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A previously stated, there is dependable evidence to indicate that the chaparral vegetation characteristic of this region is much more extensive than it previously was. Field-notes in the records of original surveys, however, indicate that dry, gravelly soils have always supported such a growth and that, as more and more intensive grazing held the grasses under greater and greater restraint, the "brush" has spread into adjacent more level and fertile areas which formerly supported an abundance of grasses. Prairie relicts are still sufficiently numerous and variant to indicate the stages of the progressive invasion by mesquite, Acacia, Texas ebony, thorny hackberry, crooked-bush, Zizyphus, Condalia, purple sage, and other species which compose the chaparral.

In the late winter and early spring the region is brilliant and delightful with color, fragrance and song as the brush bursts into blossom, and the multiplied thousands of cardinals and mockingbirds set about their annual home-making. Millions of bees, the while, garner rich stores of nectar.

Buffalo, grama, and curly mesquite constitute the chief range grasses of value, while most of the brush is valuable as browse for goats and sheep. At least one of the shrubs, Karwinskia, is poisonous and constitutes a menace. Bunch grasses are also found in situations favorable for water conservation. Other grasses, harsh, unpalatable and poor in nutritive elements, also occur-for example, Aristida. An abundance of flowering herbs, both annual and perennial, are seasonally found in those areas not subjected to the browsing of sheep and goats.