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Title: The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits
Author: Parsons, Mary Elizabeth
Language: English
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THE WILD FLOWERS
OF CALIFORNIA
THE WILD FLOWERS
OF CALIFORNIA
_THEIR NAMES, HAUNTS, AND HABITS_
BY
MARY ELIZABETH PARSONS
ILLUSTRATED BY
MARGARET WARRINER BUCK
_THIRD THOUSAND_
[Illustration]
WILLIAM DOXEY
AT THE SIGN OF THE LARK
SAN FRANCISCO
1897
COPYRIGHT, 1897
WILLIAM DOXEY
THE DOXEY PRESS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
TABLE OF PLATES xiii
HOW TO USE THE BOOK xix
EXPLANATION OF TERMS xxii
IMPORTANT PLANT FAMILIES AND GENERA xxxi
INTRODUCTORY xlii
PRELUDE xlvii
FLOWER DESCRIPTIONS:--
I. WHITE 3
II. YELLOW 109
III. PINK 193
IV. BLUE AND PURPLE 255
V. RED 335
VI. MISCELLANEOUS 369
INDEX TO LATIN NAMES 393
INDEX TO ENGLISH NAMES 399
INDEX OF TECHNICAL TERMS 405
GLOSSARY 406
"Were I, O God, in churchless lands remaining,
Far from all voice of teachers or divines,
My soul would find in flowers of thy ordaining
Priests, sermons, shrines!"
PREFACE
To the thoughtless a flower is often a trivial thing--beautiful perhaps,
and worthy of a passing glance--but that is all. But to the mind open to
the great truths of the universe, it takes on a deeper significance. Such a
mind sees in its often humble beginnings the genesis of things far-reaching
and mighty. Two thousand years ago one grain of the shower of pollen wafted
upon the wind and falling upon a minute undeveloped cone, quickened a seed
there into life, and this dropping into the soil pushed up a tiny thread of
green, which, after the quiet process of the ages, you now behold in the
giant Sequoia which tosses its branches aloft, swept by the four winds of
heaven.
Whether manifesting itself in the inconspicuous flower upon the tree or in
the equally unassuming inflorescence of the vegetable, or unfurling petals
of satin or gauze of brilliant hue and marvelous beauty, the blossom is the
origin of most that is useful or beautiful in the organic world about us.
Strip the world of its blossoms, and the higher forms of life must come to
a speedy termination. Thus we see the flower playing a wonderfully
important part in the cosmos around us. It becomes henceforth not only a
thing of beauty for the gratification of the æsthetic sense, but the
instrument by which Nature brings about the fullness of her perfection in
her own good season.
* * * * *
There is perhaps no nature-study that can yield the same amount of pure and
unalloyed pleasure with so little outlay as the study of the wild flowers.
When one is interested in them, every walk into the fields is transformed
from an aimless ramble into a joyous, eager quest, and every journey upon
stage or railroad becomes a rare opportunity for making new
plant-acquaintances--a season of exhilarating excitement.
Mr. Burroughs, that devout lover of nature, says: "Most young people find
botany a dull study. So it is, as taught from the text-books in the
schools; but study it yourself in the fields and woods, and you will find
it a source of perennial delight. Find your flower, and then name it by the
aid of the botany. There is so much in a name. To find out what a thing is
called is a great help. It is the beginning of knowledge; it is the first
step. When we see a new person who interests us, we wish to know his or her
name. A bird, a flower, a place--the first thing we wish to know about it
is its name. Its name helps us to classify it; it gives us a handle to
grasp it by; it sheds a ray of light where all before was darkness. As soon
as we know the name of a thing, we seem to have established some sort of
relation with it."
Having learned the name of a flower or plant, or having been formally
introduced to it, as it were, our acquaintance has but just begun. Instead
of being our end and aim, as it was with students of botany in the olden
times, this is but the beginning. If this were our ultimate aim, all our
pleasure would be at an end as soon as we had learned the names of all the
plants within our reach. But the point of view has changed and broadened.
The plant is now recognized as a _living organism_, not a dead, unchanging
thing. It is _vital_; it grows; it is amenable to the great laws of the
universe; and we see it daily complying with those laws, adapting itself to
its surroundings--or perishing. It becomes a thing of absorbing interest
when we trace the steps by which it has come to be what it is; when we note
its relationship to other closely allied forms, and locate its place in the
great world of plants.
A thoughtful observation of the structure of plants alone will fill the
mind with amazement at the beauty of their minutest parts, the exquisite
perfection of every organ. Then it is most interesting to notice the
various kinds of places where the same plants grow; how they flourish in
different soils and climates; how they parry the difficulties of new and
unaccustomed surroundings, by some change of structure or habit to meet the
altered conditions--as clothing themselves with wool, to prevent the undue
escape of moisture, or twisting their leaves to a vertical position for the
same purpose, or sending their roots deep into the earth to seek perennial
sources of moisture, which enables them to flourish in our driest times. It
is wonderful to note, too, the methods employed to secure the distribution
of the seed--how it is sometimes imbedded in a delicious edible fruit,
again furnished with hooks or bristles or springs, or provided with silken
sails to waft it away upon the wings of the wind. Then the insects that
visit plants. It is marvelous to note how plants spread their attractions
in bright colors and perfumes and offerings of honey to bees, butterflies,
and moths that can carry their pollen abroad, and how they even place
hindrances in the way of such as are undesirable.
Studied in this way, botany is no longer the dry science it used to be, but
becomes a most fascinating pursuit; and we know of no richer field in which
to carry on the study of flowers than that afforded in California.
* * * * *
There has been a long-felt need of a popular work upon the wild flowers of
California. Though celebrated throughout the world for their wealth and
beauty, and though many of them have found their way across the waters and
endeared themselves to plant lovers in many a foreign garden, the story of
their home life has never yet been told.
It has been the delightful task of the author and the illustrator of the
present work to seek them out in their native haunts--on seashore and mesa,
in deep, cool cañon, on dry and open hill-slope, on mountain-top, in
glacier meadow, by stream and lake, in marsh and woodland, and to listen to
the ofttimes marvelous tales they have had to unfold. If they shall have
succeeded in making better known these children of Mother Nature to her
lovers and appreciators, and in arousing an interest in them among those
who have hitherto found the technical difficulties of scientific botany
insurmountable, they will feel amply rewarded for their labors.
The present work does not claim by any means to be a complete flora of the
region treated. Our State is so new, and many parts of it have as yet been
so imperfectly explored, that a comprehensive and exhaustive flora of it
must be the work of a future time, and will doubtless be undertaken by some
one when all the data have been procured. Such an attempt, however, were it
possible, is without the scope of the present work.
California, with her wonderfully varied climate and topography, has a flora
correspondingly rich and varied, probably not surpassed by any region of
like area in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus the author finds herself
confronted with an embarrassment of riches rather than with any lack of
material; and it has often been exceedingly difficult to exclude some
beautiful flower that seemed to have strong claims to representation. She
therefore craves beforehand the indulgence of the reader, should he find
some favorite missing.
In making a choice, she has been guided by the following general
principles, and selected, _first_--the flowers most general in their
distribution; _second_--those remarkable for their beauty of form or color,
their interesting structure, history, or economic uses; _third_--those
which are characteristically Californian. At the same time, those which are
too insignificant in appearance to attract attention and those too
difficult of determination by the non-botanist have been omitted. Flowering
plants only have been included.
Many of our species extend northward into Oregon and Washington. Thus,
while this work is called "THE WILD FLOWERS OF CALIFORNIA," it will in a
certain measure apply equally well to Oregon and Washington.
It has been the aim of the author to picture for the most part the flowers
peculiarly Californian, leaving Mrs. Dana's charming book, "How to Know the
Wild Flowers," to illustrate those we possess in common with the Atlantic
Slope, thus making the works the complements one of the other.
Mrs. Dana has kindly permitted the author to use her plan of
arrangement--_i.e._ of grouping all the white flowers in one section, the
yellow in another, the pink in a third, and so on, which, in the absence of
a key, greatly facilitates the finding of any given flower. The flowers of
each section have been arranged as nearly as possible according to their
natural succession in the seasons, with one or two exceptions.
Such confusion is rife in the nomenclature of Californian plants, and the
same plant is so often furnished with several names,--and several plants
sometimes with the same name,--that the authority is in every instance
quoted, in order to make it perfectly clear what plant is meant by the name
given. Wherever allusion is made to the Spanish-Californians, the
Spanish-_speaking_ Californians are meant, very few of whom are Castilians
at the present day, most of whom are of an admixture of races.
The flower-cuts are all from pen-and-ink drawings by the illustrator; and
all but four are from her own original studies from nature. These four,
which it was impossible for her to procure, have been adapted by her from
other drawings, by the aid of herbarium specimens. They include _Aphyllon
fasciculatum_, _Fremontia Californica_, _Hosackia gracilis_, and _Brodiæa
volubilis_. It has been impossible upon so small a page to maintain a
uniform relative size in the drawings, for which reason the
plant-descriptions in fine print should be consulted for the size.
The author and the illustrator desire to make grateful acknowledgments to
many kind friends throughout the State who have rendered them assistance in
numerous ways. Their gratitude is due in particular to Miss Alice Eastwood,
of the California Academy of Sciences, who, by her unfailing kindness and
encouragement, as well as by her personal assistance, has rendered them
invaluable aid. Also, to Mr. Carl Purdy, of Ukiah, who from his wide
experience, as a grower of our native liliaceous plants, has a knowledge of
them shared by few or none, and who has generously placed at their disposal
the results of his observations. They also tender their thanks to the
Southern Pacific and the North Pacific Railways, who, by their generous
granting of reduced rates and passes, have made possible a wider personal
acquaintance with the flowers than could have otherwise been enjoyed.
San Rafael, Cal., October 15, 1897.
TABLE OF PLATES
PAGE
ACONITE _Aconitum Columbianum_ 329
ALFALFA _Medicago sativa_ 327
ALFILERILLA _Erodium cicutarium_ 195
ALPINE HEATHER _Bryanthus Breweri_ 247
ALPINE PHLOX _Phlox Douglasii_ 249
ALUM-ROOT _Heuchera micrantha_ 59
AMERICAN BARRENWORT _Vancouveria parviflora_ 89
ANEMONE, WOOD _Anemone quinquefolia_ 19
AUGUST-FLOWER _Grindelia cuneifolia_ 177
AZULEA _Sisyrinchium bellum_ 285
AZURE BEARD-TONGUE _Pentstemon azureus_ 309
BABY-BLUE-EYES _Nemophila insignis_ 291
BEACH-ASTER _Erigeron glaucus_ 305
BEAUTIFUL CLARKIA _Clarkia concinna_ 237
BEE-PLANT, CALIFORNIAN _Scrophularia Californica_ 343
BELLFLOWER _Campanula prenanthoides_ 323
BIG-ROOT _Echinocystis fabacea_ 27
BLAZING-STAR _Mentzelia Lindleyi_ 169
BLEEDING-HEART _Dicentra formosa_ 243
BLUE-BLOSSOM _Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_ 275
BLUE-EYED GRASS _Sisyrinchium bellum_ 285
BLUE GENTIAN _Gentiana calycosa_ 331
BLUE GILIA _Gilia Chamissonis_ 297
BLUE LARKSPUR _Delphinium_ 277
BLUE-AND-WHITE LUPINE _Lupinus bicolor_ 301
BLUE MILLA _Brodiæa laxa_ 303
BLUE MYRTLE _Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_ 275
BLUEWEED _Aconitum Columbianum_ 329
BRODIÆA _Brodiæa capitata_ 263
BRONZE-BELLS }
BROWN LILY } _Fritillaria lanceolata_ 265
CALF'S-HEAD _Darlingtonia Californica_ 391
CALIFORNIA FUCHSIA _Zauschneria Californica_ 367
CALIFORNIA LILAC _Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_ 275
CALIFORNIA POPPY _Eschscholtzia Californica_ 115
CALIFORNIAN AZALEA _Rhododendron occidentale_ 87
CALIFORNIAN CENTAURY _Erythræa venusta_ 219
CALIFORNIAN ROSE-BAY _Rhododendron Californicum_ 235
CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM _Fremontia Californica_ 159
CALYPSO _Calypso borealis_ 211
CANAIGRE _Rumex hymenosepalus_ 379
CANCER-ROOT _Aphyllon fasciculatum_ 173
CANCHALAGUA _Erythræa venusta_ 219
CAT'S-EARS _Calochortus Maweanus_ 279
CHAMISE LILY _Erythronium giganteum_ 137
CHAPARRAL LILY _Lilium rubescens_ 73
CHAPARRAL PEA _Pickeringia montana_ 231
CHIA _Salvia Columbariæ_ 299
CHILICOTHE _Echinocystis fabacea_ 27
CHRISTMAS-HORNS _Delphinium nudicaule_ 347
CLIMBING PENTSTEMON _Pentstemon cordifolius_ 351
CLOCKS _Erodium cicutarium_ 195
CLUSTER-LILY _Brodiæa capitata_ 263
COLLINSIA _Collinsia bicolor_ 295
COLUMBINE _Aquilegia truncata_ 349
COMMON ASTER _Aster Chamissonis_ 333
COMMON MONKEY-FLOWER _Mimulus luteus_ 135
CORAL-ROOT _Corallorhiza Bigelovii_ 273
CREAM-COLORED WALL-FLOWER _Erysimum grandiflorum_ 133
CREAM-CUPS _Platystemon Californicus_ 113
CURRANT, CALIFORNIAN WILD _Ribes glutinosum_ 215
DEERWEED _Hosackia glabra_ 153
DIOGENES' LANTERN _Calochortus pulchellus_ 145
DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET _Erythronium giganteum_ 137
DUTCHMAN'S PIPE _Aristolochia Californica_ 375
FALSE LADY'S SLIPPER _Epipactis gigantea_ 389
FALSE MALLOW _Malvastrum Thurberi_ 221
FALSE TIDY-TIPS _Leptosyne Douglasii_ 149
FAREWELL TO SPRING _Godetia viminea_ 241
FAWN-LILY _Erythronium giganteum_ 137
FETID ADDER'S-TONGUE _Scoliopus Bigelovii_ 257
FIRECRACKER FLOWER _Brodiæa coccinea_ 239
FIREWEED _Epilobium spicatum_ 245
FOUR-O'CLOCK, CALIFORNIAN _Mirabilis Californica_ 209
FRINGED GILIA _Gilia dianthoides_ 217
GODETIA _Godetia viminea_ 241
GOLDEN LILY-BELL _Calochortus pulchellus_ 145
GOLDEN STARS _Bloomeria aurea_ 155
GOOSEBERRY, FUCHSIA-FLOWERED _Ribes speciosum_ 339
GREAT WILLOW-HERB _Epilobium spicatum_ 245
GROUND-IRIS _Iris macrosiphon_ 281
GROUND-PINK _Gilia dianthoides_ 217
GUM-PLANT _Grindelia cuneifolia_ 177
HAIRBELL _Calochortus albus_ 55
HAREBELL, CALIFORNIAN _Campanula prenanthoides_ 323
HARVEST BRODIÆA _Brodiæa grandiflora_ 319
HEN-AND-CHICKENS _Cotyledon Californicum_ 143
HOUND'S-TONGUE _Cynoglossum grande_ 259
HUCKLEBERRY _Vaccinium ovatum_ 201
HUMMING-BIRD'S TRUMPET _Zauschneria Californica_ 367
INDIAN LETTUCE _Montia perfoliata_ 17
INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH _Castilleia parviflora_ 345
INDIAN PINK _Silene Californica_ 355
INDIAN WARRIOR _Pedicularis densiflora_ 337
ITHURIEL'S SPEAR _Brodiæa laxa_ 303
LADIES' TRESSES _Spiranthes Romanzoffianum_ 93
LANTERN OF THE FAIRIES _Calochortus albus_ 55
LARGE-FLOWERED BRODIÆA _Brodiæa grandiflora_ 319
LESSINGIA _Lessingia leptoclada_ 253
LITTLE ALPINE LILY _Lilium parvum_ 181
LOCO-WEED _Astragalus leucopsis_ 41
LUCERN _Medicago sativa_ 327
MANZANITA _Arctostaphylos manzanita_ 13
MARIPOSA TULIP _Calochortus venustus_ 79
MATILIJA POPPY _Romneya Coulteri_ 65
MEADOW-FOAM _Flœrkia Douglasii_ 127
MILKWEED, COMMON _Asclepias Mexicana_ 313
MILKWEED, HORNLESS WOOLLY _Gomphocarpus tomentosus_ 381
MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS _Habenaria leucostachys_ 95
MILKWORT, CALIFORNIAN _Polygala Californica_ 287
MINER'S LETTUCE _Montia perfoliata_ 17
MIST-MAIDENS _Romanzoffia Sitchensis_ 23
MONK'S-HOOD _Aconitum Columbianum_ 329
MOTTLED SWAMP-ORCHIS _Epipactis gigantea_ 389
MOUNTAIN BALM _Eriodictyon glutinosum_ 57
MOUNTAIN LADY'S SLIPPER _Cypripedium montanum_ 383
PENNYROYAL _Monardella villosa_ 325
PENTACHÆTA _Pentachæta aurea_ 125
PEPPER-ROOT _Dentaria Californica_ 5
PIN-CLOVER _Erodium cicutarium_ 195
PINE-DROPS _Pterospora andromedea_ 187
PINK PAINT-BRUSH _Orthocarpus purpurascens_ 229
PIPE-VINE _Aristolochia Californica_ 375
PIPSISSIWA _Chimaphila Menziesii_ 105
PITCHER-PLANT, CALIFORNIAN _Darlingtonia Californica_ 391
PITCHER-SAGE _Sphacele calycina_ 43
POISON-OAK _Rhus diversiloba_ 9
POLÉO _Monardella villosa_ 325
POP-CORN FLOWER 31
PRICKLY PHLOX _Gilia Californica_ 207
PRINCE'S PINE _Chimaphila Menziesii_ 105
PUSSY'S-EARS _Calochortus Maweanus_ 279
PUSSY'S-PAWS _Spraguea umbellata_ 71
QUININE-BUSH _Garrya elliptica_ 371
RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN _Goodyera Menziesii_ 99
RATTLE-WEED _Astragalus leucopsis_ 41
RED-STEMMED FILAREE _Erodium cicutarium_ 195
REDWOOD-SORREL _Oxalis Oregana_ 197
REIN-ORCHIS _Habenaria elegans_ 385
RESIN-WEED _Grindelia cuneifolia_ 177
RICE-ROOT _Fritillaria lanceolata_ 265
ROMERO _Trichostema lanatum_ 317
RUBY LILY _Lilium rubescens_ 73
SAXIFRAGE, CALIFORNIAN _Saxifraga Californica_ 15
SCARLET BUGLER _Pentstemon centranthifolius_ 359
SCARLET GILIA _gilia Aggregata_ 361
SCARLET HONEYSUCKLE _Pentstemon cordifolius_ 351
SCARLET LARKSPUR, NORTHERN _Delphinium nudicaule_ 347
SCARLET PAINT-BRUSH _Castilleia parviflora_ 345
SHOOTING-STARS _Dodecatheon Meadia_ 205
SIERRA PRIMROSE _Primula Suffrutescens_ 251
SILK-TASSEL TREE _Garrya elliptica_ 371
SKULLCAP _Scutellaria tuberosa_ 271
SNAPDRAGON, VIOLET _Antirrhinum vagans_ 321
SNOW-PLANT _Sarcodes sanguinea_ 363
SOAP-PLANT _Chlorogalum pomeridianum_ 83
SPRING-BLOSSOM _Dentaria Californica_ 5
STICKY MONKEY-FLOWER _Mimulus glutinosus_ 139
ST. JOHN'S-WORT _Hypericum concinnum_ 163
SULPHUR-FLOWER _Eriogonum umbellatum_ 179
SUN-CUPS _OEnothera ovata_ 111
SUNSHINE _Bæria gracilis_ 125
SWEET-SCENTED SHRUB, CALIF'N. _Calycanthus occidentalis_ 353
TARWEED _Hemizonia luzulæfolia_ 189
TARWEED _Madia elegans_ 183
TIDY-TIPS _Layia platyglossa_ 149
TOOTHWORT _Dentaria Californica_ 5
TOROSA _Eschscholtzia Californica_ 115
TREE-MALLOW _Lavatera assurgentiflora_ 227
TREE-POPPY _Dendromecon rigidum_ 119
TRILLIUM, CALIFORNIAN _Trillium sessile_ 261
TWIN-BERRY _Lonicera involucrata_ 123
TWINING HYACINTH _Brodiæa volubilis_ 233
VILLELA _Sisyrinchium bellum_ 285
VIOLET NIGHTSHADE _Solanum Xanti_ 269
WAKE-ROBIN _Trillium ovatum_ 11
WHIPPLEA _Whipplea modesta_ 33
WHISPERING BELLS _Emmenanthe penduliflora_ 131
WHITE EVENING PRIMROSE _Œnothera Californica_ 49
WHITE FORGET-ME-NOT 31
WHITE OWL'S CLOVER _Orthocarpus versicolor_ 53
WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF _Pyrola picta_ 101
WILD BROOM _Hosackia glabra_ 153
WILD BUCKWHEAT _Eriogonum fasciculatum_ 35
WILD CANTERBURY-BELL _Phacelia Whitlavia_ 289
WILD COREOPSIS _Madia elegans_ 183
WILD CUCUMBER _Echinocystis fabacea_ 27
WILD CURRANT, CALIFORNIAN _Ribes glutinosum_ 215
WILD CYCLAMEN _Dodecatheon Meadia_ 205
WILD GINGER _Asarum caudatum_ 311
WILD HELIOTROPE _Phacelia tanacetifolia_ 283
WILD HOLLYHOCK _Sidalcea malvæflora_ 199
WILD HYACINTH _Brodiæa capitata_ 263
WILD PEONY _Pæonia Brownii_ 341
WILD PIE-PLANT _Rumex hymenosepalus_ 379
WILD PORTULACA _Calandrinia caulescens_ 213
WIND-FLOWER _Anemone quinquefolia_ 19
WOOD-BALM _Sphacele calycina_ 43
WOOLLY BLUE-CURLS _Trichostema lanatum_ 317
YELLOW DAISY _Layia platyglossa_ 149
YELLOW GLOBE-TULIP _Calochortus pulchellus_ 145
YELLOW PANSY _Viola pedunculata_ 121
YELLOW SAND-VERBENA _Abronia latifolia_ 147
YERBA BUENA _Micromeria Douglasii_ 63
YERBA MANSA _Anemopsis Californica_ 77
YERBA SANTA _Eriodictyon glutinosum_ 57
ZYGADENE _Zygadenus Fremonti_ 7
---- _Baccharis Douglasii_ 107
---- _Gilia androsacea_ 223
---- _Hosackia gracilis_ 167
HOW TO USE THE BOOK
When gathering flowers with a view to ascertaining their names with the
help of the botany, the whole plant--root, stem, leaves, flowers, buds, and
fruit--should be secured, if possible. This will avoid much uncertainty in
the work.
The anthers are best seen in the unopened buds, and the ovary in old
flowers or those gone to seed. A cross-section of the ovary will show the
number of its cells.
The flowers should be sorted into colors, and each in turn looked for in
its own color-section. In arranging the flowers according to color, some
difficulty has been experienced, because the pink blends so gradually into
the purple, and the purple into white, etc., that it has been impossible
sometimes to say accurately to which section a flower rightly belongs. In
such a case search must be made in the other probable section. Sometimes
the same flower occurs in several colors, in which case it is usually put
into the section in whose color it most frequently occurs. In the Red
Section have been included flowers of a scarlet hue, not those of crimson
or magenta hues, as these have a tendency to merge into pink or purple.
Flowers of a greenish-white are usually put into the White Section, those
of more decided green into the Miscellaneous.
It is an excellent plan for the student to write a careful description of
his plant before beginning to look for it in the book; commencing with the
root, passing on to stem, leaves, inflorescence, calyx, corolla, etc.,
taking the order of the technical descriptions in the book. This will serve
to do away with that vacillating condition of mind which is often the
result of reading a number of plant-descriptions before fixing firmly in
mind the characters of the specimen under consideration.
A magnifying-glass--or a small dissecting microscope and a good Zeiss lens,
if more careful work is to be done,--a couple of dissecting needles, a
pocket-knife, and a small three or four-inch measure, having one of the
inches divided into lines, will be required for examining specimens.
It is also a good plan to make a note of the date and place of collection
of all plants, as it is often of great interest to know these facts at some
future time.
Plants are grouped into great orders, or families, which are made up of a
number of genera, each genus consisting of a number of species. Every plant
has two Latin names; the first a generic name, answering to the last name
of a person; the second a specific name, answering to a person's given
name. The latter is usually descriptive of some quality or character of the
plant, the name of the place where found, or of its discoverer, or of some
person in whose honor it is named. This dual name serves to clearly
distinguish the species from all others, especially when the name of the
person by whom the specific name was bestowed is added.
Each plant-family bears an English title, which is usually the name of its
best-known genus. Thus the order _Leguminosæ_ is known as the "Pea Family"
because _Lathyrus_, or the pea, is its best-known genus. In many instances
the English names borne by orders in the Eastern States have no
significance with us, as the type genus is not found in our flora. In such
cases we have given the name of the genus best known among us, to which we
have added the other; thus, "Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family."
Most of our plants have common English names, and the same plant is often
known by one name in one locality and by another in another. Hence, while
these names are often pretty and apt, they cannot serve for the accurate
identification of the plant. For this we must consult its Latin name, by
which it is known all over the world.
Wherever the terms used are not understood, reference should be made to the
"Explanation of Terms" or to the Glossary.
For identification of species not found in the present work, other books
should be consulted. The two large volumes of the botany of the Geological
Survey of California are the most complete of anything thus far published.
In addition to these, "The Synoptical Flora of North America," as far as
published (the _Gamopetalæ_, the _Compositæ_, and some orders of the
_Polypetalæ_), furnishes valuable aid. Professor E.L. Greene's works, "The
Botany of the Bay Region," "Pittonia," and "Flora Franciscana," furnish
excellent plant-descriptions for the more advanced botanist. The author's
technical descriptions have in every instance been verified by comparison
with one or more of the above works.
Miss Eastwood's little volume, recently published as Part Second of
"Bergen's Elements of Botany," (and also issued in separate form), is
recommended for use in connection with the present work, as it embodies in
compact form a general view of the method of classification of plants,
showing their places in the plant-world and their relations to one another.
It also contains very clear descriptions of plant-families. To the student
who becomes interested in knowing more about the structure of plants,
Gray's "Structural Botany" will prove useful; and the large work of Oliver
and Kerner (translated from the German) will prove a fascinating book.
EXPLANATION OF TERMS
[The following simple definitions of the more common terms used
have been mostly taken or adapted from the works of Asa Gray
and others, and will prove useful to those unacquainted with
botany, or to those whose memories require refreshing.]
ROOTS
The =root= is that portion of the plant which grows downward, fixing it to
the soil, and absorbing nourishment from the latter. True roots produce
nothing but root-branches or rootlets.
Simple or unbranched roots are named according to their shapes--
_conical_, when like the carrot;
_napiform_, when like the turnip;
_fusiform_, when like the long radish.
Multiple, or branched, roots may be--
_fascicled_, or bunched, as in the dahlia;
_tubercular_, when furnished with small tubers;
_fibrous_, when threadlike.
STEMS
The =stem= is the ascending axis of the plant, which usually bears the
leaves, flowers, and fruit. The points on the stem to which the leaves are
fastened are called the =nodes=; and the portions of stem between the nodes
are called the =internodes=. The angle formed by the upper side of the leaf
and the stem is called the =axil=.
Stems aboveground are classed as--
_erect_, when growing upright;
_procumbent_, when lying on the ground without rooting;
_decumbent_, when lying on the ground with the tip ascending;
_diffuse_, when loosely spreading;
_creeping_, when growing on the ground and rooting.
Stems underground are classed as =rhizomes= (or =rootstocks=) =tubers=,
=corms=, and =bulbs=, the forms passing into one another by gradations.
A =rhizome=, or =rootstock=, is a horizontal underground stem. It
is sometimes thick, fleshy, or woody, as in the iris;
a =tuber= is a short, much thickened rootstock, having eyes or
buds of which the potato is an example;
a =corm= is a depressed and rounded, solid rootstock; it may be
called a solid bulb; the garden cyclamen is an example;
a =bulb= is a leaf-bud, commonly underground, with fleshy scales
or coats; the lily is an example.
LEAVES
=Leaves= are the green expansions borne by the stem, out-spread in the
air and light, in which assimilation is carried on. They may be said to
be the stomachs of the plant. A typical leaf consists of three
parts--the =blade=, the =foot-stalk= (or =petiole=), and a pair of
=stipules=. Yet any one of these parts may be absent.
The =blade= is the expanded portion of the leaf and the part to
which the word _leaf_, in its commonest sense, is applied;
the =stipules= are small, usually leaflike bodies borne at the
base of the petiole, usually one on either side;
the =petiole= is the stalk of the leaf.
=Leaves= are =simple=, when having but one blade; =compound=, when
having more than one, when each blade is called a =leaflet=.
