Glyceria nervata.

Hulsia brevifolia.
Hellenium grandiflorum.
Hosackia andiflora.

Lilii	any varieties.
Libocedrus decurrens.

Nuphar advena	The common yellow pond lily.

Philadelphus Californicus.
Pinus ponderosa	The yellow pine.
P. contorta	The pine found in the highest belt of vegetation in the Sierra.
P. aristata.
P. Jeffreyi.
P. Sabiniani	Sugar pine.
P. Lambertiana.
P. Coulteri	The pine with the largest cone.
Picea grandis.
Populus balsamifera	Balsam-poplar, mistaken for cotton-wood.
Phragmites communis.
Pellcea densa.
P. Bridgesii.
P. mucronata.
Polypodium Californicum.
Pentstemon laetus.
Pteris aquilina	The brake seen in New England.

Quercus lobata	The burr-oak; looks much like the New-England elm.
Q. Garryana	White-oak.
Q. densiflora	Narrow-leaf oak.
Q. sonomensis	The black-oak.
Q. chrysolepsis.
Q. vaccinifolia.

Rudbeckia Californica.
Rhamnus Menziesii.
Rubus Nutkanus	The raspberry.
Rosa blanda	The wild rose.
Rhus diversaloba.

Sequoia gigantea	The big tree.
S. sempervirens	The redwood.
Sidalcea malvaeflora.
Sphagnum	Peat moss.
Spraguea umbellata.
Silene compacta.

Tetranthera Californica	The laurel, the wood of which is capable of a high polish.

Veratrum Californicum.

Notes.—It will be observed that most of the trees and plants named are not found east of the Mississippi. In the flowers, yellow will be found to be a prevailing colour. There are many poisonous plants and shrubs, especially a shrub-oak; and care must be taken to wear gloves when collecting specimens. The guides know little of botany; and the popular names vary so in different localities, that it is hard work to identify the plants.

I trust my readers will not lose their collections as I did. I had brought together many specimens, and had arranged them very carefully in the bureau in my room at the hotel, placing them nicely for preservation. One day soon after, when going to my room, I met the chambermaid on the stairs, and she said: ‘I gave your room a good cleaning to-day, sir; and I took all the dry leaves and things out of your bureau.’ ‘Where are they?’ I exclaimed, a feeling of pain coming over me. ‘I threw, them away, sir!’ I tried to explain to her their value to me; but no doubt that chambermaid is to-day at a loss to know why ‘the man in No. —’ filled up his bureau ‘with dry leaves and things.’

The attempts to introduce California plants into the gardens East of the Rocky Mountains have been for the most part failures; and, even in flower-houses, they do not seem to thrive.

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