Imperial Valley press., 1917-01-26
BOTANICAL STUDY
'OF GREAT VALLEY
is CONDUCTED BY
us. GOVERNMENT.
Local Representative Con-
duets Exhaustive Study
of the Valley Flora.
LOCAL MUTILATION
TREES Is DEPLORED
McGregor Maintains Labor
at0ry for Preserving
Local Specimens.
LOCAL MUTILATION
TREES Is DEPLORED

In the hurly burly life of the pres
ent day, very few citizens devote
much time to things which are pri-
marily aesthetic. In this respect the
Valley is far behind the ancient Greeks
and Romans and the European races
of the present day.
The wild flowers of the Imperial
Valley region, it appears, have re-
ceived but slight attention up to the
present time. The average resident
of the Valley knows almost nothing
of the botany of the region within
which he makes his daily bread. In
1912 and 1918 S. B. Parish of San
Bernardino made preliminary study
of the flora of the Salton Sink and
published his results in a paper en-
titled "Plant Geology and Floristics
Of Salton Sink" Practically no other
articles Of a serious nature have ever
appeared dealing with the native
plant life of the Valley.
During the last year E. A. McGreg-
or of the United States Department
of Agriculture made some slight ef-
forts toward the determination of the
botany of the Imperial region. This
is a purely incidental piece of work
with Mr.. McGregor and is more in
the nature of hobby. There is,
however, a great deal of Importance
in a knowledge of the plant life of
any locality, owing to the fact that
some of our worst pests maintain their
existence during portions of the year
on certain of the native plants and
weeds.
In his laboratory Mr.. McGregor
possesses an up-to-date botanical
press for the drying and pressing
of specimens. A small harbarium
is also at hand in which the pre-
pared plants are kept free from dust
and the work of injurious pests. His
collecting activities last season were
confined mostly to the mountains ~
ing westward of the Valley, in the
vicinity of Jacumba and Live Oak
Springs. In all, 124 species were Sc
cured last year, which are contained
in as plant families. The plant fam
lily containing the most representa-
tives was the sunflower family (Com-
positeae), and the second largest fam
lily was the pea family (Legumino-
seae).
Does it not seem that the children
in the schools should be encouraged
to pay some heed to the native plant
life which is everywhere available
Of late we have noticed the children
of the Olive Street school using the
branches of the cultivated shrubs
growing in the yard for the decora-
tion of their sand-houses. Although
this sort of "botanizing" may be Of
some value to the children, the re-
sulting mutilation of the struggling
ornamentals is handicap to then
proper growth. Many children have
an inherent fondness for flowers ant
this should be stimulated as mucl
as possible along sensible lines.
The bulk of the Identification O.
the Imperial Valley plants collecte'
by Mr.. McGregor is being done b!
Professor Abrams of Stanford Uni
versity. 1t is of interest to not
here that Stanford recently appropri
ated sum of money for the prep
aration of large, authoritative bool
on the flora of the Pacific coast, t.
be written by Professor Adams. /
is partly with the view of assisting
in the completion of this undertaking
that Mr.. McGregor is attempting t
work up the flora of the Imperia
VALLEY region.