Compound leaves are said to be--
_pinnate_, when the leaflets are arranged along the sides of a
petiole, or rather of its prolongation, the rachis;
_abruptly pinnate_, with an even number of leaflets;
_odd-pinnate_, with an odd leaflet at the end;
_palmate_, or _digitate_, when the leaflets all diverge from
the summit of the petiole, like the fingers of a hand.
VENATION
The venation, or veining, of leaves relates to the mode in which the woody
tissue, in the form of ribs, veins, etc., is distributed in the cellular
tissue.
There are two principle modes--
the _parallel-veined_, of which the iris is an example;
the _reticulated-veined_, or _netted-veined_, of which the Elm
is an example.
Small veins are called =veinlets=.
FORM
As to general form, or outline, leaves are:--
Those broadest in the middle--
_peltate_, or shield-shaped, when rounded, with the stem
attached to the center, or near it--as in the garden
nasturtium;
_orbicular_, when circular in outline, or nearly so;
_oval_, when having a flowing outline, with the breadth
considerably more than half the length, and both ends alike;
_elliptical_, when having a flowing outline, twice or thrice as
long as broad, and both ends alike;
_oblong_, when nearly twice or thrice as long as broad;
_linear_, when narrow, several times longer than wide, and of
about the same width throughout;
_acerose_, when needle-shaped--like the Pine.
Those broadest at the base--
_deltoid_, when having the triangular shape of the Greek letter
_delta_;
_ovate_, when having an outline like the section of a
hen's-egg, the broader end downward;
_lanceolate_, or lance-shaped, when several times longer than
broad, and tapering upward, or both upward and downward;
_subulate_, when shaped like an awl;
_cordate_, when ovate, with a heart-shaped base;
_reniform_, when like the last, only rounder and broader than
long;
_auriculate_, when having a pair of small blunt projections, or
ears, at the base;
_sagittate_, or arrow-shaped, when those ears are acute and
turned downward, the body of the leaf tapering upward;
_hastate_, or halberd-shaped, when the ears or lobes point
outward.
Those broadest at the apex--
_obovate_, when inversely ovate;
_oblanceolate_, when inversely lanceolate;
_spatulate_, when rounded above, and long and narrow below,
like a druggist's spatula;
_cuneate_, or wedge-shaped, when broad above, tapering by
straight lines to an acute base;
_obcordate_, when inversely cordate.
Sometimes no one of the above terms will describe a leaf, and it becomes
necessary to combine two of them; as, _linear-spatulate_,
_ovate-lanceolate_, etc.
THE APEX
Leaves are classified according to their apices; as--
_emarginate_, when having a decided terminal notch;
_truncate_, when abruptly cut off;
_obtuse_, when ending in a blunt or roundish extremity;
_acute_, when ending in an acute angle, without special
tapering;
_acuminate_, when tapering into a narrow, more or less
prolonged end;
_mucronate_, when abruptly tipped with a small, short point.
THE MARGIN
Leaves are classified according to their margins; as--
_entire_, when the margin is completely filled out to an even
line;
_repand_, or _undulate_, when the margin is a wavy line;
_dentate_, or _toothed_, when the teeth point outward;
_crenate_, or _scalloped_, when dentate, with the teeth
rounded;
_serrate_, when having small sharp teeth directed forward;
_incised_, when cut by sharp and irregular incisions more or
less deeply;
_lobed_, when cut not more than half-way to the midrib, and the
divisions or their angles are rounded;
_cleft_, when cut half-way down or more, and the lobes or
sinuses are narrow or acute;
_parted_, when the cutting reaches almost but not quite to the
midrib;
_divided_, when the blade is cut into distinct parts, thus
making the leaf compound.
All these terms may be modified by the words _pinnate_ or _palmate_;
thus--_pinnately parted_, _pinnately divided_, _palmately parted_,
_palmately divided_, etc.; also by the adjectives _once_, _twice_,
_thrice_, etc.
TEXTURE
Leaves vary as to texture, and may be--
_coriaceous_, or leathery;
_succulent_, or juicy;
_scarious_, or dry and thin;
_fleshy_, or thick;
_herbaceous_, or thin.
ARRANGEMENT
According to their arrangement on the stem, leaves are--
_alternate_, when distributed singly at different heights on
the stem;
_opposite_, when two stand opposite each other at the nodes;
_whorled_, when more than two are borne at a node, equidistant
in a circle around the stem.
INFLORESCENCE
=Inflorescence= is a term commonly applied to the mode of flowering--_i.e._
to the arrangement of blossoms on the stem and their relative positions to
one another.
A =peduncle= is the stem of a solitary flower, or the main stem
of a flower-cluster;
a =scape= is a peduncle growing from the ground;
a =pedicel= is the stem of each flower in a cluster;
a =bract= is a small floral leaf;
an =involucre= is a collection of bracts around a flower-cluster
or around a single flower.
Flowers may be solitary or clustered.
Solitary flowers or flower-clusters are--
_terminal_, when borne at the summit of the stem;
_axillary_, when borne in the axils of the leaves.
A flower-cluster is called--
a =raceme=, when the flowers are arranged along the axis upon
pedicels nearly equal in length;
a =corymb=, when the flowers are arranged as in the raceme, with
the lower pedicels elongated, making the cluster flat-topped;
an =umbel=, when the pedicels arise from the same point, like the
rays of an umbrella, and the cluster is flat-topped;
a =panicle=, when compound, irregularly made up of a number of
racemes;
a =spike=, when like a raceme, the flowers being without
pedicels;
a =spadix=, when it is a fleshy spike, generally enveloped by a
large bract, called a =spathe=, as in the calla-lily;
an =ament=, or =catkin=, when it is a pendent spike, with scaly
bracts, like the Willow;
a =head=, when it is a shortened spike, with a globular form;
a =cyme=, when it is branched and flat-topped, usually compound,
with the older flowers in the center of each simple cluster.
THE INDIVIDUAL FLOWER
A =complete flower= consists of =stamens= and =pistils= (the organs of
reproduction), and =calyx= and =corolla= (the floral envelops which
protect the stamens and pistils). But any one of these organs may be
absent.
The =calyx= is the outer floral envelop, which is more often
green, though it is sometimes colored. It may consist of a
number of separate parts, called =sepals=, or these may be more
or less united.
The =corolla= is the inner floral envelop. It is usually colored,
and forms the most beautiful feature of the flower, and plays
an important part in attracting insects to it, which may carry
on the work of fertilization. It may consist of a number of
separate parts, called =petals=, or these may be more or less
united, in which case the corolla is said to be _gamopetalous_.
When the calyx and corolla are much alike, and seem like one
floral circle, this is referred to as a =perianth=.
The =stamens= and =pistils= are called the =essential organs= of a
flower, because they are necessary to the maturing of the
fruit.
=Perfect flowers= have both sets of essential organs.
=Imperfect flowers= have but one set of essential organs.
_Staminate_ (or male) _flowers_ have only stamens;
_Pistillate_ (or female) _flowers_ have only pistils.
_Neutral flowers_ have neither.
THE STAMEN
The =stamen= consists of two parts--the =filament= and the =anther=. The
filament is the stalk of the stamen. The anther is the little case
holding the =pollen=, or powdery substance, which, falling upon the
stigma, is conducted downward into the ovary, where it quickens the
ovules into life. The anther normally consists of two cells, which more
often open lengthwise for the discharge of the pollen, though they
sometimes open by terminal pores or chinks, or by uplifting lids.
Stamens sometimes undergo a morphological change, taking the form of
scales or other bodies (as is the case in many of our _Brodiæas_), when
they are called =staminodia=.
THE PISTIL
The =pistil= is the organ occupying the center of the flower. It
consists of three parts--the =ovary=, or the enlarged part below,
consisting of one or more cells or cavities, and containing the ovules,
or unfertilized seed; the =style=, or the stem which upholds the stigma;
the =stigma=, or the roughened portion which receives the pollen.
The pistil is _simple_, when it has but one ovary, style, stigma, etc.;
_compound_, if any one of these is duplicated.
THE FRUIT
The =fruit= is the ripened ovary. After the ovules have been fertilized,
the ovary is called a =pericarp=. Fruits may be either _fleshy_ or
_dry_.
The following are some of the principal kinds of dry fruits:--
A =capsule= is a dry, dehiscent (splitting) fruit, composed of
more than one carpel or division;
an =akene= is a small, dry, hard, one-celled, one-seeded
indehiscent fruit;
a =follicle= is a pod formed from a single pistil, dehiscing
along the ventral suture only;
a =legume= is a simple pericarp, opening by both seams.
a =samara= is a dry, indehiscent fruit, having a wing.
The following are some of the principal kinds of fleshy fruits:--
A =pome= is a fruit like an apple or pear;
the =pepo=, or =gourd=, fruit is like that of the melon, squash,
etc.;
the =drupe= is like that of the cherry, plum, and peach;
the =berry= is like that of the grape, currant, and tomato.
=Aggregate fruits= are those in which a cluster of carpels, all of one
flower, are crowded upon the receptacle into one mass; as in the
raspberry and blackberry.
IMPORTANT PLANT FAMILIES AND GENERA
[To avoid too long technical descriptions in the body of the
work, a few of the more important plant families and genera
have been inserted below, to which reference has been made in
the technical descriptions.]
FAMILIES
=Cruciferæ.= Mustard Family.
Herbs with pungent, watery juice. _Leaves._--Alternate; without
stipules; entire or divided. _Flowers._--Generally in racemes.
_Sepals._--Four. _Petals._--Four; usually with narrowed base or
claw; the blades spreading to form a cross. _Stamens._--Six;
two of them shorter than the other four. _Ovary._--Two-celled;
rarely one-celled. Style undivided, or none. Stigma entire or
two-lobed. _Fruit._--A silique--_i.e._ a capsule, in which the
walls separate upward away from a central partition.
The Mustard family is a very large one, comprising over a hundred and
seventy genera, and containing between one and two thousand species. It is
widely distributed over all parts of the world, but is most abundantly
represented in the cooler or temperate regions. It furnishes us with many
useful plants; such as the mustard, horseradish, radish, cabbage, turnip,
cauliflower, etc.
The genera of this order are very closely allied, and very difficult of
discrimination. The fruit, as well as the flower, is necessary in the study
of any given species.
=Leguminosæ.= Pea Family.
The order _Leguminosæ_ is divided into three well-marked sub-orders--the
Pea family proper, the Brasiletto family, and the Mimosa family. But as all
our genera, save _Cercis_, fall under the first, we shall describe that
only.
PAPILIONACEÆ. Pea Family proper.
Herbs, shrubs, or trees. _Leaves._--Usually alternate;
compound; with stipules; the latter sometimes transformed into
thorns or tendrils. _Flowers._--Seldom solitary; usually in
spikes, racemes or umbels. _Calyx._--Five-toothed; often
bilabiate. _Corolla._--Irregular; of five petals;
_papilionaceous_--_i.e._ the two lower petals more or less
coherent, forming the _keel_; the two lateral ones often
adherent to the keel, called the _wings_; the upper petal
called the _standard_ or _banner_. Stamens and pistil inclosed
in the keel. _Stamens._--Ten; their filaments either coherent
into a tube surrounding the pistil; or nine of them united into
a sheath, open above, the tenth lying in front of the cleft; or
rarely all distinct. _Ovary._--Superior; one-celled.
_Style._--Simple and incurved. _Stigma._--Simple. _Fruit._--A
two-valved pod, of which the garden pea is typical.
The Pea family, including its three sub-orders, is one of the most
important plant-families known. It is distributed over almost the entire
world, and furnishes some of the most valuable products to man. The
Judas-tree, the numerous acacias, and the sweet pea, are well known in our
gardens; while among our most valuable vegetables are the bean, the pea,
and the lentil. The clover and alfalfa are extremely important forage
plants.
The order furnishes several important timber-trees, in different parts of
the world, such as the Rosewood, the Laburnum, and the Locust; and yields
numerous products of economic importance, such as licorice, senna, gum
Senegal, gum Arabic, gum tragacanth, balsam of copaiba, balsam of Tolu,
indigo, logwood, red sandalwood, etc.
=Compositæ.= Composite Family.
Herbs, rarely shrubs. _Leaves._--Usually alternate; without
stipules. _Flowers._--In a close head on a common _receptacle_,
surrounded by an _involucre_, whose divisions are called
_scales_ or _bracts_. _Calyx-tube._--Adnate to the one-celled
ovary; its limb (called a _pappus_) crowning its summit in the
form of bristles, awns, scales, teeth, etc.; or cup-shaped; or
else entirely absent. _Corolla._--Either strap-shaped or
tubular; in the latter chiefly five-lobed. _Stamens._--Five
(rarely four); on the corolla; their anthers united in a tube.
_Style._--Two-cleft at the apex. _Fruit._--An akene. Flowers
with strap-shaped corollas are called _ray flowers_ or _rays_.
The _tubular flowers_ compose the disk.
The Composite family is the largest of all plant-families, numbering twelve
thousand species and upward, and is widely distributed over the world. In
the cooler parts of the world the plants are mostly herbaceous, but toward
the tropics they gradually become shrubs, and even trees. In North America
they comprise about one sixth of all the flowering plants.
For so large a family there are comparatively few useful plants found in
it. Among the products of the order, may be mentioned chicory, lettuce, the
artichoke, the vegetable oyster, arnica, chamomile-flowers, wormwood,
absinth, elecampane, coltsfoot, taraxacum, oil of tansy, etc. But our
gardens owe to this family innumerable beautiful and showy plants such as
the China aster, the chrysanthemum, the cosmos, zinnia, dahlia, ageratum,
gaillardia, coreopsis, sunflower, etc., etc.
The plants of this family are quickly recognized by the flowers being
always borne in a head and surrounded by an involucre, and presenting the
appearance of a single flower. The heads are sometimes made up entirely of
one kind of flower. The dandelion and the chicory are examples of a head
made up entirely of ray-flowers, while the thistle consists of tubular
flowers only. The more common arrangement, however, is the mixed one,
comprising both tubular disk-flowers and strap-shaped rays, as in the
daisy. The seeds are usually furnished with silken down or a delicate
parachute to waft them abroad.
The identification of the flowers of this order is a very difficult matter,
even for experienced botanists.
=Labiatæ.= Mint Family.
Herbs with square stems. _Leaves._--Opposite; usually aromatic.
_Flowers._--Axillary, or often in whorls or heads.
_Corolla._--Bilabiate (rarely regular). _Stamens._--Four (or
only two). _Ovary._--Deeply four-lobed; becoming four seedlike
nutlets. Style single; arising from the midst of the lobes.
The plants of this order are easily recognized by the traits in the above
description. But some of these traits are shared by the plants of the
Figwort family, which have also the bilabiate corolla. The distinguishing
character, however, is always to be found in the _four-lobed ovary_ for the
Figworts have a two-celled ovary.
This order is a large one; and there are no noxious or poisonous plants to
be found in it. On the contrary, it comprises many useful plants, too well
known almost to need enumeration--such as the lavender, peppermint, sage,
horehound, thyme, spearmint, horsemint, pennyroyal, etc.
GENERA
CEANOTHUS, L. Buckthorn Family.
Shrubs or small trees, sometimes spinescent.
_Leaves._--Opposite or alternate; petioled; variously toothed
or entire. _Flowers._--Blue or white; small, usually not more
than two or three lines across; borne in showy thyrsoid or
cymose clusters. _Calyx._--Petaloid; with short tube and
five-cleft border, the lobes acute and connivent.
_Petals._--Five; long-clawed; hooded; inserted on the
calyx-tube. _Stamens._--Five; opposite the petals; long
exserted. _Ovary._--Three-lobed; three-celled. Style short;
three-cleft. _Fruit._--Dry; consisting of three dehiscent
nutlets; sometimes crested.
The genus _Ceanothus_ is mainly a Western one. Of its thirty or more
species, two thirds are found in the region between the Rocky Mountains and
the Pacific Ocean.
In California we have about twenty species; and these all hybridize to such
an extent, that often the determination of any given species is a very
difficult matter. The genus reaches its culmination in the mountains of
Santa Cruz County, where there are many beautiful species. Many of the
species are commonly known as "California lilac."
LUPINUS, Catullus. Pea Family.
_Leaves._--Palmately divided, with from one to sixteen
leaflets; stipules adnate; seldom conspicuous.
_Leaflets._--Entire; sessile. _Flowers._--In terminal racemes,
whorled or scattered. _Calyx._--Deeply bilabiate; upper lip
notched; lower usually entire, or occasionally three-toothed or
cleft. _Corolla._--Papilionaceous. _Standard._--Broad, with
sides reflexed. _Wings._--Falcate; oblong; commonly slightly
united at the tip in front of and inclosing the falcate,
usually slender, pointed keel. _Stamens._--With their filaments
united in a tube; of two forms; five with longer and basifixed
anthers; the alternate five with shorter and versatile ones.
_Pod._--Compressed; straight; two-valved. Style slender. Stigma
bearded.
The Lupines are mostly plants of Western America. In fact, they are so
abundant between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean that that
territory is known among botanists as the "Lupine Region."
The species, which are very numerous, are difficult of determination,
requiring very long technical descriptions, which cannot be given in a work
like the present. For this reason we have been able to give but a few of
the more easily recognized.
We have in California upwards of forty species. They are of little economic
importance, although one or two species have been found very useful in the
reclaiming of sand-dunes. Several species have been cultivated for
ornament. The leaves are often beautiful and the flower-clusters showy.
The generic name is supposed to come from the Latin _lupinus_, a _wolf_,
and to have been given because of the voracity evinced by the species in
exhausting the soil.
ASTRAGALUS, Tourn. Pea Family.
Herbs, or sometimes plants woody at base. _Leaves._--Alternate;
with stipules; unequally pinnate. _Flowers._--Rather small;
chiefly in simple axillary spikes or racemes, upon a commonly
elongated peduncle; papilionaceous. _Calyx._--Five-toothed.
_Corolla_ and its slender-clawed petals usually narrow. Keel
not pointed. _Stamens._--Nine united; one free.
_Ovary._--One-celled; sometimes apparently two-celled.
_Pod._--Very various; commonly inflated. _Seeds._--Few to many
on slender stalks; generally small for the size of the pod.
The genus _Astragalus_ is a very large one, comprising many species in most
parts of the world, save Australia and South Africa. About two hundred
species are native of North America, most of which are found in the region
west of the Mississippi River. Of these several are known as "loco-weed,"
and are poisonous to sheep and cattle.
Very few species of this genus have any economic value. _A. gummifer_ and
some other similar species of Western Asia, low, spiny shrubs, yield the
gum tragacanth of commerce.
ŒNOTHERA, L. Evening-Primrose Family.
Herbs, or plants sometimes woody at the base.
_Leaves._--Alternate. _Flowers._--Axillary or in spikes or
racemes. _Calyx-tube._--More or less prolonged above the ovary
with four reflexed segments.
_Petals._--Four; obcordate to obovate; sessile; yellow to
white, often tinged with red or turning red in fading.
_Stamens._--Eight; equal; or those opposite the petals shorter.
Anthers perfect; two-celled; versatile. _Ovary._--Four-celled;
many ovuled. Style filiform. Stigma four-lobed or capitate.
_Fruit._--A capsule with the seeds in one or two rows in each
cell.
The name _Œnothera_ is from two Greek words, meaning _wine_ and _a hunt_,
or _pursuit_. Mr. Gray tells us that it was given in ancient times to some
plant whose roots were eaten to provoke a relish for wine.
This is a large genus, containing a hundred or more species, which are
mostly confined to America, about a quarter of them being Californian. Many
of them are very beautiful and have long been favorites in gardens. The
flowers are yellow or white, and are commonly designated as "evening
primroses," as many of them open upon the edge of evening.
GODETIA, Spach. Evening-Primrose Family.
The genus _Godetia_ is closely allied to that of _Œnothera_; but is
distinguished from the latter in several points. Its flowers are purple,
lilac, or rose-colored--never yellow; the anthers are basifixed--_i.e._
fixed by their bases--not versatile; and the stigma, instead of being
capitate, has four linear lobes.
The plants of this genus were formerly included under _Œnothera_; but it
has been thought best to put them into a separate genus, which has been
named for a Dr. Godet.
There are numerous species, many of them very beautiful and showy. They
vary a great deal under different conditions and in different seasons, and
are not well understood by botanists as yet.
The genus is confined to the western coast of North America, and is most
largely represented in California.
The species flower mostly in late spring and early summer, which has given
rise to the pretty name of "farewell to spring" for the plants of this
genus.
GILIA, Renz. and Pav. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
Herbs or plants somewhat shrubby at base. _Leaves._--Opposite
or alternate; simple or compound; without stipules. Many
species with showy flowers. All the parts of the flower five,
except the pistil, which has a three-celled ovary and a
three-lobed style. _Calyx._--Imbricated in the bud.
_Corolla._--Regular; funnel-form, salver-form, or sometimes
short campanulate or rotate; convolute in the bud.
_Stamens._--Five; on the corolla alternate with its lobes;
distinct. Filaments mostly slender; sometimes unequal in
length; not bearded at base.
This genus was named in honor of Philip Gil, a Spanish botanist. In America
the name is pronounced _jil'i-a_, though according to the rules of the
Spanish language _he'li-a_ would be the correct pronunciation.
This is a comparatively large genus, comprising about a hundred species,
most of which are native to the western parts of the United States. The
flowers are often showy and beautiful, and some of them closely resemble
the phloxes. A number are cultivated under the botanical name of
_Ipomopsis_ or _Leptosiphon_.
PHACELIA, Juss. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Herbs, mostly branched from the base and hairy.
_Leaves._--Alternate; the lower sometimes opposite; simple or
compound. _Flowers._--Usually in one-sided scorpioid racemes.
_Calyx._--Deeply five-parted; without appendages.
_Corolla._--From almost rotate to narrowly funnel-form;
five-lobed; with ten vertical plates or scales at the base
within. _Stamens._--Five; equally inserted low or at the base
of the corolla. _Ovary._--One-celled. Styles two; or one which
is two-cleft. _Fruit._--A capsule.
The name _Phacelia_ is from a Greek word signifying a _fascicle_, or
_bunch_, and refers to the fascicled or clustered flower-racemes.
This genus is closely allied to _Nemophila_, but differs from it in several
points. The calyx is not furnished with appendages at the sinuses; the
corolla is imbricated in the bud--_i.e._ the lobes overlap one another in
the manner of bricks in a wall,--and is not convolute, or rolled up, as in
_Nemophila_.
This is mainly a North American genus, having about fifty species, about
thirty of which are Californian. Many of the species have beautiful and
showy flowers, and are cultivated in gardens. The blossoms are blue,
violet, purple, or white, but never yellow (save sometimes in the tube or
throat).
MIMULUS, L. Figwort Family.
_Leaves._--Opposite; simple. _Flowers._--Axillary on solitary
peduncles; sometimes becoming racemose by the diminution of the
upper leaves to bracts. _Calyx._--Tubular or campanulate;
mostly five-angled and five- toothed. _Corolla._--Funnel-form;
bilabiate; the upper lip erect, two-lobed; the lower
three-lobed; a pair of ridges, either bearded or naked, running
down the lower side of the throat. _Stamens._--Four. Anthers
often near together in pairs, with divergent cells.
_Ovary._--Superior; two-celled. Style filiform. Stigma
two-lipped, with the lips commonly dilated and petaloid.
The genus _Mimulus_ is so named from the shape of the corolla, which is
supposed to resemble the gaping countenance of an ape. It comprises forty
or fifty species, and affords us some of our most beautiful flowers. The
greater number of species and the handsomest are Pacific, and several of
our Californian species are especially prized in cultivation.
The plants of the genus are all known as "monkey-flowers." They exhibit an
interesting character in the structure and movements of the stigma. It is
usually composed of two somewhat expanded lips. These are extremely
sensitive, and when touched, or when pollen has been received by them, they
close quite rapidly.
ORTHOCARPUS, Nutt. Figwort Family.
Low herbs; almost all annuals. _Leaves._--Mainly alternate;
sessile; often cut into from three to five filiform divisions;
the upper passing into the bracts of the dense spike and
usually colored, as are the calyx-lobes.
_Calyx._--Short-tubular or oblong-campanulate; evenly
four-cleft, or sometimes cleft before and behind and the
divisions again cleft. _Corolla._--Tubular; the upper lip, or
galea, little or not at all longer than the lower; small in
comparison with the large, inflated, one- to three-saccate lower
one, which usually bears more or less conspicuous teeth.
_Stamens._--Four; inclosed in the upper lip.
_Ovary._--Two-celled. Style long. Stigma capitate. _Fruit._--A
capsule.
The genus _Orthocarpus_ is mainly Californian, comprising within our
borders something less than twenty species. Most of them are to be found
from San Francisco northward and in the mountains.
They are closely related to the _Castilleias_, and resemble them closely in
habit. The difference between the two genera lies in the relative sizes of
the upper and lower lips of the corolla. In _Castilleia_ the upper lip is
the larger and more prominent; while in _Orthocarpus_ the lower is much
more conspicuous, often consisting of three inflated sacs.
The species are quite difficult of determination.
"Owl's clover" is a common English name for the plants of this genus.
PENTSTEMON, Mitchell. Figwort Family.
Perennial herbs, or rarely shrubby. _Leaves._--Opposite, rarely
whorled; the upper sessile or clasping; the floral gradually or
abruptly reduced to bracts. _Flowers._--Usually red, blue,
purple, or white, rarely yellow; in raceme-like panicles.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--With a conspicuous and
mostly elongated or ventricose tube; the throat swelling out on
the lower if on either side; the limb more or less bilabiate,
with the upper lip two-lobed and the lower three-cleft,
recurved, or spreading. _Stamens._--Four perfect; a fifth with
a bearded filament only. Anther cells mostly united or running
together at the summit. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style long.
Stigma entire.
The name _Pentstemon_ is from two Greek words, signifying _five_ and
_stamen_. It was bestowed upon this genus because the fifth stamen is
present, though sterile.
The genus is a large one, comprising seventy species, most of which are
North American, though a few are Mexican. It is most abundantly represented
in the Pacific States and the States west of the Mississippi. California
has over twenty species, many of them very beautiful, a number of them
being in cultivation.
"Beard-tongue" is the common English name for the plants of this genus.
From so many charming species it has been very difficult to select; and if
the reader finds some beautiful flower of this genus which is unnamed in
these pages, he is advised to consult the technical botanies.
CALOCHORTUS, Pursh. Lily Family.
_Stem._--Branching; from a membranous-coated, sometimes
fibrous-coated corm. _Leaves._--Few; linear-lanceolate; the
radical one or two much larger than those of the flexuous or
erect stem. _Flowers._--Few to many; showy; terminal or
axillary, or umbellately fascicled. _Perianth._--Deciduous; of
six more or less concave segments; the three outer lanceolate,
greenish, more or less sepal-like; the inner (petals) mostly
broadly cuneate-obovate, usually with a conspicuous glandular
pit toward the base, which is apt to be hidden by long hairs.
_Stamens._--Six. Anthers erect; basifixed.
_Ovary._--Three-celled; three-angled. Stigmas three; sessile;
recurved. _Capsule._--Three-angled or winged.
The _Calochorti_ are the most widely diffused of all the liliaceous plants
of the Pacific Coast, and comprise some of the most beautiful flowers in
the world. "On the north they reach British America; one species is to be
found as far east as Nebraska; and several are natives of Northern Mexico;
and within these limits no considerable section of country is destitute of
some species."[1] They are so closely allied to the true tulips that the
common designation of them as "tulips" is not at all amiss.
The name _Calochortus_ signifies _beautiful grass_. The members of the
genus fall naturally into three general groups:--
_First_--The GLOBE TULIPS, which have flexile stems, sub-globose, nodding
flowers, and nodding capsules. Of these there are three--_C. albus_, _C.
pulchellus_, and _C. amœnus_.
_Second_--The STAR TULIPS, having low, flexile stems, erect, starlike
flowers, with spreading petals, and nodding capsules. They comprise _C.
Benthami_, _C. Maweanus_, _C. cœruleus_, _C. apiculatus_, _C. elegans_,
_C. Tolmei_, _C. umbellatus_, etc.
_Third_--The MARIPOSA TULIPS, which are usually tall, fine plants, with
stiff, erect stems, having erect, cup-shaped or open-campanulate flowers,
usually large and handsome, followed by erect capsules.
They have a few narrow, grasslike, radical leaves, which have usually dried
away by the time of flowering, which is in early summer, after the ground
has become dry and hard. These inhabit our dry, open hillsides and grassy
slopes, loving a stony, clayey, sandy, or volcanic soil. They comprise
over thirty different known forms, and others are constantly being
discovered.
They have a tendency to hybridize, and the various forms sport and vary,
and run into one another in such a wonderful manner that the exact
determination of all the species is an impossible task to all but a few
experts--and even they are not certain about them all yet. We have given
only a few of the commonest or best-characterized species.
_Mariposa_ is the Spanish word meaning _butterfly_, and was applied on
account of the marvelous resemblance of the markings of the petals of some
of the forms to the wings of that insect.
FOOTNOTE:
[Footnote 1: Mr. Carl Purdy.]
INTRODUCTORY
Situated on the western verge of the continent, so far removed from the
other parts of our country, not only by great distance, but by those mighty
natural barriers that traverse the continent from north to south,
California is eminently individual in her natural features. Stretching
through nine and one half degrees of latitude, with a sea-coast of seven
hundred miles, and several ranges of fine and lofty mountains, there is
probably not another State in the Union that has so wonderful a diversity
of climate and vegetation. Her shores, bathed by the warm Japan Current, or
Ku-ro Si-wa, which is deflected southward from Alaska, are many degrees
warmer than their latitude alone would warrant.
