The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-01-30
Today S Science
by DAVID DIETZ'

NEW knowledge of how plants grow and adopt
~ their structure to the conditions under which
they must live is coming from 3O-year STUDY WHICH
group of scientists has been carrying out upon the
American desert.
The United states Is the only great power which
has desert country within its home borders In
character it ranges from regions like the unsettled
areas in the colonies OF Great Britain france 1tay
and Portugal through various degrees of dryness to
semi-arid regions where agriculture is possible but
precarious Semi-arid and arid regions together
comprise "a per cent of the nations area.
At Tucson, Ariz., close to the geographical center
of this North American desert region, is the Desert
Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution OF Washing
ton
Desert is commonly thought Of as sandy or stony
waste devoid of all life, Dr. Forrest Shreve OF the
Desert Laboratory says. las a matter OF fact
there are only few very small spots III the whole
world that would ut this definition. 1t is nearer
the truth to think of desert as country with little
rain. few streams dry soil, high temperature low
humidity and almost nbroken sunshine"
The life of desert plant is an incesSant struggle
against adversely from the vary start, Dr. Shreve
says.
of the many seedlings which appear in the rainy
Seaons not more than one in thousand survives to
the next rainy period, and few indeed the ones
that live to reach full size" he says.
A GREAT deal has been learned about the devices
n which help plants to meet arid conditions, DR..
Shreve continues.
some plants grow and flourish during the rainy
periods and dodge the whole problem Of desert life
bv existing only as seeds during the dry months"
he says Some of them build up a store of water
in the rainy seasons which great enough to supply
their needs for year or more
Others send their roots deep into the soil and
secure every DAY little water to balance what they
have lost to the air The plants in each of these
groups have achieved certain advantages and at the
same time have run into difficulties which limit their
activity or restrict their distribution"
Expeditions into the American Desert emphasize
the fact that 1t is difficult for to exist upon
the desert as it is for plants. The scientists of the
Desert Laboratory make their expeditions with auto
mobiles so equipped TO render the party as indie
pendent and Seltf-Supporting possible.
Adequate supplies Of food water and gasoline
carried. The tools and spare parts necessary for
repairing ordinary motor troubles likewise car
RED to say nothing of Shovels and axes for making
OF road repairs Frequently. the expedition finds no
road at al and has TO travel cross country, picking
its way between cacti and creosote bushes.
One member of the staff of the laboratory, DR..
7. D. Mallory. makes four Journeys every year. Two
are from Tucson TO the Gulf of California. The
other two from Tucson to Tnajas Atlas in
southern Yuma County.
A COMPLETE list of the perennial plants to be
n found in the broad valleys and bare mountains
Of the Canine Del Diablo Is very small. DR.. Shreve
says.
"Har5- creosote bushes are the commonest of
these he says, growing up within 10 feet of each
other in favorable pots or more often limited 10
dozen plants to the acre. Whether there is the usual
rainfall four or five inches year or no rain at
all the creoSote bush is at least able to survive Like
most other desert plants 1t grows and blooms when
II but spends most of its life marking time"
Questions which the scientists of the Desert
Laboratory are seeking TO answer include the follow
ing:
Whence came the plants Of these regions? What
families and genera have contributed most of the
fora? What has been the origin OF the groups that
found only in this inhoSptable area? To what
extent have slow changes In a plant accompanied
Its migration into the desert? Are there groups of
plants that have lived for countless centuries in
the desert and have sent migrant representatives
into moister regions2