Her general topography is simple and readily understood. The Sierra Nevada,
or "snowy range," upon the eastern boundary, with its granite summits and
its shoulders clothed with successive belts of majestic coniferous forests,
with an occasional snow-peak towering above the range, forms the eastern
wall of the great Central Valley, which is inclosed upon the west by the
Coast Range, less in height than the Sierra, but equally beautiful, less
forbidding, more companionable. The great Central Valley, four hundred and
fifty miles long, is drained by two rivers, which meet in its center and
break through the Coast Range, delivering their waters to the ocean through
the Golden Gate. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers receive many
important tributaries from the east, fed by the melting snows of the
Sierras, and flow through one of the most fertile regions of the world.
The Sierras may be divided into five different belts, of varying altitudes
along the length of the range, beginning with the foothill region, which
may be termed the chaparral region. This is succeeded by the yellow-pine
belt, above which is the sugar-pine, or upper forest, belt, which is in
turn succeeded by the sub-alpine, while the alpine dominates all.
The Coast Range is channeled on both sides by many beautiful wooded cañons,
affording homes for some of our loveliest flowers. Mr. Purdy writes of it:
This "is not a continuous range, but a broken mass of parallel ridges from
forty to seventy miles wide, with many other chains transverse to the
general trend of the range, and inclosing numerous valleys, large and
small, of widely different altitudes. In the Coast Range there is no warm
belt, but isolated warm spots. Climate here can only be ascertained by
experience. The geological formation of the ranges and the character of
soils constantly vary, and often widely at short intervals. Hence the flora
of this region is particularly interesting. It is hardly probable there is
a more captivating field for the botanist in the world."
In the north and the south the two great ranges meet in some of the noblest
snow-peaks on the continent. Below their southern junction, to the
eastward, lies an arid desert region, and above their northern junction
extends a dry and elevated plateau to the northeast. Thus there arises a
great diversity of natural condition. As all living organisms are greatly
influenced by their environment, the flora naturally distributes itself
along the lines of climatic variation. Thus we have alpine species on the
snowy heights of the Sierras, and sub-alpine forms luxuriating in the
meadows fed from their snows; inland species in the Central Valley, and
following some distance up its eastern and western walls; the leathery and
hardy forms of the wind-swept coast; the curious prickly races of arid
regions; delicate lovers of the cool and shaded brook; dwellers in marshes
and on lake borders; denizens of dry, rocky hill-slopes, exposed to the
glare of the sun; and inhabiters of shaded woods. It may be said that the
most characteristically Western plants of our flora are to be found in the
Central Valley, in the lower belts of the Sierras, and in the valleys of
the Coast Range, many of which extend beyond our borders, both northward
and southward. Many of our alpine species are common to the East, and our
maritime flora is of necessity somewhat cosmopolitan, containing many
introduced species from various parts of the world.
* * * * *
The climate of California is divided into two seasons--the wet and the
dry,--the former extending from October to May, the latter occupying the
remaining months of the year. And this climatic division coincides almost
exactly with the area of the State. Of course, these dates are not
absolute, as showers may occur beyond their limits.
It will be readily seen that the rainy season, or the winter, so-called, is
the growing time of our year--the time when the earth brings forth every
plant in his kind. On the other hand, the summer is the time of rest. Most
of the plant-life having germinated after the first moisture of the fall,
grows luxuriantly during the showery months of winter, blossoms lavishly in
the balmy sunshine of early springtime, produces seed in abundance by early
summer, and is then ready for its annual rest. Instead of shrouding the
earth in snow during our period of plant-rest, as she does in more rigorous
climes, Nature gently spreads over hill and valley a soft mantle of brown.
When the first shrill notes of the cicada are heard in late spring, we
awake to a sudden realization that summer is at hand, and, looking about
us, we see that the flowers have nearly all vanished; hill and valley no
longer glow with great masses of color; only a few straggling species of
the early summer remain; but they too are soon gone, and soft browns and
straw-colors prevail everywhere. It is then that the deep, rich greens of
our symmetrically rounded Live-Oaks, so characteristic of this region, show
in fine contrast against this delicate background, forming a picture that
every Californian dearly loves; the Madroño and the Laurel spread their
canopies of grateful shade; while the Redwood affords cool retreats from
the summer sun. Then our salt marshes, as though realizing the need of
refreshing verdure, put on their most vivid greens; and our
chaparral-covered hill-slopes make walls of bronze and olive.
* * * * *
Perhaps no coniferous forests in the world are so beautiful or so
attractive as the Redwood forests of our Coast Ranges; and they play so
important a part in the distribution of our plants, it will not be out of
place to devote a little space to them here.
The main Redwood belt is of limited range, extending along the Coast from
Monterey County to Humboldt County, and nowhere exceeding twenty miles in
breadth. Straggling trees may be found beyond these limits, but nowhere a
forest growth or trees of great size. In its densest portion, the stately
and colossal trees are too close together to permit of a wagon passing
between them.
Mr. Purdy writes: "The Redwood is not only a lover of moisture, but to an
extent hardly to be believed, unless seen, a condenser and conserver of
moisture. Their tops reach high into the sea of vapor, and a constant
precipitation from them, like rain, takes place. The water stands in
puddles in the roads under them. This causes the densest of undergrowth;
hazels, huckleberries, various Ceanothi, ferns of large size and in
greatest profusion, large bushes of rhododendron, and numerous other plants
make the forest floor a perfect tangle in moister portions."
Many charming plants find their homes amid the cool shade of these noble
trees. Trillium, and scoliopus, and dog's-tooth violets vie with clintonias
and vancouverias in elegance and grace, while little creeping violets, and
the lovely redwood-sorrel, and the salal make charming tapestries over the
forest floor about these dim cathedral columns.
On the other hand, the open forest belts of the Sierras, which are of far
greater extent, present another and quite different flora from that of the
Coast Range and the Redwood belt. There may be found many interesting
plants of the Heath family--cassiope, bryanthus, chimaphila, ledum, various
pyrolas, and the snow-plant; there the aconite, false hellebore, eriogonums
and gentians, and new and beautiful pentstemons and Mimuli and lilies deck
the meadows and stream-banks.
After the season of blossoming is over in the lowlands, we may pass on up
into the mountains and live again through a vernal springtime of flowers.
Perhaps in no country in the world does the arrival of the spring flowers
"so transform the face of Nature as in California." The march of
civilization has brought changes in its wake; the virgin soil has been
broken and subdued into grainfields and vineyards; still enough of the
lavish blossoming is left us to appreciate Mr. Muir's description of the
face of the country as it appeared years ago. He says: "When California was
wild, it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, north and
south, and all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the ocean.... The
Great Central Plain ... during the months of March, April, and May was one
smooth, continuous bed of honey-bloom, so marvelously rich that in walking
from one end of it to the other, a distance of four hundred miles, your
foot would press about a hundred flowers at every step. Mints, gilias,
nemophilas, castilleias, and innumerable Compositæ were so crowded
together, that had ninety-nine per cent of them been taken away, the plain
would still have seemed to any but Californians extravagantly flowery. The
radiant, honeyful corollas, touching and overlapping and rising above one
another, glowed in the living light like a sunset sky--one sheet of purple
and gold.... Sauntering in any direction, hundreds of these happy
sun-plants brushed against my feet at every step and closed over them as if
I were wading in liquid gold. The air was sweet with fragrance, the larks
sang their blessed songs, rising on the wing as I advanced, then sinking
out of sight in the polleny sod; while myriads of wild bees stirred the
lower air with their monotonous hum--monotonous, yet forever fresh and
sweet as everyday sunshine."
PRELUDE
O LAND OF THE WEST! I know
How the field-flowers bud and blow,
And the grass springs and the grain
To the first soft touch and summons of the rain!
O, the music of the rain!
O, the music of the streams!
--INA D. COOLBRITH.
Toward the end of our long cloudless summer, after most other flowers have
stolen away, Mother Nature marshals her great order of Compositæ for a last
rally; and they come as welcome visitants to fill the places of our
vanished summer friends.
Asters and goldenrods, grindelias, lessingias, and the numerous tarweeds,
with their cheerful blossoms, relieve the sober browns of sun-dried
hill-slopes and meadows, or fringe with color our roadsides and salt
marshes.
But even these late-comers weary after a time, and one by one disappear,
till there comes a season when, without flowers, Nature seems to be humbled
in sackcloth and ashes. The dust lies thick upon roadside trees, a haze
hangs like a veil in the air, and the sun beats down with fierce, continued
glare.
As this wears on day after day, a certain vague expectancy creeps gradually
over the face of things--a rapt, mysterious aspect, foreboding change. One
day there is a telltale clarity in the atmosphere. Later, the sky darkens
by degrees, and a dull, leaden hue spreads over the vault of heaven.
Nature mourns, and would weep. Her heart is full to bursting; still the
tears come not. The winds spring up and blow freshly over the parched land.
A few hard-wrung drops begin to fall, and at length there closes down a
thoroughgoing shower. The flood-gates are opened at last; the long tension
is over, and we breathe freely once more.
During this first autumn rain, those of us who are so fortunate as to live
in the country are conscious of a strange odor pervading all the air. It is
as though Dame Nature were brewing a vast cup of herb tea, mixing in the
fragrant infusion all the plants dried and stored so carefully during the
summer.
When the clouds vanish after this baptismal shower, everything is
charmingly fresh and pure, and we have some of the rarest of days. Then the
little seeds, harbored through the long summer in Earth's bosom, burst
their coats and push up their tender leaves, till on hillside and
valley-floor appears a delicate mist of green, which gradually confirms
itself into a soft, rich carpet--and all the world is in verdure clad. Then
we begin to look eagerly for our first flowers.
FLOWER DESCRIPTIONS
A FANCY
I think I would not be
A stately tree,
Broad-boughed, with haughty crest that seeks the sky.
Too many sorrows lie
In years, too much of bitter for the sweet:
Frost-bite, and blast, and heat,
Blind drought, cold rains, must all grow wearisome,
Ere one could put away
Their leafy garb for aye,
And let death come.
Rather this wayside flower!
To live its happy hour
Of balmy air, of sunshine, and of dew.
A sinless face held upward to the blue;
A bird-song sung to it,
A butterfly to flit
On dazzling wings above it, hither, thither,--
A sweet surprise of life,--and then exhale
A little fragrant soul on the soft gale,
To float--ah! whither?
--INA D. COOLBRITH.
_White or occasionally or partially white flowers not described in the
White Section._
_Described in the Yellow Section_:--
ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS--Pimpernel.
BRODIÆA LACTEA--White Brodiæa.
CALOCHORTUS WEEDII--Mariposa Tulip.
CUSCUTA--Dodder.
ERIOGONUM URSINUM.
ERYSIMUM GRANDIFLORUM--Cream-colored Wallflower.
ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFORNICA--California Poppy.
FLŒRKIA DOUGLASII--Meadow-Foam.
HEMIZONIA LUZULÆFOLIA--Tarweed.
HOSACKIA BICOLOR.
MELILOTUS ALBA--White Sweet Clover.
PTEROSPORA ANDROMEDEA--Pine-Drops.
VERBASCUM BLATTARIA--Moth-Mullein.
_Described in the Pink Section_:--
APOCYNUM CANNABINUM--American-Indian Hemp.
DODECATHEON CLEVELANDI--Shooting-Stars.
GILIA ANDROSACEA.
LEWISIA REDIVIVA--Bitter-Root.
OXALIS OREGANA--Redw'd-Sorrel.
PHLOX DOUGLASII--Alpine Phlox.
RHUS INTEGRIFOLIA--Lemonade-Berry.
RHUS LAURINA--Sumach.
SILENE GALLICA.
TRIENTALIS EUROPÆA--Star-Flower.
_Described in the Blue and Purple Section_:--
BRODIÆA LAXA--Ithuriel's Spear.
CALOCHORTUS CATALINÆ--Catalina Mariposa Tulip.
CALOCHORTUS MAWEANUS--Cat's-Ears.
CALOCHORTUS UMBELLATUS--White Star-Tulip.
CEANOTHUS DIVARICATUS--Wild Lilac.
CEANOTHUS THYRSIFLORUS--California Lilac.
COLLINSIA BICOLOR--Collinsia.
DELPHINIUM.
FRITILLARIA LILIACEA--White Fritillary.
IRIS DOUGLASIANA--Douglas Iris.
IRIS MACROSIPHON-Ground Iris.
POLYGALA CORNUTA.
SCUTELLARIA CALIFORNICA--White Skullcap
TRILLIUM SESSILE--Calif. Trillium.
_Described in the Red Section_:--
GILIA AGGREGATA--Scarlet Gilia.
AQUILEGIA CŒRULEA.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section_:--
CEPHALANTHERA OREGANA--Phantom Orchis.
CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--California Lady's Slipper.
CYPRIPEDIUM MONTANUM--Mountain Lady's Slipper.
PROSARTES MENZIESII--Drops of Gold.
TOOTHWORT. PEPPER-ROOT. SPRING-BLOSSOM.
_Dentaria Californica_, Nutt. Mustard Family.
_Roots._--Bearing small tubers. _Stems._--Six inches to two
feet high. _Root-leaves._--Simple and roundish or with three
leaflets. _Stem-leaves._--Usually with three to five pinnate
leaflets, one to three inches long. _Flowers._--White to pale
rose-color. _Sepals and Petals._--Four. _Stamens._--Four long
and two short. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style simple.
_Pod._--Slender; twelve to eighteen lines long.
_Syn._--_Cardamine paucisecta_, Benth. _Hab._--Throughout the
Coast Ranges.
What a rapture we always feel over this first blossom of the year! not only
for its own dear sake, but for the hopes and promises it holds out, the
visions it raises of spring, with flower-covered meadows, running brooks,
buds swelling everywhere, bird-songs, and the air rife with perfumes.
It is like the dove sent forth from the ark, this first tentative blossom,
this _avant courier_ of the great army of Crucifers, or cross-bearers, so
called because their four petals are stretched out like the four arms of a
cross.
It is usually in some sheltered wood that we look for this first shy
blossom; but once it has proved the trustworthiness of the skies, it is
followed by thousands of its companions, who then come out boldly and star
the meadows with their pure white constellations.
The Latin name of this genus (from the word _dens_, a tooth), translated
into the vernacular, becomes toothwort, the termination _wort_ signifying
merely plant or herb.
It was so named because of the toothed rootstocks of many species.
The little tubers upon the root often have a pungent taste, from which
comes one of the other common names--"pepper-root." Various other names
have been applied to these flowers, such as "lady's smocks" and
"milkmaids."
[Illustration _TOOTHWORT--Dentaria Californica._]
ZYGADENE.
_Zygadenus Fremonti_, Michx. Lily Family.
_Bulb._--Dark-coated. _Leaves._--Linear; a foot or two long;
deeply channeled. _Scape._--Three inches to even four feet
high. _Flowers._--White. _Perianth Segments._--Six; strongly
nerved; bearing at base yellow glands; inner segments clawed.
_Stamens._--Six; shorter than the perianth.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Styles three; short.
_Capsule._--Three-beaked. _Hab._--Coast Ranges, San Diego to
Humboldt County.
The generic name, _Zygadenus_, is from the Greek, and signifies yoked
glands, referring to the glands upon the base of the perianth segments.
We have several species, the most beautiful and showy of which is _Z.
Fremonti_. This is widely distributed, and grows in very different
situations. In our central Coast Range its tall stems, with their lovely
clusters of white stars, make their appearance upon rocky hill-slopes with
warm exposure, in the shelter of the trees, soon after the toothwort has
sprinkled the fields with its white bloom. In the south it rears its tall
stems upon open mesas, unprotected by the shelter of friendly tree or
shrub, and in some localities it makes itself at home in bogs. It is
possible that the future may reveal the presence of more than one species.
It has sometimes been called "soap-plant"; but this name more appropriately
belongs to _Chlorogalum_. It somewhat resembles the Star of Bethlehem of
Eastern gardens. The fact that it grows in boggy places has given rise to
the name of "water-lily" in certain localities; but this ought to be
discountenanced, as it bears not the slightest resemblance to the
magnificent water-lily of Eastern ponds.
Another species--_Z. venenosus_, Wats.--is found from Monterey and Mariposa
Counties to British Columbia. This may be distinguished from the above by
its narrow leaves--only two or three lines wide,--usually folded together,
and by its smaller flowers, with perianth segments only two or three lines
long; and also by the fact that the stamens equal the segments in length.
The bulb is poisonous, and our Northern Indians call it "death camass,"
while the farmers in the Sierras call it "Lobelia," not because of any
resemblance to that plant, but because its poisonous effects are similar to
those of the latter. It is fatal to horses, but hogs eat it with impunity,
from which it is also known as "hogs' potato." It is found in moist meadows
or along stream-banks, in June and July.
[Illustration _ZYGADENE--Zygadenus Fremonti._]
POISON-OAK.
_Rhus diversiloba_, Torr. and Gray. Poison-Oak or Cashew Family.
_Shrubs._--Three to fifteen feet high. _Leaflets._--One to four
inches long. _Flowers._--Greenish white; small. _Sepals and
Petals._--Usually five. _Stamens._--As many or twice as many as
the petals. _Ovary._--One-celled. Styles three: distinct or
united. _Fruit._--A small, dry, striate, whitish drupe.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
The presence of the poison-oak in our woods and fields makes these outdoor
haunts forbidden pleasures to persons who are susceptible to it. It is
closely allied to the poison-ivy of the Eastern States, and very similar in
its effects. It is a charming shrub in appearance, with beautiful glossy,
shapely leaves; and in early summer, when it turns to many shades of
scarlet and purple-bronze, it is especially alluring to the unsuspecting.
It is quite diverse in its habit, sometimes appearing as an erect shrub,
and again climbing trees or rock surfaces, by means of small aerial
rootlets, to a considerable height. Horses eat the leaves without injury;
and the honey which the bees distill from its small greenish-white flowers
is said to be excellent.
Many low plants seek the shelter of these shrubs, and some of our loveliest
flowers, such as Clarkias, Godetias, Collinsias, Brodiæas, and larkspurs,
seem to realize that immunity from human marauders is to be had within its
safe retreat.
The remedies for oak-poisoning are numerous; and it may not be out of place
to mention a few of them here. Different remedies are required by different
individuals. Any of the following plants may be made into a tea and used as
a wash: Grindelia, manzanita, wild peony, California holly, and _Rhamnus
Purshiania_, or _Californica_. Hot solutions of soda, Epsom salts, or
saltpeter are helpful to many, and the bulb of the soap-root,--_Chlorogalum
pomeridianum_--pounded to a paste and used as a salve, allowing it to
dry upon the surface and remain for some hours at least, is considered
excellent. In fact, any pure toilet soap may be used in the same manner.
[Illustration POISON OAK--_Rhus diversiloba_.]
WAKE-ROBIN.
_Trillium ovatum_, Pursh. Lily Family.
_Rootstock._--Thickened. _Stem._--Erect; stout; a foot or more
high; bearing at summit a whorl of three sessile leaves.
_Leaves._--Rhomboidal; acuminate; netted-veined; five-nerved;
two to six inches long. _Flower._--Solitary; pure white,
turning to deep rose; peduncle one to three inches long.
_Sepals._--Three; herbaceous. _Petals._--One or two inches
long. _Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Stigmas three;
sessile. _Capsule._--Broadly ovate: six-winged. _Hab._--The
Coast Ranges, from Santa Cruz to British Columbia.
The wake-robin is in the vanguard of our spring flowers, and a walk into
some high, cold cañon while the days are still dark and short will be amply
rewarded by the finding of its white and peculiarly pure-looking blossoms
standing upon the bank overlooking the streamlet. The blossoms remain
unchanged for a time, and then, as they fade, turn to a deep purplish
rose-color.
Our wake-robin so closely resembles _T. grandiflorum_, Salisb., of the
Eastern States, that it seems a pity it should have been made into a
different species.
BEACH-STRAWBERRY.
_Fragaria Chilensis_, Ehrhart. Rose Family.
_Hab._--The coast, from Alaska to San Francisco and southward.
This beautiful strawberry is found growing near the seashore, where its
large, delicious berries are often buried beneath the shifting sand,
becoming bleached in color. It sometimes covers acres with its thick,
shining, dark-green leaves, among which are sprinkled its large pure-white
flowers, an inch or more across.
The wood-strawberry--_F. Californica_--is very common in the Coast Ranges;
but for the most part it is dry and flavorless.
[Illustration WAKE-ROBIN--_Trillium ovatum_.]
=MANZANITA. BEARBERRY.=
_Arctostaphylos manzanita_, Parry. Heath Family.
Shrubs three to twenty-five feet high, with purple-brown bark.
_Leaves._--Pale. _Flowers._--White or pinkish; in crowded
clusters. _Corolla._--Four or five lines long; campanulate.
_Stamens._--Ten; filaments dilated and bearded at base; anthers
two-celled, opening terminally, each cell furnished with a long
downward-pointing horn. _Ovary._--Globose; five to ten-celled.
Style simple. _Fruit._--Six lines in diameter, containing
several bony nutlets. _Syn._--_Arctostaphylos pungens_, HBK.
_Hab._--Throughout the State.
Of all our shrubs, the manzanita is the most beautiful and the best known.
Sometimes as early as Christmas it may be found in full bloom, when its
dense crown of pale foliage, surmounting the rich purple-brown stems, is
thickly sown with the little clusters of fragrant waxen bells. After the
blossoms have passed away, the shrubs put forth numerous brilliant scarlet
or crimson shoots, which at a little distance look like a strange and
entirely new kind of blossoming. The manzanita is closely allied to the
madroño, and resembles it in many ways, particularly in the annual peeling
of its rich red bark and in the form of its flowers.
The Greek generic name, translated into English, becomes "bearberry." The
pretty Spanish name--from _manzana_, apple, and the diminutive, _ita_,--was
bestowed by the early Spanish-Californians, who recognized the resemblance
of the fruit to tiny apples.
We have a dozen or more species of _Arctostaphylos_, but _A. manzanita_ is
the commonest of them all. It varies greatly in size and habit. In
localities most favorable it becomes a large, erect shrub, with many
clustered trunks, while in the Sierras it finds but a precarious footing
among the granite rocks, often covering their surfaces with its small
tortuous, stiff branches. The leaves, by a twisting of their stalks, assume
a vertical position on the branches, a habit which enables many plants of
dry regions to avoid unnecessary evaporation.
[Illustration MANZANITA--_Arctostaphylos manzanita_.]
The largest manzanita known is upon the estate of Mr. Tiburcio Parrott, in
St. Helena, Napa County, California. It is thirty-five feet high, with a
spread of branches equal to its height, while its trunk measures eleven and
a half feet in circumference at the ground, soon dividing into large
branches. It is a veritable patriarch, and has doubtless seen many
centuries. According to an interesting account in "Garden and Forest," it
once had a narrow escape from the ax of a woodman. A gentleman who was a
lover of trees, happening to pass, paid the woodman two dollars to spare
its life.
Years ago no traveler from the East felt that he could return home without
a manzanita cane, made from as straight a branch as could be secured.
The berries of this shrub are dry and bony and quite unsatisfactory. They
are, however, pleasantly acid, and have been put to several uses. It is
said that both brandy and vinegar are made from them, and housewives make
quite a good jelly from some species. Bears are fond of the berries, and
the Indians eat them, both raw and pounded into a flour, from which mush is
made. The leaves made into a tincture or infusion are now an officinal
drug, valued in catarrh of the throat or stomach.
From Monterey to San Diego is found _A. glauca_, Lindl., the great-berried
manzanita. It closely resembles the above, but its berries are three
fourths of an inch in diameter.
Of the same range as the last is _A. bicolor_, Gray, whose leaves are of a
rich, shining green above and white and woolly beneath. Its berries are the
size of a pea, yellowish at first, and turning red later.
CALIFORNIAN SAXIFRAGE.
_Saxifraga Californica_, Greene. Saxifrage Family.
_Leaves._--Few; all radical; oval; one to two inches long, on
broad petioles six to twelve lines long. _Scape._--Six to
eighteen inches high. _Flowers._--White or rose; four or five
lines across. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft, with reflexed lobes.
_Petals._--Borne on the calyx. _Stamens._--Ten.
_Ovaries._--Two; partly united. Styles short. Stigmas capitate.
_Syn._--_S. Virginiensis_, Michx. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
[Illustration CALIFORNIANSAXIFRAGE--_Saxifraga Californica_.]
In the rich soil of cool northward slopes, or on many a mossy bank amid the
tender young fronds of the maidenhair, may be found the delicate clusters
of our little Californian saxifrage. The plants are small, with but a few,
perhaps only one or two, oval, rather hairy leaves, lying upon the ground,
and a slender red scape upholding the dainty cluster of small white
flowers. The tips of the calyx-lobes are usually red, and the wee stamens
are pink.
We have several species of saxifrage, most of which are plants of exceeding
delicacy and grace, and with small flowers.
MINER'S LETTUCE. INDIAN LETTUCE.
_Montia perfoliata_, Howell. Purslane Family.
Smooth, succulent herbs. _Radical Leaves._--Long-petioled;
broadly rhomboidal. _Stems._--Simple; six to twelve inches
high, having, near the summit, a pair of leaves united around
the stem. _Flowers._--White. _Sepals._--Two. _Petals._--Five,
minute. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--One-celled Style slender.
Stigma three-cleft. _Syn._--_Claytonia perfoliata_, Don.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
Though our Indian lettuce is closely allied to the Eastern "Spring Beauty,"
one would never suspect it from its outward appearance and habit. The
little flower-racemes look as though they might have pushed their way right
through the rather large saucer-like leaf just below them. The succulent
leaves and stems are greedily eaten by the Indians, from which it is called
"Indian lettuce."
Mr. Powers, of Sheridan, writes that the Placer County Indians have a novel
way of preparing their salad. Gathering the stems and leaves, they lay them
about the entrances of the nests of certain large red ants. These, swarming
out, run all over it. After a time the Indians shake them off, satisfied
that the lettuce has a pleasant sour taste equaling that imparted by
vinegar. These little plants are said to be excellent when boiled and well
seasoned, and they have long been grown in England, where they are highly
esteemed for salads.
[Illustration MINER'S LETTUCE--_Montia Perfoliata_.]
WOOD ANEMONE. WIND-FLOWER.
_Anemone quinquefolia_, L. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Rootstock._--Horizontal. _Stem._--Six to fourteen inches high.
_Leaves._--Radical leaf remote from the stem; trifid; the
segments serrate. Involucral leaf not far below the flower;
three foliolate. _Sepals._--Petaloid; five or six; usually
bluish outside. _Petals._--Wanting. _Stamens and
Pistils._--Numerous. _Akenes._--Two lines long; twelve to
twenty. _Syn._--_Anemone nemorosa_, L. _Hab._--The Coast
Ranges, in moist shade.
The delicate blossoms of the wood anemone might at first be confounded with
those of the toothwort by the careless observer, but a moment's reflection
will quickly distinguish them. The anemone is always a solitary flower with
many stamens, and its petals are of a more delicate texture. It grows upon
wooded banks or cool, shaded flats among the redwoods.
There are many quaint traditions as to the origin of its name, and poets
have from early times found something ideal of which to sing in these
simple spring flowers.
The generic name has the accent upon the third syllable, but, when
Anglicized into the common name, the accent falls back upon the second.
OSO-BERRY.
_Nuttallia cerasiformis_, Torr. and Gray. Rose Family
Deciduous shrubs; two to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._--Broadly
oblanceolate; two to four inches long; narrowed into a short
petiole. _Flowers._--White; in short terminal racemes;
diœcious; three to eleven lines across. _Calyx._--Top-shaped,
with five-lobed border. _Petals._--Five; inserted with ten of
the stamens on the calyx; broadly spatulate.
_Stamens._--Fifteen. _Ovaries._--Five. Styles short.
_Fruit._--Blue-black, oblong drupes; six to eight lines long.
_Hab._--Chiefly the Coast Ranges from San Luis Obispo to Fraser
River.
[Illustration WOOD ANEMONE--_Anemone quinquefolia._]
About the same time that the beautiful leaves of the buckeye are
emerging from their wrappings, we notice in the woods a shrub which has
just put forth its clusters of bright-green leaves from buds all along
its slender twigs. Amid their delicate green hang short clusters of
greenish-white flowers. These blossoms have a delicious bitter
fragrance, redolent of all the tender memories of the springtime.
This shrub is usually mistaken for a wild plum; and the illusion is still
further assisted when the little drupes, like miniature plums, begin to
ripen and hang in yellow and purple clusters amid the matured leaves.
WILD DATE. SPANISH BAYONET.
_Yucca Mohavensis_, Sargent. Lily Family.
_Trunk._--Usually simple; rarely exceeding fifteen feet high;
six or eight inches in diameter; naked, or covered with
refracted dead leaves, or clothed to the ground with the living
leaves. _Leaves._--Linear-lanceolate; one to three feet long;
one or two inches wide; rigid; margins at length bearing coarse
recurved threads. _Flowers._--In short-stemmed or sessile,
distaff-shaped panicles, a foot or two long; pedicels
eventually drooping, twelve to eighteen lines long.
_Perianth._--Broadly campanulate. _Segments._--Six; thirty
lines long; six to twelve wide. _Stamens._--Six; six to nine
lines long; filaments white, club-shaped. _Ovary._--Oblong;
white; an inch or two long, including the slender style.
Stigmas three. _Fruit._--Cylindrical; three or four inches
long; pendulous, pulpy. _Syn._--_Yucca baccata_, Torr.
_Hab._--Southern California, from Monterey to San Diego; coast
and inland.
The genus _Yucca_ comprises sixteen or eighteen species, and reaches its
greatest development in Northern Mexico. Three species are to be found
within our borders, two of which are arborescent, _Y. arborescens_, and _Y.
Mohavensis_. Considerable confusion has hitherto reigned among the species,
but they are now better understood.
They are all valuable to our Indians as basket and textile plants, and are
useful to them in many other ways.
Owing to the structure of the flowers, self-fertilization seems impossible,
and scientists who have made a study of the subject say that these plants
are dependent upon a little white, night-flying moth to perform this office
for them. This little creature goes from plant to plant, gathering the
pollen, which she rolls up into a ball with her feet. When sufficient has
been gathered, she goes to another plant, lays her egg in its ovary, and
before leaving ascends to the stigma and actually pushes the pollen into
it, seeming to realize that unless she performs this last act, there will
be nothing for her progeny to eat. This seems an almost incredible instance
of insect intelligence; but it is a well-authenticated fact.
_Yucca Mohavensis_, commonly called "wild date," or "Spanish bayonet," is
more widely distributed within our borders than either of our other
species. Its large panicle of overpoweringly fragrant white waxen bells is
a striking object wherever seen. On the coast this yucca is often stemless,
but in the interior, where it is more abundant, it rises to a considerable
height, and culminates upon the Mojave Desert, where the finest specimens
are found.
The fruit, which ripens in August and September, turns from green to a
tawny yellow, afterward becoming brownish purple, and eventually almost
black. This has a sweet, succulent flesh, and, either fresh or dried, is a
favorite fruit among the Indians. Dr. Palmer writes that this is one of the
most useful plants to the Indians of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern
California. They cut the stems into slices, beat them into a pulp, and mix
them with the water in washing, as a substitute for soap.
The leaves are parched in ashes, to make them pliable, and are afterward
soaked in water and pounded with a wooden mallet. The fibers thus liberated
are long, strong, and durable, and lend themselves admirably to the weaving
of the gayly decorated horse-blankets made by the tribes of Southern
California. They also make from it ropes, twine, nets, hats, hair-brushes,
shoes, mattresses, baskets, etc.
FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL.
_Smilacina sessilifolia_, Nutt. Lily Family.
_Rootstock._--Slender; branching; creeping; scars not
conspicuous. _Stem._--About a foot long (sometimes two);
usually zigzag above; leafy. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile;
lanceolate; two to six inches long; shining above; spreading in
a horizontal plane. _Flowers._--White; few; in a simple
terminal raceme, on pedicels two to seven lines long.
_Perianth._--Of six, distinct, spreading segments.
_Segments._--One and one half to four lines long; lanceolate.
_Stamens._--Six; half the length of the segments.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style short. _Berry._--Nearly black;
three to five lines through. _Hab._--Monterey to British
Columbia.
The False Solomon's Seal is one of the prettiest plants in our woods in
March, and in many places it almost hides the ground from view. It has a
graceful, drooping habit that shows its handsome, spreading leaves to full
advantage, and its few delicate little white blossoms are a fitting
termination to the pretty sprays.
_S. amplexicaulis_, Nutt., is a very handsome, decorative plant, with fine,
tall, leafy stem, and large, feathery panicle of tiny white flowers. The
broadened white filaments are the most conspicuous part of these blossoms,
which are less than a line long. The berries are light-colored, dotted with
red or purple.
MIST-MAIDENS.
_Romanzoffia Sitchensis_, Bongard. Baby-eyes or Water leaf Family.
_Leaves._--Six to eighteen lines across; smooth.
_Flowers._--White, pink, or purple. _Calyx._--Deeply
five-parted. _Corolla._--Funnel-form; five-lobed; four lines
long. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--Two-celled. _Hab._--Coast
Ranges, from Santa Cruz northward.
In appearance these delicate herbs resemble the saxifrages, and they affect
much the same sort of places, decking mossy banks and stream borders with
their beautiful scalloped leaves and small white flowers.
The genus was named in honor of Nicholas Romanzoff, a Russian nobleman,
who, by his munificence, enabled some noted botanists to visit this coast
early in the century.
[Illustration MIST-MAIDENS--_Romanzoffia Sitchensis._]
STRAWBERRY CACTUS. CALIFORNIAN FISH-HOOK CACTUS. LLAVINA.
_Mamillaria Goodridgii_, Scheer. Cactus Family.
Oval, fleshy, leafless plants; mostly single, though sometimes
clustered; three to five inches long; covered with prominences
or tubercles. _Tubercles._--Each bearing a flat rosette of
short, whitish spines, with an erect, dark, fish-hook-like
central one. _Flowers._--Small; greenish-white. _Outer
Sepals._--Fringed. _Petals._--About eight; awned.
_Stamens._--Numerous. _Ovary._--One-celled. Stigmas five or
six. _Fruit._--Scarlet; an inch long. _Hab._--San Diego and
neighboring islands, and southward.
The dry hill-slopes about San Diego afford the most interesting field
accessible to civilization, _i.e._ within our boundaries, for the gathering
and study of the cacti.
Nestling close to the ground, usually under some shrub or vine, you will
find the little fish-hook cactus, one of the prettiest and most interesting
of them all. Its oval form bristles with the little dark hooks, each of
which emanates from a flat star of whitish spines.
The flowers may be found in April or May, but it is more noticeable when in
fruit. The handsome scarlet berries, like old-fashioned coral eardrops,
protruding from among the thorns, are easily picked out, and they very
naturally find their way to one's mouth. Nor is one disappointed in the
expectation raised by their brilliant exterior--for the flavor is
delicious, though I cannot say it resembles that of the strawberry, as some
aver. To me it is more like a fine tart apple.
THIMBLE-BERRY.
_Rubus Nutkanus_, Mocino. Rose Family.
_Stems._--Three to eight feet high. _Leaves._--Palmately and
nearly equally five-lobed; cordate at base; four to twelve
inches broad; the lobes acute; densely tomentose beneath.
_Flowers._--Few; clustered; white, sometimes pale rose; an inch
or two across, with rounded petals. _Stamens and
Pistils._--Numerous. _Fruit._--Large; red; "like an inverted
saucer;" sweet and rather dry. _Hab._--Monterey to Alaska.
The thimble-berry is unequaled for the canopy of pure light-green foliage
which it spreads in our woods. It would take the clearest of water-colors
to portray its color and texture. The large white flowers, with their
crumpled petals, are deliciously fragrant, but with us are never followed
by an edible fruit, probably owing to the dryness of our summer climate. In
Oregon and northward the berries are said to be luscious. There the bushes
grow in the fir forests, where they seem most at home.
_Rubus spectabilis_, Pursh., the salmon-berry, has leaves with three
leaflets, and large solitary, rose-colored flowers, which are followed by a
salmon-colored berry. These shrubs are exceedingly beautiful when in full
bloom.
COMMON WILD PEA.
_Lathyrus vestitus_, Nutt. Pea Family.
_Stems._--One to ten feet high; slender; not winged.
_Leaves._--Alternate; with small semi-sagittate stipules;
pinnate, with four to six pairs of leaflets; tendril-bearing at
the summit. _Leaflets._--Ovate-oblong to linear; six to twelve
lines long; acute. _Flowers._--White, pale rose or violet;
seven to ten lines long. _Lower Calyx-teeth._--About equaling
the tube. _Corolla._--Papilionaceous; the standard veined with
purple in the center. _Stamens._--Nine united; one free.
_Ovary._--Flattened; pubescent. Style hairy down the inner
side. (See _Leguminosæ_.) _Hab._--Sonoma County to San Diego.
The genus _Lathyrus_, which contains the beautiful sweet pea of the garden,
affords us several handsome wild species, but most of them are difficult of
determination, and many of them are as yet much confused. This genus is
quite closely related to _Vicia_, but, in general, the leaflets are
broader, the flowers are larger, and the style is hairy down the inner side
as well as at the tip.
_Lathyrus vestitus_ is the common wild pea of the south. It is quite
plentiful, and clambers over and under shrubs, hanging out its occasional
clusters of rather large pale flowers.
_L. Torreyi_, Gray, found from Santa Clara County to Napa in dry woods, is
a slender plant, having from one to three small white or pinkish flowers.
It is remarkable for and easily distinguished by its very fragrant
foliage.
WILD CUCUMBER. BIG-ROOT. CHILICOTHE.
_Echinocystis fabacea_, Naudin. Gourd Family.
Tendril-bearing vines, ten to thirty feet long.
_Root._--Enormous; woody. _Leaves._--Palmately five- to
seven-lobed; three to six inches broad. _Flowers._--Yellowish
white; monœcious. _Calyx-tube._--Campanulate; teeth small or
none. _Corolla._--Five- to seven-lobed; three to six lines
across. _Staminate Flowers._--Five to twenty in racemes; their
stamens two and a half, with short connate filaments and
somewhat horizontal anthers. _Pistillate Flowers._--Solitary;
from the same axils as the racemes. _Ovary._--Two- to
four-celled. _Fruit._--Two inches long; prickly.
_Syn._--_Megarrhiza Californica_, Torr. _Hab._--Near the coast,
from San Diego to Point Reyes.
The wild cucumber is one of our most graceful native vines. It drapes many
an unsightly stump, or clambers up into shrubs, embowering them with its
pretty foliage. Seeing its rather delicate ivy-like habit above ground, one
would never dream that it came from a root as large as a man's body, buried
deep in the earth. From this root, it has received two of its common names,
"big-root" and "man-in-the-ground." Sometimes this may be seen upon the
ocean beach or rolling about in the breakers, where it has been liberated
by the wearing away of the cliffs. It is intensely bitter.
The seeds have a very interesting method of germinating. The two large
radical leaves remain underground, sending up the terminal shoot only. They
are so tender and succulent that they would be eaten forthwith, if they
showed themselves above the ground. An oil expressed from the roasted seeds
has been used by the Indians to promote the growth of the hair.
Authorities have differed about the classification of these plants, and
they have been variously called _Megarrhiza, Micrampelis_, and
_Echinocystis_, the latter being latest approved. We have several species.
One common in the South is _E. macrocarpa_, Greene. This has a large oval,
prickly ball, four inches or so long. When mature, this opens at the top,
splitting into several segments, which gradually roll downward, like the
petals of a beautiful white lily, showing their pure-white inner surfaces
and leaving exposed the four cells in the center, with lacelike walls, in
which nestle the large, handsome dark seeds. These seeds are often
beautifully mottled and colored, and in the early days served the
Spanish-Californian children for marbles.
[Illustration _WILD CUCUMBER--Echinocystis fabacea._]
WHITE LAYIA. WHITE DAISY.
_Layia glandulosa_, Hook. and Arn. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Six to twelve inches high; loosely branching; hairy;
often reddish. _Leaves._--Sessile; linear; the upper all small
and entire; the lower often lanceolate and incised pinnatifid.
_Heads._--Usually large and showy. _Ray-flowers._--Bright, pure
white, sometimes rose-color; eight to thirteen; three-lobed; an
inch or less long; six lines wide. _Disk-flowers._--Golden
yellow; five-toothed. Each scale of the involucre clasping a
ray-flower. _Hab._--Columbia River to Los Angeles.
These white daisies, as they are commonly called in the south, cover the
fields and plains in early spring, jostling one another in friendly
proximity and stretching away in an endless perspective. They are of a
charming purity, and to me are more attractive than their sisters, the
tidy-tips.
They love a sandy soil, and I have seen them flourishing in the
disintegrated granite of old river-beds, where the dazzling whiteness of
the stones was hardly distinguishable from the blossoms. The involucre is
thickly studded with curious little glands, resembling small glass-headed
pins.
BED-STRAW. GOOSE-GRASS. CLEAVERS.
_Galium Aparine_, L. Madder Family.
Climbing by the prickly stem-angles and leaf-margins.
_Stems._--Weak; one to four feet long. _Leaves._--In whorls of
six to eight; linear oblanceolate; one inch long.
_Peduncles._--Elongated; one- to two-flowered.
_Flowers._--Minute; one line across; greenish-white.
_Calyx-tube._--Adnate to the ovary; limb obsolete.
_Corolla._--Mostly four-cleft. _Stamens._--Four.
_Ovary._--Two-lobed, two-celled. Styles two, short. Stigmas,
capitate. _Fruit._--Two or three lines across, covered with
hooked bristles. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
All through our moist woodlands, in early spring, the long stems of the
bed-straw may be found, running about upon the ground or entangled amid the
stems of other plants. The angles of these weak stems and the leaf-margins
and midribs are all clothed with small backward-pointing bristles, which
make the plants cling to surrounding objects. The flowers are greenish and
minute, and are followed by tiny prickly balls.
A cold infusion of this little plant is used as a domestic remedy in cases
of fever, where a cooling drink is desired.
The genus has received the common name of "bed-straw," because it was
supposed that one of the species, _G. verum_, filled the manger in which
was laid the Infant Jesus. There are a dozen or so species in California.
Very conspicuous all through the south is _G. angustifolium_, Nutt., often
three feet high, sending up very numerous slender, feathery stems from a
woody base. This has its small leaves in whorls of four.
MOUNTAIN HEART'S-EASE.
_Viola Beckwithii_, Torr. and Gray. Violet Family.
_Leaves._--Broadly cordate in outline; three-parted; the
divisions cleft into linear or oblong segments.
_Peduncles._--About equaling the leaves. _Petals._--Four to
seven lines long; very broad; the upper deep purple, the others
lilac, bluish, or white, veined with purple, with a yellowish
base; the lateral bearded; the lowest emarginate.
_Stigma._--Bearded at the sides. _Capsule._--Obtuse. (Otherwise
as _V. pedunculata_.) _Hab._--The Central Sierras.
"By scattered rocks and turbid waters shifting,
By furrowed glade and dell,
To feverish men thy calm, sweet face uplifting,
Thou stayest them to tell
"The delicate thought that cannot find expression--
For ruder speech too fair,--
That, like thy petals, trembles in possession,
And scatters on the air."
The poet, with a delicate insight, has made this mountain flower the
reminder to the rugged miner of home and scenes far away. But the vision
lasts but for a moment only; then, as he brushes away a tear, his uplifted
pick--
"Through root and fiber cleaves--
And on the muddy current slowly drifting
Are swept thy bruised leaves.
"And yet, O poet! in thy homely fashion,
Thy work thou dost fulfill;
For on the turbid current of his passion
Thy face is shining still."
POP-CORN FLOWER.
WHITE FORGET-ME-NOT. NIEVITAS.
Borage Family.
The wild white forget-me-nots are among our most welcome flowers. Though
not showy, taken singly, they often cover the fields, presenting the
appearance of a light snowfall, from which fact the Spanish-Californians
have bestowed the pretty name "nievitas," the diminutive of _nieve_, snow.
Their chief charm often lies in their pure, delightful fragrance, which
recalls the days of our careless, happy childhood. Children are keen
observers of flowers, and are among their most appreciative lovers, and
with them these modest, chaste little blossoms are special favorites.
There are many species, and even genera, and their determination is beset
with serious difficulties. It requires endless study and patience to
disentangle the facts about any one of them. They are comprised under
several genera, _Krynitzkia_, _Plagiobothrys_, _Eritrichium_, _Piptocalyx_,
etc. Some have fragrant flowers and some have not. Children of the south
call them "pop-corn flowers."
[Illustration WHITE FORGET-ME-NOT.]
WHIPPLEA.
_Whipplea modesta_, Torr. Saxifrage Family.
Slender, diffuse, hairy undershrubs. _Leaves._--Opposite;
short-petioled; ovate; toothed or entire; an inch or less long;
three-nerved. _Flowers._--White; barely three lines across; in
small terminal clusters. _Calyx._--White; five-cleft.
_Petals._--Five. _Stamens._--Usually ten. Filaments awl-shaped.
_Ovary._--Three- to five-celled, globose. Styles of the same
number. _Hab._--Coast Ranges from Monterey to Mendocino County.
Under the redwoods, or in moist cañons in their vicinity, may be found this
pretty undershrub trailing over banks or brushwood. In April its exquisite
little clusters of pure white flowers, with a pleasant fragrance, make
their appearance, and the plants have then been sometimes mistaken for a
species of _Ceanothus_.
WOODLAND STAR OF BETHLEHEM.
_Tellima affinis_, Bolander. Saxifrage Family.
_Stems._--Slender; six to twenty inches high.
_Root-leaves._--Round-reniform; scalloped; rarely an inch
across. _Stem-leaves._--Three to five; ternately cleft;
variously toothed. _Flowers._--White; in a loose raceme; nine
lines across. _Calyx._--Small; campanulate; five-toothed.
_Petals._--Five; wedge-shaped, with three acute lobes.
_Stamens._--Ten. Filaments very short. _Ovary._--One-celled.
Styles, three, short, stout. Stigmas, capitate. _Hab._--Shady
places almost throughout the State.
"Star of Bethlehem" is the common name by which many of our children know
this fragile flower. Its slender stems rise from many a mossy bank,
upbearing their few delicately slashed, pure-white stars, which seem to
shed a gentle radiance about them upon the woodland scene.
[Illustration WHIPPLEA--_Whipplea modesta._]
WILD BUCKWHEAT.
_Eriogonum fasciculatum_, Bentham. Buckwheat Family.
Shrubby; very leafy. _Leaves._--Alternate; nearly sessile;
narrowly oblanceolate; acute; tomentose beneath; glabrous
above; three to nine lines long; much fascicled.
_Flowers._--White or pinkish; in densely crowded compound
clusters; several perianths contained in the involucres.
_Involucres._--Campanulate; five- or six-nerved and toothed; two
lines high. _Perianth._--Minute; of six nearly equal segments.
(See _Eriogonum umbellatum_.) _Hab._--Santa Barbara and
southward; east to Arizona.
The wild buckwheat is a characteristic feature of the southern landscape.
It is a charming plant when in full bloom, and its feathery clusters of
pinkish-white flowers show finely against the warm olive tones of its
foliage. It is a very important honey plant, as it yields an exceptionally
pure nectar and remains in bloom a long time. Growing near the sea, it is
often close-cropped and shorn by the wind, and then it quite closely
resembles the _Adenostoma_, or chamisal.
Another very widely distributed and common species is _E. nudum_, Dougl.
Every one is familiar with its tall, green, naked, rushlike stems, bearing
on the ends of the branchlets the small balls of white or pinkish flowers.
Its leaves are all radical, smooth green above and densely white-woolly
beneath.
SIERRA PLUM. WILD PLUM.
_Prunus subcordata_, Benth. Rose Family.
Trees or shrubs three to ten feet high, with ash-gray bark and
branchlets occasionally spinescent. _Leaves._--Short-petioled;
ovate; sharply and finely serrate; an inch or two long.
_Umbels._--Two- to four-flowered. Pedicels three to six lines
long. _Flowers._--White; six lines across. _Fruit._--Red or
purple; six to fifteen lines long; fleshy; smooth. (Otherwise
as _P. ilicifolia_.) _Hab._--Mostly eastward of the Central
Valley, from San Felipe into Oregon.
The wild plum reaches its greatest perfection in the north, where the
shrubs are found in extensive groves covering whole mountain slopes.
[Illustration WILD BUCKWHEAT--_Eriogonum fasciculatum._]
The flowers, which are produced before the leaves, from March to May, are
white, fading to rose-color. By August and September, the bushes are
loaded with the handsome fruit, richly mottled with red, yellow, and
purple; and these colors are duplicated in the autumn foliage, which in the
North becomes very brilliant.
This fruit is excellent for canning, preserving, and making into jelly.
Many families make annual pilgrimages to these wild-plum orchards of the
mountains and carry away bushels of the fruit; but even then countless tons
of it go to waste.
_P. demissa_, Walpers,--the wild cherry or choke-cherry,--is found upon
mountains throughout the State, but less abundantly near the coast. Its
small white flowers grow in racemes three or four inches long, and these
ripen into the pretty shining black cherries, half an inch in diameter. It
often covers acres upon acres of rough land, and commences to bear when but
two feet high.
Housewives of our mountain districts make a marmalade of the fruit, which
has a peculiarly delicious, tart flavor.
ELLISIA.
_Ellisia chrysanthemifolia_, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
More or less hairy. _Stems._--Loosely branching; a foot or so
high. _Leaves._--Mostly opposite; auricled at base; twice- or
thrice-parted into many short, small lobes. _Flowers._--In
loose racemes; white; three lines or so across.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft; without appendages at the sinuses; almost
equaling the corolla. _Corolla._--Open-campanulate; having ten
minute scales at base within. _Stamens._--Five.
_Ovary._--One-celled; globose. Style slender; two-cleft.
_Hab._--San Francisco to San Diego.
These little plants, with delicately dissected leaves, are common in moist,
shaded localities; but, unfortunately, their foliage has a very strong
odor, which just escapes being agreeable. Their general aspect is somewhat
similar to that of some of the small species of _Nemophila_; but the lack
of appendages upon the calyx reveals their separate identity. It blooms
freely from March to June, and is especially abundant southward.
MADROÑO. MADRONE.
_Arbutus Menziesii_, Pursh. Heath Family.
Shrubs or trees. _Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; oblong; entire
or serrulate; four inches or so long. _Flowers._--White; waxen;
in large clusters. _Calyx._--Five-cleft; minute; white.
_Corolla._--Broadly urn-shaped; three lines long; with five
minute, recurved teeth. _Stamens._--Ten; on the corolla.
Filaments dilated; bearded. Anthers two-celled; saccate;
opening terminally; furnished with a pair of reflexed horns
near the summit. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style rather long.
_Fruit._--A cluster of scarlet-orange berries, with rough
granular coats. _Hab._--Puget Sound to Mexico and Texas;
specially in the Coast Ranges.
Captain of the Western wood,
Thou that apest Robin Hood!
Green above thy scarlet hose,
How thy velvet mantle shows;
Never tree like thee arrayed,
O thou gallant of the glade!
When the fervid August sun
Scorches all it looks upon,
And the balsam of the pine
Drips from stem to needle fine,
Round thy compact shade arranged,
Not a leaf of thee is changed!
When the yellow autumn sun
Saddens all it looks upon,
Spreads its sackcloth on the hills,
Strews its ashes in the rills,
Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff,
And in limbs of purest buff
Challengest the somber glade
For a sylvan masquerade.
Where, oh where shall he begin
Who would paint thee, Harlequin?
With thy waxen, burnished leaf,
With thy branches' red relief,
With thy poly-tinted fruit,
In thy spring or autumn suit,--
Where begin, and oh, where end,--
Thou whose charms all art transcend?
--BRET HARTE.
The name "madroño" was applied by the early Spanish-Californians to this
tree because of its strong resemblance and close relationship to the
_Arbutus unido_, or strawberry-tree of the Mediterranean countries, which
was called madroño in Spain.
Our madroño, though but a large shrub in the south, increases in size
northward, and reaches its maximum development in Marin County, where there
are some superb specimens of it. One tree upon the shores of Lake Lagunitas
measures more than twenty-three feet in circumference and a hundred feet in
height, and sends out many large branches, each two or three feet in
diameter.
A large part of the forest growth on the northern slopes of Mt. Tamalpais
is composed of it; and as it is an evergreen, it forms a mountain wall of
delightful and refreshing green the year around. The bark on the younger
limbs, which is of a rich Indian red, begins to peel off in thin layers
about midsummer, leaving a clear, smooth, greenish-buff surface, and
strewing the forest floor with its warm shreds, which mingling with the
exquisite tones of its ripened leaves, which have fallen at about the same
time, make a carpet equal in beauty of coloring to that under the English
beeches. It is thoroughly patrician in all its parts. The leaves which are
clustered at the ends of the slender twigs are rich, polished green above,
and somewhat paler beneath.
In the spring it puts forth great panicles of small, white, waxen bells,
which call the bees to a sybaritic feast, and in the autumn it spreads a no
less inviting repast in its great clusters of fine scarlet berries for the
blue pigeons who visit it in large flocks.
The wood of the madrone is hard and close-grained, of a light brown, shaded
with red, with lighter-colored sap-wood. It is used in the manufacture of
furniture, but is particularly valuable for the making of charcoal to be
used in the composition of gunpowder. The bark is sometimes used in tanning
leather.
WILD WHITE LILAC.
_Ceanothus velutinus_, Dougl. Buckthorn Family.
Widely branching shrubs, two to six feet or more high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; roundish, or broadly ovate;
eighteen lines to three inches long; polished, resinous above;
somewhat pubescent beneath; strongly three-nerved.
_Flowers._--White; three lines across; in large, dense,
compound clusters four or five inches long and wide. (See
_Ceanothus_ for flower structure.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges;
Columbia River, southward to San Francisco Bay; also eastward
to Colorado.
Its ample bright-green, highly varnished leaves and large white
flower-clusters make this a very beautiful species of _Ceanothus_. The
foliage is glutinous with a gummy exudation, which has a rather
disagreeable odor. Yet the shrub would be very handsome in cultivation.
WHITE NEMOPHILA.
_Nemophila atomaria_, Fisch. and Mey. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
_Corolla._--Pure white, closely dark-dotted nearly to the edge;
an inch or less across; densely hairy within the tube. Scales
of the corolla narrow, with long hairs. (Otherwise as _N.
insignis_.) _Hab._--Central California.
This delicate _Nemophila_ haunts wet, springy places among the hills, and
is at its best in early spring. There are a number of small-flowered forms
of _Nemophila_ which have been hitherto referred to _N. parviflora_, but
which the future will probably prove to constitute a number of species.
_N. maculata_, Benth., found in Middle California and the High Sierras, is
a charming form, with large flowers, whose petals bear strong violet
blotches at the top.
RATTLE-WEED. LOCO-WEED.
_Astragalus leucopsis_, Torr. and Gray. Pea Family.
_Stems._--A foot or so high. _Leaflets._--In many pairs; six
lines or more long. _Flowers._--Greenish-white; six lines long;
in spikelike racemes an inch or two long. _Calyx._--With teeth
more than half the length of the campanulate-tube.
_Pod._--Thin; bladdery-inflated; an inch or more long, on a
smooth stalk twice or thrice the length of the calyx-tube. (See
Astragalus.) _Hab._--Santa Barbara to San Diego.
These plants are very noticeable and quite pretty, with their pale foliage,
symmetrical leaves, and white flowers; but they are dreaded by the farmers
of the region of their growth, who aver that they are deadly loco-weeds. It
is said that native stock will not touch them; but animals brought from a
distance and unacquainted with them, eat them, with dreadful results of
loco.
We have numerous species, all rather difficult of determination.
WILD MORNING-GLORY.
_Convolvulus luteolus_, Gray. Morning-Glory Family.
_Stems._--Twining and climbing twenty feet or more.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sagittate; two inches or so long; smooth.
_Peduncles._--Several-flowered; axillary, with two small
linear-lanceolate bracts a little below the flower.
_Flowers._--Cream-color or pinkish, sometimes deep rose.
_Sepals._--Five; without bracts immediately below them.
_Corolla._--Open funnel-form; eighteen lines long; not lobed or
angled. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--Globose; two-celled or
imperfectly four-celled. Style filiform. Stigmas two.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
I remember long stretches of mountain road where the wild morning-glory has
completely covered the unsightly shrubs charred by a previous year's fire,
flinging out its slender stems, lacing and interlacing them in airy
festoons, which are covered with the fragile flowers in greatest profusion.
In these tangles, the industrious spiders have hung their exquisite
geometrical webs, which catch the glittering water-drops in their meshes.
When the sun comes out after a dense, cool fog-bath on a summer morning,
nothing more charmingly fresh could be imagined than such a scene.
[Illustration RATTLE-WEED--_Astragalus leucopsis._]
The common morning-glory of the south--_C. occidentalis_, Gray--is very
similar to the above, but may be distinguished from it by the pair of
large, thin bracts immediately below the calyx and enveloping it.
Another very pretty species is _C. villosus_, Gray. This is widely
distributed, but not very common. Its trailing stems and foliage are of a
velvety sage-gray throughout, and its small flowers of a yellowish
cream-color. The hastate leaves are shapely, and the whole plant is
charming when grown away from dust.
The common European bindweed--_C. arvensis_, L.--is to the farmer a very
unwelcome little immigrant. In fields it becomes a serious pest; for the
more its roots are disturbed and broken up the better it thrives. But
despite its bad character, we cannot help admiring its pretty little white
funnels, which lift themselves so debonairly among the prostrate stems and
leaves.
In medicine a tincture of the whole plant is valued for several uses.
WOOD-BALM. PITCHER-SAGE.
_Sphacele calycina_, Benth. Mint Family.
Woody at the base; two to five feet high; hairy or woolly.
_Leaves._--Two to four inches long. _Flowers._--Dull white or
purplish; an inch or more long; mostly solitary in the upper
axils. _Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Corolla._--Having a hairy ring at
base within. _Stamens._--Four, in two pairs. _Ovary._--Of four
seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma two-lobed. _Hab._--Dry
hills. San Francisco Bay, southward.
The wood-balm is closely allied to the sages, which fact is betrayed by its
opposite, wrinkly, sage-scented leaves; but its flowers have quite a
different aspect. These are ample and cylindrical, with a five-lobed
border, one of the lobes being prolonged into somewhat of a lip.
The generic name is from the Greek word meaning _sage_; and the specific
name, signifying _cuplike_, refers to the shape of the blossoms.
The dwellers among our southern mountains, with that happy instinct
possessed by those who live close to the heart of nature, have aptly named
this "pitcher-sage."
[Illustration PITCHER-SAGE--_Sphacele calycina._]
After the flowers have passed away, the large inflated, light-green
calyxes, densely crowded upon the stems, become quite conspicuous.
YUCCA-PALM. TREE-YUCCA. JOSHUA-TREE.
_Yucca arborescens_, Trelease. Lily Family.
Scraggly trees; thirty, or forty feet high; with trunks one or
two feet in diameter. _Leaves._--Eight inches long; crowded;
rigid; spine-tipped; serrulate; the older ones reflexed and
sun-bleached, the younger ashy-green. _Flowers._--In sessile,
ovate panicles, terminating the branches. Panicles several
inches long. _Perianth._--Narrowly campanulate; eighteen to
thirty lines long. _Fruit._--Two or three inches long.
(Otherwise as _Y. Mohavensis_.) _Hab._--Southwestern Utah to
the Mojave Desert.
The traveler crossing the Mojave Desert upon the railroad has his curiosity
violently aroused by certain fantastic tree forms that whirl by the car
windows. These are the curious Joshua-trees of the Mormons, which are
called in California tree-yucca or yucca-palm. A writer in "The Land of
Sunshine" thus aptly characterizes them: "Weird, twisted, demoniacal, the
yuccas remind me of those enchanted forests described by Dante, whose trees
were human creatures in torment. In twisted groups or standing isolated,
they may readily be imagined specters of the plains."
Mr. Sargent tells us that, though found much to the eastward of our
borders, it abounds in the Mojave Desert, where it attains its largest size
and forms a belt of gaunt, straggling forest several miles in width along
the desert's western rim.
Its flowers appear from March to May, but are not at all attractive, on
account of their soiled white color and disagreeable, fetid odor. "The
unopened panicles form conspicuous cones eight to ten inches long, covered
with closely overlapping white scales, often flushed with purple at the
apex."
The seeds are gathered and used by the omnivorous Indians, who grind them
into meal, which they eat either raw or cooked as a mush. The wood
furnishes an excellent material for paper pulp, and some years ago an
English company established a mill at Ravenna, in Soledad Pass, for its
manufacture. It is said that several editions of a London journal were
printed upon it, but owing to the great cost of its manufacture, the
enterprise had to be abandoned.
The light wood is put to many uses now, and in the curio bazaars of the
south it plays a conspicuous part, made into many small articles. By sawing
round and round the trunk of the tree, thin sheets of considerable size are
procured. A sepia reproduction of one of the old missions upon the
ivory-tinted ground of one of these combines sentiment and novelty in a
very pretty souvenir. Surgeons find these same sheets excellent for
splints, as they are unyielding in one direction and pliable in the other;
and orchardists wrap them around the bases of their trees to protect them
from the gnawing of rabbits.
COMMON ELDER.
_Sambucus glauca_, Nutt. Honeysuckle Family.
Shrubby or arborescent; often thirty feet high; with finely
fissured bark. _Leaves._--Opposite; petioled; pinnate.
_Leaflets._--Three to nine; lanceolate; acuminate; serrate; two
inches or so long; smooth. _Flowers._--Minute; two or three
lines across; in large, flat, five-branched cymes; white.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--Rotate; five-lobed.
_Stamens._--Five; alternate with the corolla lobes.
_Ovary._--Three- to five-celled. Stigmas of same number.
_Berries._--Small; dark blue, with a dense white bloom.
_Hab._--Throughout the State; common.
The elder is one of our most widely distributed shrubs, and is a familiar
sight upon almost every open glade or plain. It is especially abundant in
the south. Its flower-clusters, made up of myriads of tiny cream-white
blossoms, make a showy but delicate and lacelike mat, while its berries are
beautiful and inviting. The bears are especially appreciative of these, and
we have sometimes seen their footprints leading along a lonely mountain
road to the elder-berry bushes. The fruit is prized by our housewives for
pies and preserves, and it would doubtless make as good wine as that of the
Eastern species.
Among the Spanish-Californians the blossoms are known as "sauco" and are
regarded as an indispensable household remedy for colds. They are
administered in the form of a tea, which induces a profuse perspiration.
It is said that Dr. Boerhaave held the elder in such reverence for the
multitude of its virtues, that he always removed his hat when he passed it.
In ancient times the elder was the subject of many strange superstitions.
In his interesting book, "The Folk-Lore of Plants," Mr. Thistleton Dyer
says that it was reputed to be possessed of magic power, and that any
baptized person whose eyes had been anointed with the green juice of its
inner bark could recognize witches anywhere. Owing to these magic
properties, it was often planted near dwellings to keep away evil spirits.
By making a magic circle and standing within it with elder-berries gathered
on St. John's Night, the mystic fern-seed could be secured which possessed
the strength of forty men and enabled one to walk invisible. This was one
of the trees suspected as having furnished wood for the Cross; and to this
day the English country people believe themselves safe from lightning when
standing under an elder, because lightning never strikes the tree of which
the Cross was made.
COULTER'S SNAPDRAGON.
_Antirrhinum Coulterianum_, Benth. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Two to four feet high; smooth below.
_Leaves._--Linear to oval; distant. Tendril-shoots long and
slender, produced mostly below the flowers. _Flowers._--White
or violet; in densely crowded villous-pubescent spikes, two to
ten inches long. (Otherwise as _A. vagans_.) _Hab._--Santa
Barbara to San Diego.
The flowers of this pretty snapdragon are usually white, and the lower lip,
with its great palate often dotted with dark color, takes up the major part
of the blossom. They are sometimes violet, however, when they much resemble
the flowers of the toad-flax, but are without their long spur.
_A. Orcuttianum_, Gray, is a similar species, but more slender, with fewer
and smaller flowers, whose lower lip is not much larger than the upper, and
whose flower-spikes are disposed to have the tortile branchlets in their
midst. This is found near San Diego and southward.
HELIOTROPE.
_Heliotropium Curassavicum_, L. Borage Family.
Diffusely spreading; six to twelve inches high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; obovate to linear; an inch or
two long; succulent; glaucous. _Flowers._--Usually white,
sometimes lavender; in dense, usually two-forked spikes.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Salver-form; border
five-lobed, with plaited sinuses; three lines across.
_Stamens._--Five. Anthers sessile. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike
nutlets. Stigma umbrella-like. _Hab._--Widely distributed.
This, the only species of true heliotrope common within our borders, is
widely distributed over the world. It affects the sand of the seashore or
saline soils of the interior. It is in no way an attractive plant, as
compared with our garden heliotrope, as its flowers have a washed-out look
and are not at all fragrant, while its pale stems and foliage lack color
and character.
Its leaves, which contain a mucilaginous juice, are dried and reduced to
powder by the Spanish-Californians, who esteem them very highly as a cure
for the wounds of men and animals. They blow the dry powder into the wound.
HOREHOUND.
_Marrubium vulgare_, Linn. Mint Family.
The horehound has been introduced from Europe at various points along our
Coast, but it is now so abundant as to seem like an indigenous plant. It
has many white-woolly, square stems, and roundish, wrinkly opposite leaves,
covered beneath with matted, white-woolly hairs. Its small, white,
bilabiate flowers are crowded in the axils of the upper leaves so densely
as to appear like whorls. It may be known from the other members of the
Mint family by its campanulate calyx with ten strong, recurved teeth.
This has long been used in medicine as a tonic, and is especially esteemed
by our Spanish-Californians as a remedy for colds and lung troubles.
WHITE EVENING PRIMROSE.
_Œnothera Californica_, Watson. Evening-Primrose Family.
Hoary pubescent, and more or less villous. _Stems._--A foot or
so high. _Leaves._--Oblanceolate or lanceolate; sinuately
toothed or irregularly pinnatifid; two to four inches long.
_Flowers._--White; turning to rose-color; two inches across.
_Ovary and Calyx-tube._--Over three inches long.
_Calyx-lobes._--One inch long; separate at the tips. (See
_Œnothera_ for flower-structure.) _Hab._--Central and Southern
California; especially about the San Bernardino region; not
plentiful.
Perhaps the most beautiful of all our evening primroses is this charming
white species. Late in the afternoon the handsome silvery foliage begins to
show the great white, opening moons of the fragile blossoms. Their silken
texture, delicate fragrance, and chaste look make them paramount among
blossoms.
It is a most interesting sight to watch the opening of one of the nodding
silvery buds. I sat down by one which had already uplifted its head. The
calyx-lobes had just commenced to part in the center, showing the white,
silken corolla tightly rolled within. It grew larger from moment to moment,
when suddenly the calyx-lobes parted with a jerk, and the petals, freed
from their bondage, quickly spread wider and wider, as though some spirit
within were forcing its way out, while one after another the calyx-lobes
were turned downward with a quick, decisive movement. It was a wonderful
exhibition of the power of motion in plants. I could now look within and
see a magical tangle of yellow anthers delicately draped with cobwebby
ropes of pollen.
The stamens take a downward curve toward the lower petal. The anthers have
already opened their stores of golden pollen before the unfurling of the
buds, so that the somewhat sticky ropes are all ready to adhere to the
first moth who visits the flower in search of the delicious and abundant
nectar stored in the depths of the long calyx-tube. The day following their
opening the blossoms begin to turn to a delicate pink, and the calyx-lobes
have a fleshlike look.
[Illustration WHITE EVENING PRIMROSE--_Œnothera Californica._]
EVENING SNOW.
_Gilia dichotoma_, Benth. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
Six inches to a foot high; erect; sparsely leaved.
_Leaves._--Opposite; mostly entire; filiform.
_Flowers._--Nearly sessile in the forks, or terminal.
_Calyx._--With cylindric tube five lines long; wholly white,
scarious, except the five filiform green ribs, continued into
needle-like lobes. _Corolla._--White; an inch or two across.
Anthers linear. _Hab._--Throughout the western part of the
State.
This is one of the most showy of our gilias. Miss Eastwood writes of it:
"At about four o'clock in the afternoon _Gilia dichotoma_ begins to whiten
the hillside. Before expansion the flowers are hardly noticeable; the dull
pink of the edges, which are not covered in the convolute corolla, hides
their identity and makes the change which takes place when they unveil
their radiant faces to the setting sun the more startling. They intend to
watch all night and by sunset all are awake. In the morning they roll up
their petals again when daylight comes on, and when the sun is well up all
are asleep, tired out with the vigil of the night. The odor is most
sickening.... The same flower opens several times, and grows larger as it
grows older."
HEART'S-EASE.
_Viola ocellata_, Torr. and Gray. Violet Family.
_Stems._--Nearly erect; six to twelve inches high.
_Leaves._--Cordate; acutish; conspicuously crenate.
_Petals._--Five to seven lines long; the upper white within,
deep brown-purple without; the others white or yellowish,
veined with purple; the lateral with a purple spot near the
base and slightly bearded on the claw. (Flower structure as in
_V. pedunculata_.) _Hab._--Wooded districts from Monterey to
Mendocino County.
This dainty little heart's-ease has nothing of the gay, joyous,
self-assertive look of our yellow pansy, but rather the shy, timid mien
belonging to all the creatures of the woodland. It ventures its pretty
blossoms in late spring and early summer.
ICE-PLANT.
_Mesembryanthemum crystallinum_, L. Fig-Marigold Family.
Procumbent, succulent plants, covered with minute, elongated,
glistening papillæ. _Leaves._--Flat; ovate or spatulate;
undulate-margined; clasping. _Flowers._--White or rose-colored;
axillary; nearly sessile; rather small. _Calyx._--With
campanulate tube and usually five unequal lobes.
_Petals._--Linear; numerous. _Stamens._--Numerous.
_Ovary._--Two- to many-celled. Stigmas five. _Hab._--The Coast
and adjacent islands from Santa Barbara southward; also in the
Mojave Desert.
The ice-plant spreads its broad, green leaves over the ground, often making
large rugs, which, when reddened by the approach of drouth and glistening
with small crystals, produce a charming effect. The flat leaves of this
plant are quite unexpectedly different from those of our other species of
_Mesembryanthemum_, which are usually cylindrical or triangular. The
leaf-stems and the calyx-tube, in particular, are beautifully jeweled with
the clear, glasslike incrustation. The flesh-pink or almost white flowers
resemble small sea-anemones, with their single row of tentacle-like petals
and hollow tube powdered with the little white anthers.
The plant grows so abundantly in the fields of the southern seasides as to
be a dreadful pest to the farmer, and it is very disagreeable to walk
through, as it yields up the water of its crystals very readily, and this
is said to be of an alkaline quality, which is ruinous to shoe-leather.
This ice-plant grows plentifully in the chalky regions of France, and has
there been recommended for use as a food, to be prepared like spinach. It
also grows in the Canary Islands.
SQUAW-GRASS. SOUR-GRASS. TURKEY-BEARD.
_Xerophyllum tenax_, Nutt. Lily Family.
_Radical leaves._--Very numerous; two or three feet long; about
two lines broad; gracefully flexile; serrulate. _Scape._--Two
to five feet high; with scattered leaves; bearing at top a
dense raceme a foot or two long. _Perianth segments._--Six;
spreading rotately; four or five lines long; white.
_Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Styles three;
filiform. _Hab._--Coast Ranges to British Columbia; also in the
Northern Sierras.
Often upon high ridges we notice the large clumps of certain plants with
long, slender, grasslike leaves, which ray out in every direction like a
fountain, and resemble a small pampas-grass before it flowers. We naturally
wonder what the plants are, but it may be many years before our curiosity
is satisfied. Suddenly some spring we find them sending up tall
blossom-shafts, crowned with great airy plumes of pure-white flowers, fully
worthy of our long and patient waiting. After putting forth this supreme
effort of a lifetime, and maturing its seed, the plant dies.
In the north, where it is sometimes very abundant, and occupies extensive
meadows, it is known as "sour-grass." The name "squaw-grass" is also
applied there, because the leaves, which are long, wiry, and tough, are
used by the Indians in the weaving of some of their finest baskets. Baskets
made from them are particularly pliable and durable.
WHITE OWL'S CLOVER.
_Orthocarpus versicolor_, Greene. Figwort Family.
Slender; seldom branching or more than six inches high. Herbage
slightly reddish. _Leaves._--Cleft into filiform divisions at
the apex. _Flowers._--Pure white, fading pinkish; very
fragrant. Lower lip of the corolla with three very large sacs.
Folds of the throat densely bearded. (See _Orthocarpus_.)
_Hab._--San Francisco and Marin County.
During the spring the meadows about San Francisco are luxuriantly covered
with the pretty blossoms of the owl's clover, which make snowy patches in
some places. Unlike the other species of _Orthocarpus_, this has
delightfully fragrant blossoms.
I do not know why this plant should be accredited to the owl and called
clover, unless the quizzical-looking little blossoms are suggestive of the
wise bird. But with all his wisdom, I doubt if he would recognize his
clover.
[Illustration WHITE OWL'S CLOVER--_Orthocarpus versicolor._]
HAIRBELL. LANTERN OF THE FAIRIES.
WHITE GLOBE-TULIP.
_Calochortus albus_, Dougl. Lily Family.
_Stem._--One or two feet high; branching. _Flowers._--White.
_Sepals._--Lanceolate. _Petals._--Twelve to fifteen lines long;
pearly white, sometimes lavender-tinged outside; covered within
with long, silky white hairs. _Gland._--Shallow
crescent-shaped, with four transverse scales fringed with short
glandular hairs. (See _Calochortus_.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges and
Sierras, San Diego to Tehama County.
Just before the oncoming of summer, our wooded hill-slopes and cañon-sides
entertain one of the most charming of flowers; for the graceful stalks of
the hairbell begin to hang out their delicate, white satin globes. Never
was flower more exquisite in texture and fringing--never one more graceful
in habit. If fairies have need of lanterns at all, these blossoms would
certainly make very dainty globes to hold their miniature lights.
Wherever they grow, these flowers win instant and enthusiastic admiration;
and they have received a variety of common names in different localities,
being known as "snowy lily-bell," "satin-bell," "hairbell," "lantern of the
fairies," and "white globe-tulip."
TOLGUACHA. LARGE-FLOWERED DATURA.
_Datura meteloides_, DC. Nightshade Family.
_Hab._--Southern California, and northward--at least to
Stockton.
The large-flowered Datura is a common plant along southern roadsides,
producing in early May its enormous white or violet-tinged funnels, which
are sometimes ten inches long. It resembles the common Jamestown-weed, of
which it is a near relative, but may be distinguished by its large flower
and its cylindrical calyx, which is not angled. It shares with the
Jamestown-weed its narcotic poisonous qualities, and is a famous plant
among our Indians. Dr. Palmer writes that they bruise and boil the root in
water, and when the infusion thus made is cold, they drink it to produce a
stupefying effect. In a different degree they administer it to their young
dancing women as a powerful stimulant, and before going into battle the
warriors take it to produce a martial frenzy in themselves.
[Illustration HAIRBELL--_Calochortus albus._]
By the Piutes it is called "main-oph-weep." The specific name,
_meteloides_, indicates the resemblance of this plant to _Datura Metel_, of
India.
YERBA SANTA. MOUNTAIN BALM.
_Eriodictyon glutinosum_, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Shrubby; three to five feet high. _Leaves._--Thick; glutinous;
smooth above; light beneath, with prominent net-veining; three
to six inches long. _Flowers._--Purple, violet, or white.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Six lines long; four lines
across. _Stamens._--Five; alternate with the corolla-lobes.
_Ovary._--Two-celled. Styles two. _Hab._--Western California;
common on dry hills.
The bitter, aromatic leaves of the yerba santa are a highly valued,
domestic remedy for colds, and many old-fashioned people would not be
without it.
Dr. Bard, one of our most eminent physicians, writes of this interesting
little shrub: "It has been reserved for the Californian Indian to furnish
three of the most valuable vegetable additions which have been made to the
pharmacopœia during the last twenty years. One, the _Eriodictyon
glutinosum_, growing profusely in our foothills, was used by them in
affections of the respiratory tract, and its worth was so appreciated by
the missionaries that they named it yerba santa, or holy plant."
The other plants referred to by Dr. Bard are the _Rhamnus_, or _Cascara
sagrada_, and the _Grindelia_. In the mountains of Mariposa County, it is
known as "wild peach," probably because the leaf somewhat resembles the
peach-leaf.
Dr. Behr writes that considerable quantities of it are exported, partly for
medicinal purposes, and partly as a harmless and agreeable substitute for
hops in the brewing of certain varieties of beer, especially porter.
In Ventura County this passes by insensible gradations into _E.
tomentosum_, Benth., and there it is difficult to distinguish clearly
between the two species.
[Illustration YERBA SANTA--_Eriodictyon glutinosum._]
_E. tomentosum_, Benth., is found from San Diego probably to Santa Barbara.
This comely shrub is so disguised in its woolly coat that one does not at
first detect its close relationship to the more common yerba santa. Its
broad, oval leaves, ribbed like the chestnut and closely notched, and its
generous clusters of unusually large violet flowers, serve to bewilder us
for the moment. The wool upon the foliage gives it a gray-green tone,
harmonizing perfectly with the violet flowers. It is specially abundant all
over the mesas by the seashore, near San Diego.
ALUM-ROOT.
_Heuchera micrantha_, Dougl. Saxifrage Family.
_Rootstock._--Stout. _Leaves._--All radical; two to four inches
long. Scapes.--Often two feet high. _Flowers._--White; minute;
in loose panicles. _Calyx._--Five-toothed; one or two lines
long. _Petals._--Five; one line long; on the sinuses of the
calyx. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--One-celled. Styles two.
_Hab._--Coast Ranges and Sierras from Monterey to British
Columbia.
Upon almost any drive or walk along a shaded road, we may find the
alum-root hanging over a mossy bank. Its large, airy panicle is composed of
minute flowers, and appears in early summer. But it is more conspicuous for
its exquisite foliage than for its flowers. The leaves are usually mottled
in light green and richly veined in dark brown or red, and they often turn
to a rich red later in the season.
The root is woody and astringent, to which latter fact the plant owes its
English name, which it shares with the other members of the genus. These
are very satisfactory plants to bring in from the woods, because they
remain beautiful in water for many weeks.
[Illustration ALUM-ROOT--_Heuchera micrantha._]
CHAMISAL. CHAMISO. GREASEWOOD.
_Adenostoma fasciculatum_, Hook. and Arn. Rose Family.
Shrubs two to twenty feet high, with gray, shreddy bark and
reddish, slender branches. _Leaves._--Two to four lines long;
linear to awl-shaped; smooth; clustered. Stipules small; acute.
_Flowers._--White; two lines across; in terminal racemose
panicles. _Calyx._--Five-toothed; with bracts below resembling
another calyx; tube ten-ribbed. _Petals._--Five.
_Stamens._--Ten to fifteen; in clusters between the petals.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Fruit._--A dry akene. _Hab._--Widely
distributed.
The chamisal forms a large part of the chaparral of our mountain slopes,
and when not in bloom gives to them much the aspect imparted to the Scotch
Highlands by the heather. It is an evergreen shrub, with small clustered,
needle-like leaves. In late spring it is covered with large, feathery
panicles of tiny white blossoms, which show with particular effectiveness
against the rich olive of its foliage, and furnish the bees with valuable
honey material for a considerable season. When interspersed with shrubs of
livelier greens, it gives to our hill-slopes and mountain-sides a
wonderfully rich and varied character. In the summer of a season when it
has flowered freely, the cinnamon-colored seed-vessels blending with the
olives of the foliage lend a rich, warm bronze to whole hillsides, forming
a charming contrast to the straw tints and russets of grassy slopes, and
adding another to the many soft harmonies of our summer landscape. It is
most abundant in the Coast Ranges, where, in some localities, it covers
mile after mile of hill-slopes, with its close-cropped, uniform growth.
When the chaparral, or dense shrubby growth of our mountain-sides, is
composed entirely of _Adenostoma_, it is called chamisal.
Another species, _A. sparsifolium_, Torr., found in the south, and somewhat
resembling the above, may be known from it by its lack of stipules, its
scattered, not clustered leaves, which are obtuse and not pointed, and its
somewhat larger flowers, each one pediceled.
This is commonly known among the Spanish-Californians as "Yerba del
Pasmo," literally the "herb of the convulsion," and among them and the
Indians it is a sovereign remedy for many ailments, being considered
excellent for colds, cramps, and snakebites, and an infallible cure for
tetanus, or lockjaw. The foliage fried in grease becomes a healing
ointment.
The bark of this species is reddish and hangs in shreds.
HOLLY-LEAVED CHERRY. ISLAY.
_Prunus ilicifolia_, Walp. Rose Family.
Evergreen shrubs or small trees; eight to thirty feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; holly-like; an inch or two long.
_Flowers._--White; three lines across; in racemes eighteen
lines to three inches long. _Calyx._--Five-cleft.
_Petals._--Five; spreading. _Stamens._--Twelve to twenty-five.
_Ovary._--Solitary; one-celled. Style terminal. _Fruit._--A
dark red cherry, becoming black; six lines in diameter.
_Hab._--Coast Ranges, San Francisco into Lower California.
The holly-leaved cherry is a very ornamental shrub, with its shining,
prickly evergreen leaves, and it is coming more and more into favor for
cultivation, especially as a hedge-shrub. In its natural state it attains
its greatest perfection in the mountains near Santa Barbara and southward.
On dry hills it is only a shrub, but in the rich soil of cañon bottoms it
becomes a tree. Some of the finest specimens are to be found in the gardens
of the old missions, where they have been growing probably a century.
Dr. Behr tells us that the foliage, in withering, develops hydrocyanic
acid, the odor of which is quite perceptible. The leaves are then poisonous
to sheep and cattle.
The shrubs are especially beautiful in spring, after they have made their
new growth of bright green at the ends of the branches, and put forth a
profusion of feathery bloom. The blossoms have the pleasant, bitter
fragrance of the cultivated cherry, and attract myriads of bees, who make
the region vocal with their busy hum. The fruit, which ripens from
September to December, is disappointing, owing to its very thin pulp,
though its astringent and acid flavor is not unpleasant.
It was used by the aborigines as food, however, and made into an
intoxicating drink by fermentation. The meat of the stones ground and made
into balls constituted a delicate morsel with them.
YERBA BUENA.
_Micromeria Douglasii_, Benth. Mint Family.
Aromatic trailing vines. _Stems._--Slender; one to four feet
long. _Leaves._--One inch long; round-ovate.
_Flowers._--Solitary; axillary; white or purplish.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed; two lines long. _Corolla._--Five lines
long; bilabiate. _Stamens._--Four; in pairs on the corolla.
_Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma
unevenly two-lipped. _Hab._--Vancouver Island to Los Angeles
County.
The yerba buena is as dear to the Californian as the Mayflower to the New
Englander, and is as intimately associated with the early traditions of
this Western land as is that delicate blossom with the stormy past of the
Pilgrim Fathers. Its delicious, aromatic perfume seems in some subtle way
to link those early days of the Padres with our own, and to call up visions
of the long, low, rambling mission buildings of adobe, with their
picturesque red-tiled roofs; the flocks and herds tended by gentle
shepherds in cowls; and the angelus sounding from those quaint belfries,
and vibrating in ever-widening circles over hill and vale.
Before the coming of the Mission Fathers, the Indians used this little
herb, placing great faith in its medicinal virtues, so that the Padres
afterward bestowed upon it the name of "yerba buena"--"the good herb." It
is still used among our Spanish-Californians in the form of a tea, both as
a pleasant beverage and as a febrifuge, and also as a remedy for
indigestion and other disorders.
They designate this as "Yerba Buena del Campo"--_i.e._ the wild or field
yerba buena,--to distinguish it from the "Yerba Buena del Poso"--"the herb
of the well,"--which is the common garden-mint growing in damp places.
Aside from its associations and medicinal virtues, this is a charming
little plant. In half-shaded woods its long, graceful stems make a trailing
interlacement upon the ground and yield up their minty fragrance as we
pass.
[Illustration YERBA BUENA--_Micromeria Douglasii_.]
MATILIJA POPPY.
_Romneya Coulteri_, Harv. Poppy Family.
_Stems._--Numerous; two to fifteen feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; the lower pinnatifid; the upper
pinnately cut into long narrow segments; glaucous; three to
five inches long; smooth. _Flowers._--Solitary; six to nine
inches across. _Sepals._--Three; strongly arched, covered with
bristly appressed hairs; caducous. _Petals._--Six; white.
_Stamens._--Very numerous. Filaments filiform; yellow, purple
below. _Ovary._--Seven- to eleven-celled. Stigmas several.
_Hab._--Santa Barbara to San Diego.
The Matilija poppy (pronounced ma-til'li-ha) must be conceded the queen of
all our flowers. It is not a plant for small gardens, but the fitting
adornment of a large park, where it can have space and light and air to
rear its imperial stems and shake out its great diaphanous flowers. It is
one of the most wonderful of wild flowers, and it is difficult to believe
that nature, without the aid of a careful gardener, should have produced
such a miracle of loveliness. It is justly far-famed, and by English
gardeners, who now grow it successfully, it is regarded as a priceless
treasure, and people go from many miles around to see it when it blooms. It
is to be regretted that our flowers must go abroad to find their warmest
admirers.
This plant was named in honor of Dr. Romney Robinson, a famous astronomer.
Its common name was given it because it grows in particular abundance in
the Matilija Cañon, some miles above Ventura in the mountains. Many people
have the mistaken idea that it grows only in that region. It is not common,
by any means; but it is found in scattered localities from Santa Barbara
southward into Mexico. It is very abundant near Riverside, and also upon
the southern boundary and below in Lower California, where the plants cover
large areas. It not only grows in fertile valleys, but seeks the seclusion
of remote cañons, and nothing more magnificent could be imagined than a
steep cañon-side covered with the great bushy plants, thickly sown with the
enormous white flowers.
The round buds (which, however, are sometimes pointed) are closely wrapped
in three overlapping hairy sepals. These gradually open, and at dawn the
buds unfurl their crumpled petals to the day, exhaling a pleasant
fragrance. The blossoms remain open for many days.
[Illustration MATILIJA POPPY--_Romneya Coulteri_.]
These plants have long been in use among the Indians of Lower California,
who esteem them highly for their medicinal qualities. The seeds require a
long period for germination, and they have been known to come at the end of
two years. The better method of propagation is from root-cuttings.
The plant has been called "Mission poppy" and "Giant Californian white
poppy," but the pretty Indian name cannot be improved upon.
WHITE SAGE. GREASEWOOD.
_Audibertia polystachya_, Benth. Mint Family.
Shrubby, three to ten feet high; many-stemmed.
_Leaves._--Opposite; lanceolate; narrowing into a petiole;
several inches long. _Flowers._--White or pale lavender, in
loose panicles a foot or two long. _Calyx._--Tubular;
bilabiate. _Corolla._--About six lines long, with short tube
and bilabiate border. Upper lip small; erect. Lower lip
three-lobed; the middle lobe large. _Stamens._--Two; jointed.
_Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style slender. Stigma
two-cleft. _Hab._--Santa Barbara to San Diego.
The classic honey of Hymettus could not have been clearer or more wholesome
than that distilled by the bees from the white sage of Southern California,
which has become justly world-renowned. The plants cover extensive reaches
of valley and hill-slopes, and are often called "greasewood."
Certain it is that the white stems have a very greasy, gummy feel and a
rank, aggressive odor. In spring the long, coarse, sparsely leafy branches
begin to rise from the woody base, often making the slopes silvery; and by
May these have fully developed their loose, narrow panicles of pale flowers
and yellowish buds.
The structure of these blossoms is very interesting. The long, prominent
lower lip curves downward and upward and backward upon itself, like a
swan's neck, while the two stamens rising from its surface lift themselves
like two long horns, and the style curves downward.
A bee arriving at this flower naturally brushes against the stigma, leaving
upon it some of the pollen gained from another flower. Then alighting upon
the lower lip, his weight bends it downward, and he grasps the stamens as
convenient handles, thus drawing the anthers toward his body, where the
pollen is dusted upon his coat as he probes beneath the closed upper lip
for the honey in the depths of the tube. The various sages of the south
have a very interesting way of hybridizing.
CASCARA SAGRADA. CALIFORNIA COFFEE.
_Rhamnus Californica_, Esch. Buckthorn Family.
_Shrubs._--Four to eighteen feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
elliptic to oblong; denticulate or entire; leathery; one to
four inches long; six to eighteen lines wide.
_Flowers._--Clustered; greenish white; small.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Petals._--Five; minute; on the sinuses
of the calyx; each clasping a stamen. _Ovary._--Two- to
four-celled. Style short. _Fruit._--Berry-like; black; four to
six lines long; containing two or three nutlets, like
coffee-beans. _Hab._--Throughout California.
Long before the advent of the Spanish, the medicinal virtues of this shrub
were known to the Indians, who used it as a remedy for rheumatism and,
according to Dr. Bard, to correct the effects of an acorn diet. The Mission
Fathers afterward came to appreciate its worth so highly that they bestowed
upon it the name _Cascara sagrada_, or the "sacred bark." Since those early
days the fame of it has spread the world around. No more valuable laxative
is known to the medical world to-day, and every year great quantities of it
are exported from our shores. Though the shrub is found as far south as San
Diego, the bark is not gathered in any quantity south of Monterey, as it
becomes too thin southward. The shrub goes under a variety of names,
according to the locality in which it is found.
In Monterey County it is known as "yellow-boy" or "yellow-root," and in
Sonoma County it becomes "pigeon-berry," because the berry is a favorite
food of the wild pigeons, and lends to their flesh a bitter taste.
Some years ago quite an excitement prevailed in the State when some
visionary persons believed they had found a perfect substitute for coffee
in the seeds of this shrub. To be sure, they do somewhat resemble the
coffee-bean in form, but the resemblance goes no further; for upon a
careful analysis they revealed none of the qualities of coffee, nor upon
roasting did they exhale its aroma. After much discussion of the matter and
the laying out in imagination of extensive, natural coffee-plantations upon
our wild hill-slopes, these hopeful people were destined to see their
project fall in ruins.
This shrub is very variable, according to the locality where it grows.
Under shade, the leaves become herbaceous and ample, and as we go northward
that becomes the prevailing type, and is then called _R. Purshiana_, DC. It
is then often very large, having a trunk the size of a man's body. In
Oregon it is known as "chittemwood" and "bitter bark," and also as "wahoo"
and "bear-wood." The _var. tomentella_, Brew. and Wats., is densely
white-tomentose, especially on the under surfaces of the leaves.
EVERLASTING FLOWER. CUDWEED. LADY'S TOBACCO.
_Gnaphalium decurrens_, Ives. Composite Family
Viscid-glandular under the loose hairs. _Flower-heads._--In
densely crowded, flattish clusters. _Involucre._--Campanulate;
of very numerous, scarious, yellowish-white, oval scales.
(Otherwise similar to _Anaphalis Margaritacea_.) _Hab._--From
San Diego through Oregon.
The common everlasting flower, or cudweed, is plentiful upon our dry hills,
blooming in early summer, where its white clusters are conspicuous objects
amid the drying vegetation. In our rural districts it is believed that
sleeping upon a pillow made of these flowers will cure catarrhal
affections.
_G. Sprengelii_, Hook. and Arn., may be known from the above by its densely
gray, woolly herbage, which is not glandular-viscid. It is also common
throughout the State.
The beautiful edelweiss of the Alps is a species of _Gnaphalium_, _G.
leontopodium_.
CALIFORNIAN BUCKEYE. CALIFORNIAN HORSE-CHESTNUT.
_Æsculus Californica_, Nutt. Maple or Soapberry Family.
Shrubs or trees ten to forty feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite;
petioled; with five palmate, stalked leaflets.
_Leaflets._--Oblong; acute; three to five inches long;
serrulate. _Flowers._--White; in a thyrse a foot long; many of
them imperfect. _Calyx._--Tubular; two-lobed. _Petals._--Four
or five; six lines or more long; unequal. _Stamens._--Five to
seven; exserted. Anthers buff. _Ovary._--Three-celled.
_Nuts._--One to three inches in diameter; usually one in the
pod. _Hab._--Coast Ranges of Middle California; also the Sierra
foothills.
Our Californian buckeye is closely allied to the horse-chestnuts and
buckeyes of the eastern half of the continent. It is usually found upon
stream-banks or the side-walls of cañons, and reaches its greatest
perfection in the valleys of our central Coast Ranges. It usually branches
low into a number of clean, round, light-gray limbs, which widen out into a
broad, dense, rounded head. Its leaves are fully developed before the
flowers appear. When in full bloom, in May, it is considered one of the
most beautiful of all our American species. Its long, white flower-spikes,
sprinkled rather regularly over the green mound of foliage, are very
suggestive of a neat calico print. Early to come, the leaves are as early
to depart, and by midsummer the beautiful skeleton is often bare, its
interlacing twigs making a delicate network against the deep azure of the
sky.
Though lavish in its production of flowers, usually but one or two of the
large cluster succeed in maturing fruit. By October and November the
leathery pods begin to yield up their big golden-brown nuts, which are
great favorites among the squirrels. The Indians are said to resort to
these nuts in times of famine. Before using them, they roast them a day or
two in the ground, to extract the poison.
The inner wood of the root, after being kiln-cured for several weeks,
becomes very valuable to the cabinet-maker. It is then of an exquisite
mottled green, and when highly polished can hardly be distinguished from a
fine piece of onyx.
PUSSY'S-PAWS.
_Spraguea umbellata_, Torr. Purslane Family.
_Radical-leaves._--Spatulate or oblanceolate; six lines to four
inches long. _Stem-leaves._--Similar, but smaller, often
reduced to a few bracts. _Scapes._--Several; two to twelve
inches high. _Flowers._--In dense spikes. _Sepals._--Two;
orbicular; thin; papery; two to four lines across; whitish;
equaling the petals. _Petals._--Four; rose-color.
_Stamens._--Three. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style bifid.
_Hab._--The Sierras, from the Yosemite to British Columbia.
Pussy's-paws is a very plentiful plant in the Sierras, usually growing upon
dry, rocky soil. It varies much in aspect, sometimes sending up a stout,
erect flower-scape, and again growing low and matlike with its prostrate
flower-stems radiating from the center. It blooms from early summer onward,
often almost covering the ground with its blossoms. The flower-clusters
grow in a bunch, much like the pink cushions on pussy's feet, whence the
pretty common name.
SPANISH BAYONET. OUR LORD'S CANDLE.
_Yucca Whipplei_, Torr. Lily Family.
Without a trunk. _Leaves._--All radical in a bristling
hemisphere; sword-like. _Flower-panicles._--Distaff-shaped;
three or more feet long; at the summit of a leafless bracteate
scape, ten or fifteen feet high. _Perianth._--Rotately
spreading; waxen-white (sometimes rich purple), often green- or
purple-nerved. _Filaments._--Clavate; pure white. Anthers
transverse; yellow. Style very thick; three-angled. Stigma
stalked; green; covered with tiny prominences. _Fruit._--A dry
capsule. (Structure otherwise as in _Y. Mohavensis_.)
_Hab._--Monterey to San Diego and eastward.
In spring and early summer the chaparral-covered hillsides of Southern
California present a wonderful appearance when hundreds of these Spanish
bayonets are in bloom. From day to day the waxen tapers on the distant
slopes increase in height as the white bells climb the slender shafts. At
length each cluster reaches its perfection, and becomes a solid distaff of
sometimes two--yes, even six--thousand of the waxen blossoms!
[Illustration PUSSY'S-PAWS--_Spraguea umbellata_.]
A friend writing of them, once said: "Nearly every poetaster in the country
has sung the praises of the yellow poppies and the sweet little
_Nemophilas_, but not one, so far as I know, has ever written a stanza to
these grand white soldiers and their hundred swords." There is, indeed,
something glorious and warlike about them, as they marshal themselves to
the defense of our hillsides.
This surpasses all known species in the height and beauty of its
flower-panicles; but, once the season of flowering and fruiting has been
consummated, its life mission is fulfilled, and the plant dies. The dead
stalks remain standing sometimes for years upon the mountain-sides.
The seeds of this species, as well as those of the tree-yucca, are made
into flour by the Indians; and from the leaves they obtain a soft, white
fiber, which they use in making the linings of the coarse saddle-blankets
they weave from _Yucca Mohavensis_. The undeveloped flowering shoots they
consider a great delicacy, either raw or prepared as mescal. They gather
great numbers of the plants when just at the right stage, and strip off the
leaves, leaving round masses. These they prepare after the manner of a
clam-bake, and when the pile is pulled to pieces and the mescal is taken
out, it has a faint resemblance to a baked sweet apple, and is of about the
same consistency. The whole mass is a mixture of sweet, soft pulp and
coarse white fibers much like manilla rope-yarn.
RUBY LILY. CHAPARRAL LILY. REDWOOD LILY.
_Lilium rubescens_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Marin County to Humboldt County.
This is the most charming of all our Californian lilies, even surpassing in
loveliness the beautiful Washington lily; and it is said to be the most
fragrant of any in the world. It resembles the Washington lily; but its
flowers are fuller in form, with wider petals and shorter tube, and it has
a smaller bulb. It sends up a noble shaft, sometimes seven feet high, with
many scattered whorls of undulate leaves, and often bears at the summit as
many as twenty-five of the beautiful flowers. These are at first pure
white, dotted with purple, but they soon take on a metallic luster and
begin to turn to a delicate pink, which gradually deepens into a ruby
purple. Mr. Purdy mentions having seen a plant with a stalk nine feet high,
bearing thirty-six flowers.
[Illustration RUBY LILY--_Lilium rubescens_.]
The favorite haunts of this lily are high and inaccessible ridges, among
the chaparral, or under the live-oak or redwood. Comparatively few people
know of its existence, though living within a few miles of it, because they
rarely ever visit these out-of-the-way fastnesses of nature.
Mr. Burroughs has somewhere said: "Genius is a specialty; it does not grow
in every soil, it skips the many and touches the few; and the gift of
perfume to a flower is a special grace, like genius or like beauty, and
never becomes common or cheap." Certainly these blossoms have been richly
endowed with this charming gift, and their delicious fragrance wafted by
the wind often betrays their presence upon a hillside when unsuspected
before, so that one skilled in woodcraft can often trace them by it.
THISTLE-POPPY. CHICALOTE.
_Argemone platyceras_, Link and Otto. Poppy Family.
_Stems._--One to two and one half feet high; hispid throughout,
or armed with rigid bristles or prickles. Sap yellow.
_Leaves._--Thistle-like; three to six inches long.
_Flowers._--White; two to four inches in diameter.
_Sepals._--Three; spinosely beaked. _Petals._--Four to six.
_Stamens._--Numerous. Filaments slender. _Ovary._--Oblong;
one-celled. Stigma three- or four-lobed. Capsule very prickly.
_Hab._--Dry hillsides from Central California southward.
The thistle-poppy would be considered in any other country a surpassingly
beautiful flower, with its large diaphanous white petals and its thistly
gray-green foliage, but in California it must yield precedence to the
Matilija poppy. It resembles the latter very closely in its flower, and is
often mistaken for it. It may be known by its yellow juice, its prickly
foliage, and its very prickly capsules. I believe the flowers are somewhat
more cup-shaped than those of _Romneya_.
It affects dry hill-slopes and valleys, often otherwise barren, where it
grows luxuriantly, and sometimes attains a height of six feet, being in
full bloom in May. There, where one is unprepared for such a sight, it
becomes an object of startling beauty.
* * * * *
_Malacothrix saxatilis_, Torr. and Gray. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Stout; a foot or two high; woody.
_Leaves._--Lanceolate to spatulate; one or two inches long;
entire or pinnatifid; somewhat succulent.
_Flower-heads._--Terminating the paniculate branches; large;
two inches or so across; white, changing to rose or lilac; of
ray-flowers only. _Involucre._--Campanulate or hemispherical;
six lines high, with many imbricated scales passing downward
into loose, awl-shaped bracts. _Hab._--The Coast, from Santa
Barbara southward.
This beautiful plant is a dweller upon the ocean cliffs, and may be seen in
abundance from the car-windows just before the train reaches Santa Barbara
going north. The stems are woody and very leafy, and the plants are usually
covered all over the top with the showy flower-heads.
_M. tenuifolia_, Torr. and Gray, is a very tall, slender, sparsely leafy
plant with fragile, airy white flowers. This is common along the dusty
roadsides of the south in early summer.
SALAL. WINTERGREEN.
_Gaultheria Shallon_, Pursh. Heath Family.
Shrubby, and one to three or more feet high or prostrate.
_Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; ovate to elliptical;
pointed; two to four inches long; leathery; bristle-toothed
when young; evergreen. _Flowers._--Manzanita-like; slenderer;
glandular-viscid; white or pinkish. _Ovary._--Five-celled.
Style single. _Fruit._--Black; berry-like; aromatic; edible.
(Otherwise like _Arctostaphylos Manzanita_.) _Hab._--Coast
woods, from Santa Barbara County to British Columbia.
The floor of the redwood forest in our northern coast counties is often
carpeted with this little undershrub, while in other places one can wade
waist-deep in it. It grows much larger north of us, and upon Vancouver
Island it forms dense, impenetrable thickets. Its dark-purple berries have
a very agreeable flavor, and form an important article of diet among the
Oregon Indians, who call them "salal."
CALIFORNIAN SPIKENARD.
_Aralia Californica_, Wats. Ginseng Family.
_Root._--Thick; aromatic. _Stems._--Eight to ten feet high.
_Leaves._--Bipinnate; or the upper pinnate, with one or two
pairs of leaflets. _Leaflets._--Cordate-ovate; four to eight
inches long; serrate. _Flowers._--White; two lines long; in
globular umbels, arranged in loose panicles a foot or two long.
Pedicels four to six lines long. _Calyx._--Five-toothed or
entire. _Petals and Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--Two- to
five-celled. Styles united to the middle. _Fruit._--A purple
berry. _Hab._--Widely distributed; on stream-banks.
In moist, cool ravines, where the sun only slants athwart the branches and
a certain dankness always lingers, the Californian spikenard scents the air
with its peculiar odor. It closely resembles _A. racemosa_ of the Eastern
States, but it is a larger, coarser plant in every way. It throws up its
tall stems with a fine confidence that there will be ample space for its
large leaves to spread themselves uncrowded. Its feathery panicles of white
flowers are followed by clusters of small purple berries, and are rather
more delicate than we should expect from so large a plant.
YERBA MANSA.
_Anemopsis Californica_, Hook. Yerba Mansa Family.
Rootstock creeping. _Radical-leaves._--Long-petioled; elliptic
oblong; two to ten inches long. _Stems._--Six inches to two
feet high. _Flowers._--Without sepals and petals, sunk in a
conical spike; six to eighteen lines long; a small white bract
under each flower. _Spikes._--Subtended by from five to eight
white petal-like bracts, six to fifteen lines long.
_Stamens._--Three to eight. _Ovary._--Apparently one-celled.
Stigmas one to five. _Hab._--Southern to Central California.
Just as the fervid glow of the sun is beginning to transform the green of
our southern hill-slopes to soft browns, the still vividly green lowland
meadows suddenly bring forth myriads of white stars, which in their green
setting become grateful resting-points for the eye. These are the blossoms
of the famous _Yerba Mansa_ of the Spanish-Californians. Among these people
the plant is an infallible remedy for many disorders, and so highly do they
prize it, that they often travel or send long distances for it.
[Illustration YERBA MANSA--_Anemopsis Californica_.]
The aromatic root, which has a strong, peppery taste, is very astringent,
and when made into a tea or a powder, is applied with excellent results to
cuts and sores. The tea is also taken as a blood-purifier; and the plant,
in the form of a wash or poultice, is used for rheumatism, while the wilted
leaves are said to reduce swellings. In the medical world it is beginning
to be used in diseases of the mucous membrane.
SHEPHERD'S PURSE.
_Capsella Bursa-pastoris_, Medic. Mustard Family.
Among our commonest and most harmless weeds is the shepherd's purse, which
has been introduced from Europe in the past. It may be easily recognized by
its tiny white cruciferous flowers and its shapely little triangular, flat
pods, which have a peppery taste. It is used medicinally, and valued as a
remedy for many different maladies. In Europe, a common name for the plant
is "mother's heart," and Mr. Johnston says that children play a sort of
game with the seed-pouch. "They hold it out to their companions, inviting
them to 'take a haud o' that.' It immediately cracks, and then follows a
triumphant shout, 'You've broken your mother's heart!'"
Equally common is the _Lepidium_, or pepper-grass, the small round, flat
pods of which also have a peppery taste. Both of these belong to the great
Mustard family.
MARIPOSA TULIP.
_Calochortus venustus_, Benth. (and varieties). Lily Family.
_Stems._--A foot or two high; branching. _Leaves._--Narrow;
grasslike; channeled; glaucous; decumbent. _Flowers._--Erect;
cup-shaped; white, lilac, pink, claret, magenta, purple, or
rarely light yellow; of uniform color or shaded; plain or
variously oculated, stained, or blotched. _Petals._--One or two
inches long; slightly hairy below. _Gland._--Large; roundish;
densely hairy. _Capsule._--Lanceolate; four or five lines
broad. (See _Calochortus_.) _Hab._--Dry sandy soil, in the
Coast Ranges and Sierra foothills, from Mendocino County to Los
Angeles.
[Illustration MARIPOSA TULIP--_Calochortus venustus_.]
I once emerged from the dense chaparral of a steep hillside upon a grassy
slope, where myriads of these lovely flowers tossed their delicate cups
upon the breeze. As I passed from flower to flower, I noticed many insect
guests regaling themselves upon the nectar. Bees and flies jostled one
another and crawled amid the hairs below, and beautifully mottled
butterflies hovered over them.
As originally described, this flower was white or pale lilac, with a more
or less conspicuous, usually reddish, stain, or blotch, near the top, a
brownish spot bordered with yellow in the center, and a brownish striate
base. But it varies so widely from this type, in both color and spots, that
neither is a reliable character from which to determine the species. Some
of the oculated forms of _C. luteus_ are so similar that they are readily
confused with this, but a careful examination of the gland and the form of
the capsule, together with the character of the soil in which the plants
grow, will identify the species.
COMMON NIGHTSHADE.
_Solanum nigrum_, L. Nightshade Family.
_Hab._--Along streams near the coast.
This may be easily distinguished from _S. Xanti_ by its very small white
flowers, whose corollas are but three or four lines across, and much more
deeply and pointedly lobed, the lobes having a tendency to turn backward as
the flowers grow older; also by its thinner, duller leaves, and much
smaller, black berries, the size of peas.
It is considered a violent narcotic poison, both berries and leaves having
caused death when eaten. It is used in the medical world, in the form of a
tincture for various maladies, and it is said that in Bohemia the
blossoming plant is hung over the cradles of infants to induce sweet
slumber; while in Dalmatia the root is fried in butter and eaten to produce
sleep, and is also used as remedy for hydrophobia.
_Solanum Douglasii_, Dunal, is a similar species, with larger flowers,
which are usually white, though sometimes light blue.
BUTTERFLY TULIP.
_Calochortus luteus, var. oculatus_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Hab._--Sierras and Coast Ranges, from Fresno County to Oregon.
Of all our lovely Mariposa tulips, this charming form is perhaps the most
like the insect for which it is named. Its creamy or purplish flowers have
an exquisitely tinted dark-maroon eye, surrounded by yellow, and it is
often streaked in marvelous imitation of the insect's wing. It was
doubtless this form Miss Coolbrith had in mind when she wrote the beautiful
lines below:
"Insect or blossom? Fragile, fairy thing,
Poised upon slender tip and quivering
To flight! a flower of the fields of air;
A jeweled moth, a butterfly with rare
And tender tints upon his downy wing
A moment resting in our happy sight;
A flower held captive by a thread so slight
Its petal-wings of broidered gossamer
Are, light as the wind, with every wind astir,
Wafting sweet odor, faint and exquisite.
O dainty nursling of the field and sky!
What fairer thing looks up to heaven's blue,
And drinks the noontide sun, the dawning's dew?
Thou winged bloom! thou blossom butterfly!"
WESTERN BOYKINIA.
_Boykinia occidentalis_, Torr. and Gray. Saxifrage Family.
_Stems._--Slender; a foot or two high.
_Leaves._--Round-reniform; palmately three- to seven-lobed; one
to three inches broad; the lobes coarsely toothed.
_Flowers._--In long-peduncled, loose panicles; white; four
lines across; parts in fives. _Calyx._--With acute teeth.
_Petals._--On the sinuses of the calyx. _Stamens._--On the
calyx, opposite its teeth. Filaments short. _Ovary._--With its
two cells attenuate into the slender styles. _Hab._--Coast
Ranges, from Santa Barbara to Washington.
The tufted leaves, and exquisitely delicate saxifrage-like clusters of the
_Boykinia_, fringe our streams in early summer.
SOAP-PLANT. AMOLE.
_Chlorogalum pomeridianum_, Kunth. Lily Family.
_Bulb._--One to four inches in diameter; densely brown-fibrous.
_Leaves._--Six to eighteen inches long. _Scape._--One to five
feet high; bearing a loosely spreading panicle.
_Perianth._--White; of six spreading, recurved segments nine
lines long. _Stamens._--Six; shorter than the segments.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style filiform. Stigma three-lobed.
_Hab._--Widely distributed.
The leaves of the soap-plant have been with us all the spring, increasing
in length as the season has advanced. You can easily recognize them, as
they resemble a broad, wavy-margined grass, usually lying flat upon the
ground, with some of the ragged brown fibres of the bulb showing
aboveground, like the fragment of an old manilla mat.
In early summer, from their midst begins to shoot a slender stalk. When the
process of its growth is complete, it stands from two to five feet high,
with slender, widespreading branches and rather sparsely scattered flowers.
If you would find its flowers open, you must seek it in the afternoon. At a
little distance, it appears as though the truant summer wind had lodged a
delicate white feather here and there upon the branches. In themselves,
these blossoms are not ill-favored, with their slender, recurved petals;
but to us the root is the most interesting part of the plant. This the
early Spanish-Californians used extensively in lieu of soap, and esteemed
greatly as a hair tonic, and it was known by them as "amole." Even now it
is much used among their descendants, and we know of one aged señora over
ninety who refuses to use anything else for washing. Her grandsons keep her
supplied with the bulbs, which they dig by the sackful from the neighboring
hill-slopes and mesas. She takes her linen down to the brookside, and
there, in primitive fashion, upon her knees she scours and rinses it till
it is as white as the driven snow.
The Indians of the Sierra foothills have a curious use for the bulb. After
the June freshets have subsided, many fish are usually left in small pools
in the streams. The squaws go to these pools with an abundance of
soap-root, and kneeling upon the banks, rub up a great suds with it. The
fish soon rise to the surface stupefied, and are easily taken.
[Illustration SOAP-PLANT--_Chlorogalum pomeridianum_.]
We are told that in the early days of the gold excitement, when commodities
were scarce and brought fabulous prices, the fibrous outer coats of the
bulb were used for stuffing mattresses.
The inner portion of the bulb, when reduced to a paste, is said to be an
excellent remedy for oak-poisoning, applied as a salve.
This is not the only plant popularly known as soap-plant among us. Several
others share the title, among them the goose-foot, the yucca, and the
California lilac. There are several other species of _Chlorogalum_.
MOUNTAIN BIRCH. WHITE TEA-TREE. SOAP-BUSH.
_Ceanothus integerrimus_, Hook. and Arn. Buckthorn Family.
Shrubs or small trees; five to twelve feet high; with
cylindrical, usually warty, branches. _Leaves._--Alternate; on
slender petioles two to six lines long; ovate to ovate-oblong;
one to three inches long; entire or rarely slightly
glandular-serrulate; thin. _Flowers._--White; sometimes blue;
in a thyrse three to seven inches long, one to four thick.
_Fruit._--Not crested. (See _Ceanothus_.) _Hab._--Mountains
from Los Angeles to the Columbia River.
When in flower, this is one of the most attractive of all our _Ceanothi_.
It often covers great mountain-sides with its white bloom as with drifted
snow. The trip to the Yosemite is often diversified by this beautiful
spectacle, which comes as an exhilarating surprise.
Among the mountaineers this shrub is highly valued as forage for their
cattle, which they turn upon it after the lowland pastures have dried up.
The young twigs and leaves have the spicy fragrance of the black birch of
the Eastern States. The foliage is deciduous, and of rather a pale though
bright green. The bark of the root of this shrub is becoming celebrated as
a remedy for various disorders, such as malaria, catarrh, and liver
trouble.
COMMON WHITE LUPINE.
_Lupinus densiflorus_, Benth. Pea Family.
_Stems._--Stout; simple below; parted in the middle into
numerous widespreading branches; two feet high; succulent;
sparsely villous. _Flowers._--In long-peduncled racemes; six to
ten inches long; with usually five or six dense whorls. Bracts
bristle-like, from a broad base. _Calyx._--Upper lip scarious;
deeply cleft; lower long, toothed. _Corolla._--White or
rose-color; seven lines or so long; the standard dark dotted.
_Pod._--Two-seeded. _Hab._--Widespread; Sacramento Valley
southward.
In the days when we went fishing in the brook with a pin for minnows, a
company of these pretty white lupines in a field represented to our
childish fancy so many graceful dames in flounced skirts dancing in a
sylvan ballroom.
MEADOW-SWEET.
_Spiræa discolor_, Pursh. Rose Family.
Shrubs two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
short-petioled; an inch or two long; oval or ovate; crenately
lobed above; the lobes often toothed; silky pubescent beneath.
_Flowers._--White; two lines across; in feathery panicles
several inches long. _Calyx._--Five-parted; petaloid.
_Petals._--Five; equaling the sepals. _Stamens._--About twenty.
_Pistils._--Five; distinct; one-celled. _Hab._--Coast Ranges,
mostly from Monterey County northward.
Not until midsummer is upon us does the common meadow-sweet make itself
noticeable by its large feathery clusters of minute white flowers, which
have a pleasant odor, reminiscent of slippery-elm.
We have two species of _Spiræa_ with pink flowers--_S. Douglasii_, Hook.,
the Californian hardhack, having its blossoms in long clusters, (found in
Northern California,) and _S. betulifolia_, Pall., having flat-topped
flower-clusters, (found in the Sierras).
Another shrub closely resembling the _Spiræas_ is _Neillia opulifolia_,
Benth. and Hook., the wild bridal-wreath, or ninebark. Indeed, this has
been classed by some authorities among the _Spiræas_. It may be easily
recognized by its hemispherical clusters of white flowers. These clusters
are an inch or two across. Though the shrub is quite showy when in bloom,
it is almost equally attractive when its carpels are beginning to redden.
CALIFORNIAN AZALEA.
_Rhododendron occidentale_, Gray. Heath Family.
Shrubs two to twelve feet high. _Leaves._--Clustered at the
ends of the branches; obovate to lanceolate; two to four inches
long; herbaceous. _Flower-clusters._--Large, from a special
terminal bud. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft. _Corolla._--With
funnel-form tube, and five-cleft border; white; the upper lobe
blotched with corn-color; sometimes tinged with pink;
glandular-viscid without. _Stamens._--Five. Anthers two-celled,
opening terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. _Capsule._--Very
woody. _Hab._--Stream-banks throughout the State.
One of the most deservedly admired of all our shrubs is the lovely
Californian azalea. In June and July, the borders of our mountain streams
are covered for miles with the bushes, whose rich green foliage is often
almost obscured from view by the magnificent clusters of white and yellow,
or sometimes pinkish, flowers. Its delicious, spicy perfume is always
subtly suggestive of charming days spent with rod and line along cool
streams, or of those all too brief outings spent far from the haunts of
men, in some sequestered mountain-cabin among redwood groves or by rushing
waters.
In Oregon it is commonly known as "honeysuckle," and there in the autumn
its life ebbs away in a flood of glory, showering the forest floor with
flecks of scarlet and crimson. Its root is said to contain a strong
narcotic poison, and the leaves are also reputed to be poisonous if eaten,
but they are not at all harmful to the touch.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN AZALEA--_Rhododendron occidentale_.]
AMERICAN BARRENWORT.
_Vancouveria parviflora_, Greene. Barberry Family.
_Stems._--One or two feet high. _Leaves._--All radical; twice
to thrice ternately compound. _Leaflets._--One to two inches
broad; rich shining green; persisting; undulate and
membrane-margined. _Flowers._--Twenty-five to fifty, in loose
panicles; small; with six to nine sepal-like bracts. Parts in
sixes all in front of one another. _Sepals._--Petaloid; two
lines long. _Petals._--White to lavender. _Stamens._--Erect;
closely appressed to the pistil. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style
stoutish. _Hab._--Coast Ranges of Central California.
There is no more exquisite plant in our coast woods than the American
barrenwort. Its delicate threadlike stems, which are yet strong and wiry,
hold up its spreading evergreen leaves, every leaflet in its own place.
There is a likeness in these leaves to the fronds of our Californian
maidenhair, and one could easily imagine the maidenhair amplified,
strengthened, and polished into this form. The leaflets are also somewhat
ivy-like in form.
In June its delicate, airy panicles of small white blossoms appear. These
are especially interesting as belonging to the Barberry family, where all
the floral organs stand in front of one another, and the anthers open by
cunningly contrived little uplifting valves. These plants are said to grow
upon bushy hillsides, in masses sometimes several feet across. But I have
never seen it with other than an exclusive and rather solitary habit,
growing in shaded forests. We have one or two other species.
SERVICE-BERRY. JUNE-BERRY.
_Amelanchier alnifolia_, Nutt. Rose Family.
Deciduous shrubs, three to eight feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; from rounded to oblong-ovate;
serrate usually only toward the apex; six to eighteen lines
long. _Flowers._--White, in short racemes.
_Calyx-tube._--Campanulate; limb five-parted. _Petals._--Five;
oblong; six lines or so long. _Stamens._--Twenty; short.
_Ovary._--Three- to five-celled. Styles three to five.
_Fruit._--Small; berry-like; dark purple. _Hab._--Throughout
the State and northward; also eastward to the Western States.
[Illustration AMERICANBARRENWORT--_Vancouveria parviflora_.]
The service-berry seems to be at home throughout our borders, but it
reaches its greatest perfection north of us, on the rich bottom-lands of
the Columbia River. In spring the bushes are beautiful, when snowily laden
with masses of ragged white flowers; and from June to September they are no
less welcome, when abundantly hung with the black berries, which usually
have a bloom upon them. These berries are an important article of food
among our Western Indians, who make annual pilgrimages to the regions of
their growth, gathering and drying large quantities for winter use. The
drying they effect by crushing them to a paste, which they spread upon bark
or stones in the sun. It is said that many a party of explorers, lost in
the woods, has been kept alive by this little fruit.
Almost the same shrub in the Atlantic States is called "shad-bush," because
it blooms at about the season when the shad are running up the streams.
CHRISTMAS-BERRY. CALIFORNIAN HOLLY. TOYON.
_Heteromeles arbutifolia_, Rœmer. Rose Family.
Shrubs four to twenty-five feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
short-petioled; oblong; serrate; leathery; two to four inches
long. _Flowers._--Small; white; four lines across; in dense
terminal panicles. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Petals._--Five;
roundish; spreading. _Stamens._--Ten; on the calyx. Filaments
awl-shaped; flat. _Ovaries._--Two; one-celled. Styles slender.
_Berries._--Red; four lines in diameter; in large clusters.
_Hab._--Coast Ranges, from San Diego to Mendocino County.
Christmas could hardly be celebrated among us without our beautiful
Californian holly. Florists' windows and the baskets of street-venders at
that season are gay with the magnificent clusters of rich cardinal berries,
which are really ripe by Thanksgiving. The common name, "Californian
holly," refers more to the berries than to the leaves, as the latter have
not the form of holly-leaves. We have often seen the venders mix the
berries with the prickly foliage of the live-oak, to make them seem more
like holly.
The large clusters of spicy white flowers appear in July and August.
Nothing in all our flora yields a finer contrast of lavish scarlet against
rich green. The berries have a rather pleasant taste, somewhat acid and
astringent, and are eaten by the Indians with great relish. The
Spanish-Californians used them in the preparation of an agreeable drink.
This is a very handsome shrub in cultivation.
VIRGIN'S BOWER. CLEMATIS.
_Clematis ligusticifolia_, Nutt. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
Nearly smooth. _Stems._--Woody; sometimes climbing thirty feet.
_Leaves._--Opposite; long-petioled; five-foliolate.
_Leaflets._--Ovate to lanceolate; eighteen lines to three
inches long; three-lobed and coarsely toothed; rarely entire or
three-parted. _Flowers._--Diœcious; in axillary panicles.
_Sepals._--Four; petaloid; four to six lines long; thin.
_Petals._--Wanting. _Stamens._--Numerous. _Pistils._--Many;
becoming long-tailed, silky akenes. _Hab._--Widely distributed.
The virgin's bower usually looks down upon us from among the branches of
some tree, where it entwines itself indistinguishably with the foliage of
its host. It climbs by means of the stalks of its leaflets, which wrap
themselves about small twigs. This species is not so noticeable during the
season of its blossoming as it is later, when the long plumes of its seed
have twisted themselves into silvery balls, making feathery masses. Mrs.
Blochman writes that among the Spanish-Californians, it is called "yerba de
chivato," and valued as a remedy for barbed-wire cuts in animals. It is
used in the form of a wash, and remarkable cures are effected.
Another widespread species--_C. lasiantha_, Nutt.--is far more showy than
the above. It is found in the Coast Ranges, from Los Angeles to Napa County
at least, and in the Sierras to Plumas County. Its long-peduncled flowers
are solitary; but they are so numerous and grow so closely together, that
they make dense masses of white, conspicuous at a long distance. The
flowers are larger, the sepals being an inch long, and covered with a silky
pubescence, which makes them like soft cream-colored velvet. The three
ovate leaflets are also silky.
LADIES' TRESSES.
_Spiranthes Romanzoffianum_, Cham. Orchis Family.
_Roots._--Fascicled tubers. _Stems._--Stout; four to eighteen
inches high. _Leaves._--Oblong-lanceolate to linear.
_Spikes._--One to even ten inches long. _Perianth._--Yellowish
white; four lines long. Upper sepal and two petals coherent.
Lip recurved, bearing a small protuberance on each side at
base. _Anther._--On the face of the short column.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Through the mountains from Los
Angeles northward.
The twisted spikes of these little orchids are interesting, because their
ranks remain so clearly defined as they wind about the stem. The plants
vary greatly in different seasons as to size, and are usually found in
moist places.
TARWEED. MOUNTAIN MISERY.
_Chamæbatia foliolosa_, Benth. Rose Family.
Shrubby; a foot or two high; branching freely; glandular
pubescent throughout; fragrant. _Leaves._--Alternate; finely
dissected; ovate or oblong in outline; two or three inches
long. _Flowers._--White; few in terminal cymes.
_Calyx._--Five-lobed. _Petals._--Five; spreading; three or four
lines long. _Stamens._--Very numerous; short.
_Ovary._--Solitary. Style terminal. _Fruit._--A leathery akene.
_Hab._--The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Nevada County.
One of the most conspicuous plants to be met on the way to the Yosemite is
the _Chamæbatia_. It is exceedingly abundant, covering considerable areas
and filling the air with its balsamic fragrance, strongly suggestive of
tansy, though to many not so agreeable as the latter. It is a beautiful
plant, with its feathery leaves and strawberry-like flowers; but by the
roadside, where its viscid leaves and stems have caught the dust, it is
often but a travesty of itself.
Mrs. Brandegee writes of it: "Along the line of the railroad in Placer
County it is often called 'bear-clover,' perhaps in accordance with our
felicitous custom of giving names, because it bears not the least
resemblance to clover, and the bear will have nothing to do with it."
[Illustration LADIES' TRESSES--_Spiranthes Romanzoffianum_.]
LARGE-FLOWERED DOGWOOD.
_Cornus Nuttallii_, Audubon. Dogwood Family.
Shrubs or trees, fifteen to seventy feet high.
_Leaves._--Opposite; obovate; acute at each end; three to five
inches long. _Flowers._--Numerous; small; greenish; in a head
surrounded by an involucre of four to six large, yellowish or
white bracts, often tinged with red, and eighteen lines to
three inches long. _Calyx._--Four-toothed. _Petals and
Stamens._--Four. _Ovary._--Two-celled. _Fruit._--Scarlet; five
or six lines long. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from
Monterey and Plumas Counties to British Columbia.
Our large-flowered dogwood more nearly resembles the Eastern _C. florida_
than any other species, but it is a much handsomer shrub than the latter.
It reaches its maximum size in Northern Oregon and Washington, where, in
the season of its blossoming, it is a sight never to be forgotten. Its
masses of large white flowers, like single Cherokee roses, contrast finely
with the deep, rich greens of the fir forests, in which it often grows. In
its northern range, its leaves turn beautifully, and it becomes one of the
most brilliant masqueraders in the autumn pageant.
The wood is very hard, close-grained, and tough, and is used as a
substitute for boxwood in the making of bobbins and shuttles for weaving,
and also in cabinet-work.
MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS.
_Habenaria leucostachys_, Wats. Orchis Family.
_Root._--A fusiform tuber. _Stems._--One to four feet high;
leafy throughout. _Leaves._--Lanceolate; diminishing upward.
_Flowers._--Bright white, in a spike. _Perianth segments._--Two
or three lines long. _Lip._--Four lines long, with a slender
spur four to six lines long. _Anther._--On the column just
above the stigma. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Mountains
throughout California.
From July to September we may look for the milk-white rein-orchis in moist
meadows. It is especially abundant in the Sierras, where its charmingly
fragrant, pure-white spikes are particularly effective against the lush
green of the alpine meadows.
[Illustration MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS--_Habenaria leucostachys_.]
JAMESTOWN-WEED. JIMSON-WEED. THORN-APPLE. COMMON STRAMONIUM.
_Datura Stramonium_, L. Nightshade Family.
_Stems._--Two or three feet high; stout. _Leaves._--Alternate;
ovate; coarsely angled; long-petioled. _Flowers._--In the forks
of the stem; short-pediceled; white. _Calyx._--Tubular; angled;
five-toothed; over an inch long. _Corolla._--Funnel-form; three
inches long; with an expanded five-angled border.
_Stamens._--Five; included. Filaments long and slender; adnate
to the corolla below. Style long. _Ovary._--Two-celled; each
cell nearly divided again. _Fruit._--Larger than a walnut;
prickly. _Hab._--Waste grounds near habitations; introduced.
The jimson-weed, which is a native of Asia, has become quite common in
waste places. It is a rank, ill-smelling, nauseating weed, possessing
narcotic, poisonous qualities, but its flowers are rather large and showy.
The leaves and seeds are made into the drug called "stramonium," which is
used as a remedy in neuralgia, spasmodic cough, and other disorders.
As the plant usually grows by roadsides or in the vicinity of dwellings,
children are not infrequently poisoned by its fruit and leaves. The poison
manifests itself in dryness of the throat, rapid pulse, and delirium; and
even death may ensue, preceded by convulsions and coma.
This plant is also called "mad-apple," "apple of Peru," and "Devil's
apple."
It has a near relative--_D. suaveolens_, HBK.,--a large shrub with
dark-green leaves and very large, pendulous white flowers. This is common
in Californian gardens, and is known popularly as "floriponda," or "angels'
trumpets." It sheds a powerful fragrance upon the air at night, which is
not noticeable by day.
YARROW. MILFOIL.
_Achillea Millefolium_, L. Composite Family.
_Stems._--A foot or two high. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile;
twice-pinnately parted into fine linear, acute, three- to
five-cleft lobes; lanceolate in outline; two to four inches
long; strong-scented. _Flower-heads._--Crowded in a flat
cluster; white, sometimes pink; four lines across, including
the rays; made up of white disk-flowers and obovate white rays.
_Hab._--All around the Northern Hemisphere.
The yarrow, which is a common weed in most countries of the Northern
Hemisphere, has long been known to botanists and herbalists, and was
formerly in high repute for its many virtues. The leaves steeped in hot
water are still considered very healing applications to cuts or bruises;
and among the Spanish-Californians the fresh plants are used for stanching
the blood in recent wounds.
This plant received the name _Achillea_, because the great hero of the
Trojan war was supposed to have been the first to discover its virtues.
In Sweden it is used as a substitute for hops in the brewing of beer. Among
the superstitious, even of the present day, it is regarded as a most potent
love-charm, when plucked by a love-lorn maiden from the grave of a young
man, while repeating the proper formula.
In the spring, the plants first develop a rosette of finely dissected,
feathery leaves, which lie flat upon the ground. Later, when these are well
grown, it sends up its tall flower-stalks, crowned with close, flat
clusters of small white blossoms.
M. Naudin, who has an intimate knowledge of the plants of dry countries,
recommends the yarrow for lawn-making where irrigation is impossible. "It
grows freely in the driest of weather, and makes a handsome turf. It must
be frequently cut, however, to prevent it from throwing up flower-stems. It
will not succeed on a lime-impregnated soil."
Among children the yarrow is commonly known as "old man."
RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN.
_Goodyera Menziesii_, Lindl. Orchis Family.
_Leaves._--Two or three inches long; leathery; dark green,
veined with white. _Scape._--Six to fifteen inches high, with
scattered lanceolate bracts. _Spike._--Many-flowered.
_Perianth._--White; two to four lines long; downy. Lateral
sepals deflexed; upper and two petals coherent. Lip erect,
saccate below, concave above, and narrowing into the recurved
summit. _Anther._--On the base of the column behind.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Mountains, from Mendocino and
Mariposa Counties to British Columbia.
The rattlesnake plantain is frequently met under the coniferous trees of
our northern woods. Its common name comes from the mottling of its leaves,
which is similar to that of the rattlesnake's skin. In midsummer, or later,
the plant sends up a stalk of small but shapely little blossoms. These are
so modest, one would hardly suspect they belonged to the showy orchis
family.
BUTTON-BUSH. BUTTON-WILLOW.
_Cephalanthus occidentalis_, L. Madder Family.
Shrubs eight to ten feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite, or in
whorls of three or four; petioled; ovate to lanceolate; three
to five inches long. _Flowers._--Small; white; in spherical
heads an inch in diameter. _Calyx._--Four-toothed.
_Corolla._--Long funnel-form with four-cleft limb.
_Stamens._--Four; short; borne on the throat of the corolla.
_Ovary._--Two- to four-celled. Style long-exserted. Stigma
capitate. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
The button-bush is a handsome shrub, found upon stream borders, often
standing where its roots are constantly under water. Its leaves are
willow-like, and its spherical flower-heads, poised gracefully at the ends
of the branches, resemble small cushions filled with pins. The blossoms
often have a jessamine-like fragrance.
A tincture made of the bark is used by physicians as a tonic and laxative
and as a remedy for fevers and coughs.
This shrub is especially abundant in the interior, on the lower reaches of
the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, where it is in bloom from June to
August.
[Illustration RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN--_Goodyera Menziesii_.]
WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF.
_Pyrola picta_, Smith. Heath Family.
_Leaves._--Leathery; dark green, veined with white; one or two
inches long. _Scape._--Four to nine inches high.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Petals._--Six lines or so long; white.
_Stamens._--Ten. Anthers opening terminally.
_Ovary._--Five-celled. Style long; curved. _Hab._--The Middle
Sierras and Mendocino County, and northward.
The great coniferous forests of our higher mountains afford homes for many
interesting members of the Heath family. A trip to the Sierras in August
will yield many a prize to the flower-lover. _Pyrolas_, with waxen
clusters, vie with _Pipsissiwas_; the weird looking _Pterospora_ rears its
uncanny, gummy stems, clothed with small, yellowish bells, while an
occasional glimpse of a blood-red spike betrays the most wonderful of them
all--the snow-plant.
Of the _Pyrolas_ we made the acquaintance of three in this region. These
pretty plants are called "shinleaf," because the leaves of some of the
species were used by the English peasantry as plasters which they applied
to bruises or sores. _Pyrola picta_, with its rich leathery, white-veined
leaves and clusters of whitish, waxen flowers, was quite plentiful and
always a delight to meet. _Pyrola dentata_, Smith, we often found growing
with it. This has spatulate, wavy-margined leaves; which are pale and not
veined with white, and its scapes are more slender. It never was so
attractive or vigorous a plant as the other.
A ramble in the woods one day brought us to the brink of a charming stream,
whose pure, ice-cold waters babbled along most invitingly. Following its
course, we found ourselves in a delightfully cool, moist thicket, where,
nestling in the deep shade, we found the beautiful, rich, glossy leaves of
_Pyrola rotundifolia, var. bracteata_, Gray. The leaves are roundish, of a
beautiful, bright chrome green, highly polished, and the delicate flowers
are rose-pink. This is called "Indian lettuce" and "canker lettuce," and a
tincture of the fresh plant is used in medicine for the same purposes as
chimaphila. _P. aphylla_, Smith, is easily distinguished by the absence
of leaves. It has flesh-colored stems, and its flowers are sometimes of the
same color, and sometimes white. This is found in the Coast Ranges.
[Illustration WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF--_Pyrola picta_.]
PEARLY EVERLASTING FLOWER.
_Anaphalis Margaritacea_, Benth. Composite Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high; leafy up to the flowers.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate or linear-lanceolate;
two to four inches long; white-woolly, at length becoming green
above. _Heads._--Of filiform disk-flowers only.
_Involucre._--Of many rows of pearly white, pointed scales, not
longer than the flowers, resembling ray-flowers. _Hab._--Widely
distributed over the northern parts of America and Asia.
Our wild everlasting flowers are very difficult of determination, and are
comprised under at least three genera, _Gnaphalium_, _Anaphalis_, and
_Antennaria_. The word _Anaphalis_ is from the same root as the word
_Gnaphalium_, and the species have quite the aspect of _Gnaphalium_.
The flowers of the pearly everlasting have a peculiarly pure pearly look
before they are entirely open, and their sharp-pointed little scales give
them a prim, set look, like very regular, tiny white roses. There is a hint
of green in them, but they are never of the dirty yellowish-white of the
cudweed, nor have they the slippery-elm-like fragrance of the latter. When
fully expanded, the centers are brown. The leaves, which at length become a
dark, shining green, make a fine contrast with the permanently white-woolly
stems. The flower-clusters are loosely compound.
WASHINGTON LILY. SHASTA LILY.
_Lilium Washingtonianum_, Kell. Lily Family.
_Hab._--Throughout the Sierras from three to six thousand feet
elevation.
I shall never forget the thrill of delight I felt on first beholding this
noble white lily, some years ago, in an open fir forest near Mt. Shasta. I
had often heard of it, but never dared hope it would be my privilege to
gather it for myself in its own native haunts.
The blossoms somewhat resemble those of the ruby lily, but the petals have
longer claws and are more loosely put together. They are fragrant, but
their perfume is not to be compared with that of the ruby lily.
Mr. Purdy once saw, upon a single great mountain-side, ten thousand of
these wonderful plants, upbearing their beautiful, pure lilies--a sight
outrivaling the poet's vision of the golden daffodils.
The Shasta lily is never found in the Coast Ranges. Another species, _L.
Parryi_, Wats., resembling this in the form of its flowers, is found in the
San Bernardino Mountains. This is known as the "lemon lily," and has clear
yellow flowers, dotted sparingly with deeper yellow. It is a charming
flower, and is always found in shaded, springy places in cool cañons.
LABRADOR TEA.
_Ledum glandulosum_, Nutt. Heath Family.
Shrubs two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
short-petioled; oblong or oval; an inch or two long;
coriaceous; sprinkled beneath with resin-dots.
_Flowers._--White; in terminal and axillary clusters.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Petals._--Five; three lines long;
rotately spreading. _Stamens._--Four to ten. Anthers opening
terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style filiform, persistent.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Mendocino County northward, and
through the Sierras.
Our Labrador tea is a comely shrub, found in the mountains at an elevation
of four thousand feet and upward. Its small, leathery leaves are miniature
copies of those of the Californian rhododendron, differing from them,
however, in the sprinkling of resin-dots upon the under surface.
Upon seeing the flowers of this shrub for the first time, one is apt to
imagine it a member of the Rose family, something akin to the cherry, with
its clusters of small white flowers of a bitter fragrance; but a glance at
the anthers, with their terminal pores, tells the story quickly.
A tea made from the leaves is, with many people, a valued remedy for
rheumatism.
This little shrub is much dreaded by sheepmen, who claim that it poisons
their flocks. It has been suggested that it would be an excellent thing to
have it widely planted as a means of reducing these bands of "hoofed
locusts," as Mr. Muir terms them--these marauders who trample down so much
beauty, and leave desolation everywhere in their wake.
PIPSISSIWA. PRINCE'S PINE.
_Chimaphila Menziesii_, Spreng. Heath Family.
_Stems._--Six inches high. _Leaves._--Six to eighteen lines
long; dark green, sometimes variegated with white; leathery.
_Flowers._--One to three. _Calyx._--Five-parted; white.
_Petals._--Five; waxen-white or pinkish. _Stamens._--Ten.
Filaments enlarged and hairy in the middle. Anthers two-celled;
opening terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style short. Stigma
button-like. _Hab._--The Middle Sierras and Mendocino County.
The prince's pine is a charming little plant, and may be found beneath the
undergrowth in the great coniferous woods of the Sierras, where it sits
demurely with bowed head, like some cloistered nun engaged with her own
meditations. It has an exquisite perfume, like that of the lily of the
valley.
The common prince's pine of the Eastern States--_C. umbellata_--is more
rare with us, though it is found through somewhat the same range as the
above. It is a more vigorous plant than the other, has from four to seven
purplish flowers in the cluster, while its leaves are never spotted.
In the East, from the leaves of this species is manufactured the drug
"chimaphila," which is valued as a tonic and astringent, also as a remedy
for cataract.
GROUNDSEL-TREE.
_Baccharis pilularis_, DC. Composite Family.
Evergreen diœcious shrubs, one to twelve feet high, with angled
or striate branches. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; obovate;
cuneate; obtuse; coarsely toothed; leathery; one inch or less
long. _Flower-heads._--Crowded at the ends of the branchlets;
four lines long; one or two across; without ray-flowers.
_Involucres._--Oblong; of many imbricated scales. _Sterile
heads._--With funnel-form, five-lobed corollas. _Fertile
heads._--With filiform corollas, mixed with a dense white silky
pappus, which soon elongates. _Hab._--All along the Coast.
[Illustration PRINCE'S PINE--_Chimaphila Menziesii_.]
In the fall, the dark-green foliage of the groundsel-tree is relieved by
its abundant small white flower-clusters. The flowers of the male shrub
are never very beautiful, being usually of a yellowish or dirty white;
indeed, so little resembling the other, as to appear like a separate
species. But when the white silk down of the female shrub is fully
expanded, its boughs are laden as with drifted snow. This lavish provision
of silk is designed by nature for the wafting abroad of the seed.
It varies greatly in size and habit. Upon exposed, wind-swept sandhills it
is low and close-cropped, but in more favorable localities, where the soil
is rich and the climate more genial, it responds graciously to the changed
conditions, becoming one of our most picturesque shrubs.
Growing and blooming at the same time with the above, may be found its near
relative--_B. Douglasii_, DC. This does not aspire to shrubhood, but its
tall stems, with their lanceolate, somewhat glutinous leaves, sometimes
reach four feet in height, bearing at summit their pretty Ageratum-like,
white flower-clusters. It loves the sandy soil of creek-banks and low
fields, and is abundant from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
LARGE WHITE MOUNTAIN DAISY.
_Erigeron Coulteri_, T.C. Porter. Composite Family.
_Stem._--Six to twenty inches high; leafy; bearing solitary or
rarely two or three large, slender-peduncled heads.
_Leaves._--Obovate to oblong; entire or with several sharp
teeth; thin. _Flower-heads._--Of yellow disk-flowers, and
usually pure white ray-flowers. _Disk._--Half an inch wide.
_Rays._--Fifty to seventy; narrowly linear; six lines or more
long. _Hab._--The Sierras; also the Rocky Mountains of
Colorado.
"High on the crest of the blossoming grasses,
Bending and swaying, with face toward the sky,
Stirred by the lightest west wind as it passes,
Hosts of the silver-white daisy-stars lie."
No fairer sight could be imagined than a mountain meadow filled with these
large, pure-white, feathery daisies.
[Illustration BACCHARIS--_Baccharis Douglasii_.]
CALIFORNIAN FALSE HELLEBORE.
_Veratrum Californicum_, Durand. Lily Family.
_Stems._--Stout; three to seven feet high. _Leaves._--Oval;
narrowing to lanceolate; sessile; sheathing; four to twelve
inches long. _Flowers._--Greenish-white in a large panicle,
with usually ascending branches. _Stamens and pistils_ in the
same flowers, or in separate ones. _Pedicels._--About two lines
long. _Perianth segments._--Six; spreading; oblanceolate; their
bases thickened and green or brownish; upper margins sometimes
minutely toothed; three to eight lines long. _Stamens._--Six.
Anthers confluently one-celled. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Styles
three, divergent. _Hab._--The Middle Sierras and Mendocino
County northward to the Columbia; also eastward.
The false hellebore may be found in midsummer in the mountains. It grows
along watercourses, and often covers rich, moist meadows, where its stems
rise from three to seven feet, with their coarsely ribbed, boat-shaped
leaves and large panicles of greenish-white flowers. When at its best it is
a rather fine, showy thing, but its leaves are often perforated by some
insect, and present a ragged, untidy appearance.
The mountaineers commonly call this plant "skunk cabbage," a deplorable
misnomer, because it is in no sense merited; and, moreover, we have a plant
to which the title more rightfully belongs. The root and young shoots are a
violent poison, and are fatal to animals which are unfortunate enough to
crop them.
Another species--_V. fimbriatum_, Gray--a smaller plant, is found upon the
plains in Mendocino County. It may be distinguished from the above by its
more slender leaves, its woolly flower-panicle, and its decidedly fringed
flower-petals.
II. YELLOW
[_Yellow or occasionally or partially yellow flowers not described in the
Yellow Section._
_Described in the White Section:--_
CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS--Mariposa Lily, or Tulip.
LILIUM PARRYI--Lemon-Lily.
VIOLA OCELLATA--Heart's-ease.
_Described in the Pink Section:--_
LESSINGIA GERMANORUM--Yellow Lessingia.
_Described in the Blue and Purple Section:--_
FRITILLARIA PUDICA--Yellow Fritillary.
IRIS MACROSIPHON--Ground-Iris.
SISYRINCHIUM CALIFORNICUM--Golden-eyed Grass.
TRILLIUM SESSILE--Californian Trillium.
_Described in the Red Section:--_
CASTILLEIA PARVIFLORA--Indian Paint-Brush.
CEREUS EMORYI--Velvet Cactus.
PENTSTEMON CENTRANTHIFOLIUS--Scarlet Bugler.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section:--_
CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--Californian Lady's Slipper.]
SUN-CUPS.
_Œnothera ovata_, Nutt. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Root._--A thick tap-root. _Leaves._--All radical;
oblong-lanceolate; smooth; ciliate. _Flowers._--Solitary in the
axils; bright golden yellow. _Calyx-tube._--Filiform; one to
five inches long; limb of four lanceolate, reflexed divisions.
_Petals._--Four; three to ten lines long. _Stamens._--Eight.
_Ovary._--Four-celled; underground. Style filiform. Stigma
capitate. _Fruit._--A ribbed capsule. _Hab._--Near the coast
from San Francisco to Monterey.
This little evening primrose is an exceedingly interesting plant, although
it is not of very wide distribution. The flat rosettes of leaves sometimes
measure over a foot across, and are thickly sown with the bright golden
flowers, large in proportion to the size of the plants. A flower or bud is
found in the axil of every leaf, diminishing in size toward the center, one
plant sometimes having a hundred blossoms and buds. These flowers are
peculiarly fresh and winsome, and were they not so abundant where they grow
they would doubtless be considered very beautiful.
A strange feature of the plant is its flower-stem, which is not a
flower-stem at all, but a very much prolonged calyx-tube, the seed-vessel
being just within the surface of the ground.
We wonder how these imprisoned seeds are going to escape and find lodgment
to start new colonies elsewhere. Perhaps the moles and gophers could tell
something about it if they would.
The leaves of these little plants are sometimes used for salads.
These blossoms are often erroneously called "cow-slips."
COMMON BUTTERCUP.
_Ranunculus Californicus_, Benth. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Stems._--Slender; branching; six to eighteen inches high.
_Radical-leaves._--Commonly pinnately ternate; the leaflets cut
into three to seven usually linear lobes. Divisions of the
stem-leaves usually narrower. _Flowers._--Five to ten lines in
diameter; shining golden yellow. _Sepals._--Green; strongly
reflexed. _Petals._--Ten to fourteen; obovate; each with a
small scale at the base. _Stamens._--Numerous. _Pistils._
Numerous; on a receptacle. Ovaries flattened. Stigmas
recurved. _Hab._--Throughout Western California into Oregon.
[Illustration SUN-CUPS--_Œnothera ovata_.]
"The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice;
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace."
The first clear, beautiful note of a lark has been heard; skies are blue
and fields are green; little frogs are filling the air with their
music;--and the buttercups are here. The fields are full of them, and their
bright golden eyes starring the meadows, bring a gladness to the face of
nature. The children wade knee-deep in their gold, filling their hands with
treasure; and yonder, where their golden masses cover the slopes, King
Midas may have passed, transforming the earth with his magical touch.
Because some of the buttercups grow where frogs abound, Pliny bestowed the
Latin name _Ranunculus_, meaning "little frog."
The Indians, who seem to have a use for everything, parch the seeds of our
common buttercup and beat them to a flour, which they eat without the
further formality of cooking. This flour is said to have the peculiar rich
flavor of parched corn.
We have a number of other species of buttercup--some of them denizens of
marshy spots; but the common field buttercup is widest-spread and best
known.
CREAM-CUPS.
_Platystemon Californicus_, Benth. Poppy Family.
Delicate hairy herbs. _Stems._--A span or two high.
_Leaves._--Mostly opposite; sessile; two to four inches long.
_Flowers._--Axillary; long-peduncled; an inch or so across.
_Sepals._--Three; falling early. _Petals._--Six, in two rows;
cream-color, often with a yellow spot at base.
_Stamens._--Numerous. Filaments broad; petaloid.
_Pistils._--Six to twenty-five; united in a ring at first;
afterward separating. Stigmas terminal. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
[Illustration CREAM-CUPS--_Platystemon Californicus_.]
The cream-cups are delicate, hairy plants of the early springtime, which
often grow in masses and take possession of whole fields. They seem to be
more vigorous in the south, and produce larger flowers there than in the
north, often having as many as nine petals. The delicate, nodding green
buds (like miniature poppy-buds) soon throw off their outer wrappings, and,
emerging from captivity, gradually assume an erect position and unfurl
their lovely, pure, straw-colored petals to their widest extent. These
blossoms open for several successive days.
The genus takes its name from the flat filaments. The numerous slender
pistils are so cleverly joined together into a cylinder, that they appear
like a hollow, one-celled ovary. But a cross-section will show the separate
ovaries under a glass.
Some people like the odor of these flowers; but I must confess to a lack of
appreciation of it. I suspect its charm must exist in some pleasant
association.
COPA DE ORO. CALIFORNIA POPPY. TOROSA.
_Eschscholtzia Californica_, Cham. Poppy Family.
_Stems._--Twelve to eighteen inches high; branching.
_Leaves._--Alternate; finely dissected; glaucous.
_Flowers._--Two or three inches across; usually orange; but
ranging from that to white. Summit of the peduncle enlarging
into a cup-shaped torus or disk, upon the upper inner surface
of which are borne the calyx, corolla, and stamens. _Calyx._--A
pointed green cap, falling early. _Petals._--Four.
_Stamens._--Numerous, in four groups, in front of the petals.
Anthers linear. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style short. Stigmas four
to six; unequal. _Capsule._--Cylindrical; ten-nerved; two or
three inches long. _Hab._--Throughout California.
Thy satin vesture richer is than looms
Of Orient weave for raiment of her kings!
Not dyes of olden Tyre, not precious things
Regathered from the long-forgotten tombs
Of buried empires, not the iris plumes
That wave upon the tropics' myriad wings,
Not all proud Sheba's queenly offerings
Could match the golden marvel of thy blooms.
For thou art nurtured from the treasure-veins
Of this fair land; thy golden rootlets sup
Her sands of gold--of gold thy petals spun.
Her golden glory, thou! On hills and plains,
Lifting, exultant, every kingly cup
Brimmed with the golden vintage of the sun.
--INA D. COOLBRITH.
[Illustration CALIFORNIA POPPY--_Eschscholtzia Californica_.]
It is difficult to exaggerate the charms of this wonderful flower. When
reproduced in countless millions, its brilliant blossoms fairly cover the
earth; and far away upon distant mountain-slopes, bright patches of red
gold denote that league after league of it lies open to the sun. It revels
in the sunshine, and not until the morning is well advanced does it begin
to unfurl its tightly rolled petals.
In the early days, when Spanish vessels sailed up and down the
newly-discovered coast, the mariners, looking inland, saw the flame of the
poppies upon the hills and called this "the land of fire." They said that
the altar-cloth of San Pascual was spread upon the hills, and, filled with
a devotional spirit, they disembarked to worship upon the shore.
This flower is now cultivated in many parts of the world. But one can form
no conception of it, pale and languishing in a foreign garden. One must go
to its native hillsides to get any idea of its prodigal beauty.
The common title, "California poppy," though it has been widely used, is
open to the objection that it belongs more properly to another flower,
_Papaver Californicum_. The generic name is dissonant and harsh. Why not
replace it by one of the more euphonious Spanish titles--"amapola,"
"dormidera," "torosa," or, most charmingly appropriate of all, "copa de
oro,"--"cup of gold"?
There are many forms of _Eschscholtzia_, and of late the original species,
_E. Californica_, has been divided into a number of new species, which are,
however, difficult of determination.
The Indians of Placer County, it is said, boil the herbage, or roast it by
means of hot stones, lay it in water afterward, and then eat it as a green.
A drug made from this plant is used in medicine as a harmless substitute
for morphine and as a remedy for headache and insomnia, and it has an
especially excellent effect with children. The Spanish-Californians make a
hair-oil, which they prize highly, by frying the whole plant in olive oil
and adding some choice perfume. This is said to promote the growth of the
hair and to make it glossy.
MOCK-ORANGE. GOURD. CHILI-COJOTE. CALABAZILLA.
_Cucurbita fœtidissima_, HBK. Gourd Family.
_Stems._--Long; coarse; trailing. _Leaves._--Alternate;
petioled; triangular-cordate; six to twelve inches long; acute;
rough. _Tendrils._--Three- to five-cleft. _Flowers._--Solitary;
yellow; three or four inches long; monœcious.
_Calyx-tube._--Six lines long, equaling the five linear lobes.
_Corolla._--Campanulate; five-cleft to the middle or lower;
with recurved lobes. _Stamens._--In the male flowers two with
two-celled anthers, and one with one; in the female all three
rudimentary. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style short. Stigmas
three; two-lobed. _Fruit._--Orange-like, but with a hard rind.
_Syn._--_C. perennis_, Gray. _Hab._--San Diego to San Joaquin
County.
The rough, ill-smelling foliage of the Chili-cojote is a common sight in
Southern California, where it may be seen trailing over many a field; but
woe to the negligent farmer who allows this pest to get a foothold--for it
will cost him a small fortune to eradicate it. It sends down into the earth
an enormous root, six feet or so long, and often as broad. When the gourds
are ripe, these vines look like the dumping-ground for numerous poor,
discarded oranges.
Notwithstanding its unsavory character, the various parts of this vine are
put to use--specially among the Spanish-Californians and the Indians. The
root is a purgative more powerful than croton-oil. When pounded to a pulp,
it is used as soap by the Spanish-Californians, who aver that it cleanses
as nothing else can; but rinsing must be very thorough--for any particles
remaining in the garments prove very irritating to the skin. The leaves are
highly valued for medicinal purposes, and the pulp of the green fruit,
mixed with soap, is said to remove stains from clothing. The Indians eat
the seed, when ground and made into a mush. The early Californian women
used the gourds as darning-balls.
This vine is a near relative of the pumpkins and squashes of our gardens.
The flowers are said to be violet-scented.
WATER-HOLLY. MAHONIA.
_Berberis nervosa_, Pursh. Barberry Family.
_Stem._--Simple; a foot or so high; bearing at summit a crown
of large leaves, mixed with many dry, chaffy, persistent
bracts. _Leaves._--One or two feet long, with from eleven to
seventeen ovate, acuminate, prickly, somewhat palmately nerved
leaflets. _Flowers._--Yellow, in elongated, clustered racemes.
Bractlets, sepals, petals, and stamens six, standing in front
of one another. Anthers two-celled; opening by uplifting
valves. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style short or none.
_Fruit._--Dark-blue, glaucous berries; four lines in diameter.
_Hab._--Deep coast woods, from Monterey to Vancouver Island.
The water-holly is one of the beautiful plants to be found in our deep
coast woods within the cool influence of the sea-fogs. The plants are very
symmetrical, with their crown of dark, shining leaves, with numerous
prickly leaflets, and in spring, when the long graceful racemes of yellow
flowers are produced in abundance, and hang amid and below the leaves, they
are very ornamental. The stems are densely clothed with numerous dry,
awl-shaped scales, an inch or more long.
Another species--_B. repens_--the creeping barberry, or Oregon grape, is a
low, prostrate shrub, less than a foot high, with from three to seven
leaflets. These leaflets are pinnately veined, and have not the beautiful,
shining upper surface of those of the water-holly, and the few racemes of
yellow flowers which terminate the branches are quite short--only an inch
or two long. This is found throughout the State and northward upon rocky
hills.
TREE-POPPY.
_Dendromecon rigidum_, Benth. Poppy Family.
Shrubs two to eight feet high. _Leaves._--One to three inches
long; leathery. _Flowers._--Solitary; yellow; one to three
inches across. _Sepals._--Two; falling early. _Petals._--Four.
_Stamens._--Many. _Ovary._--Linear; one-celled. Stigma
two-lobed. _Capsule._--Eighteen to thirty lines long.
_Hab._--Dry hills from San Diego to Butte County.
[Illustration TREE-POPPY--_Dendromecon rigidum_.]
The tree-poppy is the only truly woody plant in the poppy family. Its pale
leaves are quite rigid, and resemble those of the willow in form. The
bright golden flowers are sometimes three inches across, and one can
readily imagine the fine effect produced when many of them are open at once
upon a hillside. Though found through quite a range, this shrub attains its
most perfect development in Santa Barbara County.
YELLOW PANSY.
_Viola pedunculata_, Torr. and Gray. Violet Family.
_Stems._--Leafy; two to six inches or more high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; long-petioled; ovate; cuneate; crenate;
with lanceolate stipules. _Flowers._--Large; long-peduncled;
deep golden yellow. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Petals._--The two
upper tinged with brown outside; the three lower veined with
purple; the two lateral bearded; the lower one with a short
spur at base. _Stamens._--Five. Anthers nearly sessile; erect
around the club-shaped style. _Ovary._--One-celled.
_Hab._--Southern to Middle California.
Pansies! Pansies! How I love you, pansies!
Jaunty-faced, laughing-lipped, and dewy-eyed with glee;
Would my song might blossom out in little five-leaved stanzas
As delicate in fancies
As your beauty is to me!
But, my eyes shall smile on you and my hands infold you,
Pet, caress, and lift you to the lips that love you, so
That, shut ever in the years that may mildew or mold you,
My fancy shall behold you
Fair as in the long ago.
--JAS. WHITCOMB RILEY.
On wind-swept downs near the ocean, on the low hills of the Coast Ranges,
or upon the plains of the interior, this charming golden pansy spreads
itself in profusion in early spring. It is the darling of the children, who
on their way to school gather great handfuls of its brown-eyed blossoms.
You may often see myriads of them dancing on their long stems in the
breeze, and showing glimpses of red-brown where their purplish outer petals
are turned toward you for the moment. In the shelter of quiet woodlands,
its stems are longer and more fragile.
[Illustration YELLOW PANSY--_Viola pedunculata_.]
TWIN-BERRY.
_Lonicera involucrata_, Banks. Honeysuckle Family.
Shrubs eight to ten feet high. _Leaves.-_-Three inches long or
so. _Flowers._--A pair; at the summit of an axillary peduncle;
with a conspicuous involucre of four bracts, tinged with red or
yellow. _Calyx._--Adherent to the ovary; the limb minute or
obsolete. _Corolla._--Tubular; irregular; half an inch or more
long; viscid-pubescent; yellowish. _Stamens._--Five.
_Ovary._--Two- or three-celled. Style filiform. Stigma capitate.
_Berries._--Black-purple. _Hab._--Throughout the State;
eastward to Lake Superior.
A walk through some moist thicket, or along a stream-bank in March, will
reveal the yellow flowers of the twin-berry amid its ample, thin green
leaves. These blossoms are always borne in pairs at the summit of the stem,
and are surrounded by a leafy involucre, consisting of two pairs of round,
fluted bracts. As the berries ripen and become black, these bracts deepen
to a brilliant red and make the shrubs much more conspicuous and ornamental
than at blossoming-time.
OREGON GRAPE. HOLLY-LEAVED BARBERRY. MAHONIA.
_Berberis Aquifolium_, Pursh. Barberry Family.
Shrubs two to six feet high; branching. _Leaves._--Alternate;
pinnate. _Leaflets._--Seven to nine; glossy; ovate to
oblong-lanceolate; one and one half to four inches long;
acuminate; sinuately dentate, with numerous spinose teeth; the
lowest pair distant from the stem. _Racemes._--Eighteen lines
to two inches long; clustered near the ends of the branches.
(Otherwise as _B. nervosa_.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges and Sierras
from Monterey and Kern County northward into Oregon.
The holly-leaved barberry, or Oregon grape, is a very ornamental shrub and
one much prized in our gardens, where it is known as _Mahonia Aquifolium_.
In the spring, when yellow with its masses of flowers; or in its summer
dress of rich, shining green; or in the autumn, when its foliage is richly
touched with bronze or scarlet or yellow, amid which are the beautiful blue
berries, it is always a fine shrub. In its native haunts it affects greater
altitudes than our other species.
[Illustration TWIN-BERRY--_Lonicera involucrata_.]
Among our Californian Indians, a decoction made from the root is a
favorite tonic remedy, and it has become a recognized drug in the
pharmacopœia of our Coast, being used as an alterative and tonic. The root
is tough and hard, of a bright golden yellow, and intensely bitter. The
bark of the root is the part that is used medicinally.
The shrub is very plentiful in the woods of Mendocino County, where it
covers considerable areas.
SUNSHINE. FLY-FLOWER.
_Bæria gracilis_, Gray. Composite Family.
Six inches or so high; branching freely. _Leaves._--Mostly
opposite; linear; entire; an inch or so long.
_Flower-heads._--Yellow; of disk and ray-flowers. _Rays._--Ten
to fourteen; three or four lines long.
_Involucre._--Campanulate; of a single series of small
lanceolate, herbaceous scales. _Hab._--From San Francisco
southward.
Considered singly, the blossom of this plant is a simple, unassuming little
flower; but when countless millions of its golden stars stud the nether
firmament, it becomes one of the most conspicuous of all our _Compositæ_.
It literally covers the earth with a close carpet of rich golden bloom, and
other plants, such as scarlet paint-brushes, blue Phacelias, and yellow and
white tidy-tips, rise out of its golden tapestry. Mile after mile of it
whirls by the car-window as we journey along, or long stretches of it gild
the gently rounded hill-slopes of the distant landscape.
There are several other species of _Bæria_, but this is the most abundant
and widespread. In some localities this little plant is so much frequented
by a small fly, which feeds upon its pollen, that it is called
"fly-flower." It then becomes a serious nuisance to horses and cattle,
which grow wild and restive under the persecution of this insect.
In the Spanish deck of playing-cards in the early days, the "Jack of
Spades" always held one of these flowers in his hand. By the
Spanish-Californians it was called "Si me quieres, no me quieres"--"Love
me, love me not,"--because their dark-eyed maidens tried their fortunes
upon it in the same manner that our own maidens consult the marguerite.
[Illustration PENTACHÆTA--_Pentachæta aurea_.]
[Illustration SUNSHINE--_Bæria gracilis_.]
Growing in brilliant beds by themselves, or intermingling their gold with
that of the _Bæria_, the charming feathery blossoms of _Pentachæta aurea_,
Nutt., are found in midspring. They have from fifty to seventy rays and
their involucres consist of several rows of scarious-margined bracts.
MEADOW-FOAM.
_Flœrkia Douglasii_, Baillon. Geranium Family.
Smooth, succulent herbs. _Stems._--A foot or so long.
_Leaves._--Much dissected. _Flowers._--Axillary; solitary.
_Sepals._--Narrow; acute. _Petals._--Nine lines long or so;
yellow, sometimes tipped with white, white, or rose-tinged.
_Stamens._--Ten, in two sets; a gland at the base of those
opposite the sepals. _Ovary._--Of five carpels, becoming
distinct. Style five-cleft at the apex. _Syn._--_Limnanthes
Douglasii_, R. Br. _Hab._--Oregon to Southern California.
When the spring is well advanced, our wet meadows are all a-cream with the
meadow-foam, whose dense masses blend exquisitely with the rich red of the
common sorrel, which is in blossom at the same time.
This plant is a near relative of the redwood-sorrel, and its flowers are
similar in size and veining, and also in their habit of closing at night.
It is much admired and has long been in cultivation.
PIMPERNEL. POOR-MAN'S WEATHER-GLASS.
_Anagallis arvensis_, L. Primrose Family.
_Stems._--Prostrate; spreading. _Leaves._--Usually opposite;
sessile; ovate. _Flowers._--Solitary on axillary peduncles;
orange-vermilion (rarely blue or white); six lines or so
across. _Calyx_ and rotate corolla five-parted.
_Petals._--Rounded; purple at base. _Stamens._--Five; opposite
the petals. Filaments purple, bearded. _Capsule._--Globose; the
top falling off as a lid. _Hab._--Common everywhere. Introduced
from Europe.
The little orange-vermilion flower of the pimpernel is a plain little
blossom to the unassisted eye, but it becomes truly regal when seen under a
glass, where its rich purple center displays itself in glistening splendor.
It is a forcible example of the infinite care bestowed upon all of Nature's
children, even to the humblest weeds.
[Illustration MEADOW-FOAM--_Flœrkia Douglasii_.]
This little plant has come to us from Europe, and it makes itself perfectly
at home among us in many widely-differing situations. From the fact that it
furls its petals upon cloudy days, or at the approach of rain, it is called
in England "poor-man's weather-glass."
The plant is an acrid poison and was extensively used in medicine by the
ancients. It seems to act particularly upon the nervous system, and was
used as a remedy for convulsions, the plague, gout, and hydrophobia.
* * * * *
_Encelia Californica_, Nutt. Composite Family.
Bushy; two to four feet high; strong-scented. _Leaves._--Mostly
alternate; short-petioled; ovate-lanceolate; an inch or two
long. _Flower-heads._--Solitary; long-peduncled; large.
_Disk._--Eight lines across; of black-purple, tubular flowers,
with deep-yellow styles. _Rays._--Sterile; over an inch long;
five lines wide; four-toothed. _Involucre._--Open-campanulate
of several series of coriaceous, imbricated scales.
_Hab._--Santa Barbara to San Diego.
This shrubby _Composita_ is quite abundant in the south, and when covered
with its large yellow flowers with purple-brown centers is very showy. We
have seen mesas covered with the bushes, which have much the same spreading
habit as the white marguerite of the garden. It thrives particularly well
near the coast, but is also at home upon some of the hills of interior
valleys as well. It is quite strong-scented, but the flowers are very
handsome, rivaling in decorativeness many of the cherished plants of our
gardens.
YELLOW FORGET-ME-NOT. WOOLLY-BREECHES.
_Amsinckia_, Lehm. Borage Family.
Hispid annuals. _Leaves._--Alternate; oblong-ovate to linear.
_Flowers._--Small; yellow or orange, in coiled spikes or
racemes. _Calyx._--Five-parted; persistent.
_Corolla._--Salver-shaped, or somewhat funnel-form; with
five-lobed border; the throat naked or with minute hairy tufts
opposite the lobes. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--Of four
seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma capitate.
We have several species of _Amsinckia_, all of which have small yellow
flowers, resembling in form our little white forget-me-nots. The genus is a
Western American one, and the species are very difficult of determination.
They are all hispid plants, very disagreeable to handle, and are generally
of rank growth. They often occur in great masses, when they become rather
showy.
The largest-flowered species, which is also the most common one in the
south, is _A. spectabilis_, Fisch. and Mey. The corolla of this is often
half an inch long and half an inch across, of an orange-yellow, with deeper
orange spots in the throat.
TREE-TOBACCO.
_Nicotiana glauca_, Graham. Nightshade Family.
Loosely branching shrubs, fifteen feet or so high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; ovate; smooth.
_Flowers._--Clustered at the ends of the branches.
_Calyx._--Campanulate; five-toothed. _Corolla._--Tubular;
eighteen lines long; with constricted throat; and border
shortly five-toothed. _Stamens._--Five, on the base of the
corolla, adnate to the tube below. Anthers with two diverging
cells. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate;
two-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout Southern California; introduced.
The tall, loosely branching, spreading form of the tree-tobacco is a
familiar sight in the south about vacant lots and waste places. Its
clusters of long, greenish-yellow flowers hang gracefully from the ends of
the slender branches, and the ovate leaves are rather long-stalked. It is
supposed to have been introduced from Buenos Ayres, and old inhabitants
remember the time when but one or two plants were known. In thirty years it
has spread rapidly, and is now exceedingly common.
WIND-POPPY. BLOOD-DROP. FLAMING POPPY.
_Meconopsis heterophylla_, Benth. Poppy Family.
Smooth herbs. _Stems._--Slender; a foot or two high.
_Leaves._--Mostly petioled; pinnately divided into variously
toothed, oval to linear segments. _Flowers._--Solitary; on long
peduncles; orange-vermilion to scarlet. _Sepals._--Two; falling
early. Petals.--Four; two to twelve lines long.
_Stamens._--Numerous. Filaments filiform; purple. Anthers
yellow. _Ovary._--Top-shaped; ribbed; one-celled. Style short.
Stigma large; capitate; four- to eight-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout
Western California.
The wind-poppy is an exceedingly variable flower. In the central part of
the State it is large and showy, its beautiful flame-colored blossoms
being two inches across; while in the south it is usually very small,
making tiny flecks of red in the grass, for which reason it is there called
"blood-drop." It is an exquisite thing. Its petals have the delicate satin
texture of the poppy; and their showy orange or scarlet blends suddenly at
the center into a deep maroon. The bright-green, top-shaped ovary stands up
in the midst of the slender stamens, whose yellow anthers show brilliantly
against the dark maroon of the petals.
It blossoms in spring upon open hillsides, seeming to prefer those which
are shaded for at least part of the day. It is very fragile, and falls to
pieces at a touch, which makes it an unsatisfactory flower to gather.
WHISPERING BELLS.
_Emmenanthe penduliflora_, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Six inches to a foot high; branched above; hairy; somewhat
viscid. _Leaves._--An inch or more long; pinnatifid.
_Flowers._--Straw-colored; at length pendulous.
_Corolla._--Campanulate; about six lines long. (Flower
structure as in _Phacelia_.) _Hab._--Lake County to San Diego.
In midspring, when passing among the plants upon our dry, open hillsides,
our attention is often attracted by a certain delicate, rustling sound,
which we find emanates from the little papery bells of the dried blossoms
of the _Emmenanthe_, which retain the semblance of their first freshness
for many weeks.
Though not at first apparent, a little examination will reveal the fact
that these plants are very closely related to the _Phacelias_, the chief
difference being in the yellow corollas.
YELLOW STAR TULIP.
_Calochortus Benthami_, Baker. Lily Family.
_Leaves._--Much elongated; two to five lines broad.
_Stems._--Slender; three to six inches high. _Buds._--Nodding.
_Flowers._--Erect; yellow. _Petals._--Six or seven lines long;
spreading; mostly obtuse; rather densely covered with yellow
hairs. _Gland._--Shallow; lunate. _Capsule._--Nodding; six to
nine lines long. _Hab._--Sierra Nevada foothills, throughout
their length.
[Illustration WHISPERING BELLS--_Emmenanthe penduliflora_.]
This is a very pretty little star tulip, with graceful, flexuous stems
and erect flowers, whose spreading petals are covered with hairs. Sometimes
there is a dark-brown, almost black, spot upon the petals, and when such is
the case the plant is called _C. Benthami, var. Wallacei_.
CREAM-COLORED WALL-FLOWER.
_Erysimum grandiflorum_, Nutt. Mustard Family.
_Stems._--Six to eighteen inches high. _Leaves._--Spatulate or
oblanceolate; entire, toothed or lobed; lower long-petioled.
_Sepals._--Four; one pair strongly gibbous at base.
_Petals._--An inch long; long-clawed; cream-color or yellowish.
_Stamens._--Six; two shorter. _Ovary._--One-celled; linear.
Style stout; short. Stigma capitate. _Pod._--Nearly flat;
thirty lines or less long. _Syn._--_Cheiranthus asper_, Cham.
and Schlecht. _Hab._--The seaboard from Los Angeles to Oregon.
Growing along sandy stretches, or upon open mesas by the seashore, we may
find the showy blossoms of the cream-colored wall-flower from February to
May. These flowers are less stocky and much more delicate than the garden
species; and when seen numerously dotting a field carpeted with other
flowers, they stand out conspicuously, claiming the attention peculiarly to
themselves. They have not the delicious fragrance of the Western
wall-flower. At first yellowish, they become pale cream-color after
fertilization has taken place.
_E. asperum_, DC., the Western wall-flower, is widely distributed, and may
be known from the above by its four-sided pods, and by its flowers, which
are usually orange-color--though they occasionally vary to yellow or
purple. These blossoms are especially abundant in the mountains and valleys
of the south, where their brilliant orange is conspicuous amid the lush
greens of springtime. They are very fragrant, and are favorites among our
wild flowers.
BUR-CLOVER.
_Medicago denticulata_, Willd. Pea Family.
_Stems._--Prostrate or ascending. _Leaves._--Trifoliolate.
_Leaflets._--Cuneate-obovate or obcordate; toothed above.
_Flowers._--Papilionaceous; small; yellow; two or three in a
cluster. _Stamens._--Nine united, one free. _Pods._--Coiled
into two circles; armed with hooked prickles. _Hab._--Common
everywhere; introduced.
[Illustration CREAM-COLORED WALL-FLOWER--_Erysimum grandiflorum_.]
The bur-clover is a little European weed which has become very widespread
and very much at home among us. It is an excellent forage-plant, and in
late summer, when our cattle have eaten everything else, they feed upon the
little burs, which are very nutritious in themselves. But these same little
coiled burs, with their numerous firm hooks, work great damage to wool,
imbedding themselves in it so firmly as to make it very difficult to remove
them without seriously injuring its quality. These plants invade our lawns,
where they become very troublesome.
COMMON MONKEY-FLOWER.
_Mimulus luteus_, L. Figwort Family.
Varying greatly in size. _Stems._--One to four feet high.
_Leaves._--Mostly smooth; ovate-oval or cordate; coarsely
notched. _Flowers._--Yellow. _Calyx._--Sharply five-angled;
unevenly five-lobed. _Corolla._--One or two inches long; lower
lip usually spotted with brown purple. _Stamens._--Four; in
pairs. Anthers with two divergent cells. _Ovary._--Two-celled.
Style long and slender. Stigma with two rounded lips.
_Hab._--Common throughout California.
The bright canary-colored blossoms of the common monkey-flower are a
familiar sight upon almost every stream-bank. The plant varies greatly in
size, according to the locality of its growth. I once saw it flourishing in
the rich soil of a lake-shore, where its hollow stems were as large as an
ordinary cane, and its blossoms grotesquely large.
_M. moschatus_, Dougl., the common musk-plant of cultivation, is usually
found along mountain-streams. It may be known by its clammy, musk-scented,
light-green herbage. Its flowers are larger than in cultivation.
_M. brevipes_, Benth., is common from Santa Barbara to San Diego, upon
hillsides in spring. It has stems a foot or two high, lanceolate leaves one
to four inches long, and large, handsome yellow flowers, having a pair of
ridges running down their open throats.
[Illustration COMMON MONKEY-FLOWER--_Mimulus luteus_.]
* * * * *
_Œnothera bistorta_, Nutt. Evening-Primrose Family.
From several inches to a foot or two high. _Leaves._--Three or
four inches long; denticulate; the upper mostly rounded at
base. _Petals._--Yellow; four to seven lines long; with usually
a brown spot at the base. _Stigma._--Large and spherical.
_Capsule._--Four to nine lines long; a line or so wide;
attenuate upward; contorted. (See _Œnothera_.) _Hab._--Ventura
to San Diego.
This is a very common species of evening primrose in the south, and may be
found blooming until June. It is very variable in its manner of growth. In
moist, shaded localities it becomes an erect plant a foot or two high;
while upon open, exposed plains it is often only two or three inches high,
but seems almost to emulate the "sunshine" in its attempt to gild the plain
with its bright blossoms. It frequently grows in gravelly washes. Its
flowers have a peculiarly clean, brilliant, alert look, and may usually be
known by the brown spot at the base of the petals. The specific name is in
reference to its twice-twisted capsule.
The "beach primrose," _Œ. cheiranthifolia, var. suffruticosa_, Wats.,
often grows in great beds upon the dry sands of the seashore, from Monterey
to San Diego. Its decumbent stems are thickly clothed with small, ovate,
stemless leaves, and its silvery foliage makes a beautiful setting for its
large golden flowers.
FAWN-LILY. DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET. CHAMISE-LILY.
_Erythronium giganteum_, Lindl. Lily Family.
_Corm._--Usually elongated. _Leaves._--Oblong; six to ten
inches long; dark green, usually mottled in mahogany and dark
brown. _Scape._--One- to many-flowered. _Perianth._--Broadly
funnel-form, with six deciduous segments; at length revolute to
the stem. _Segments._--Straw-color, with orange base, with
often a transverse, brownish band across the base; broadly
lanceolate; eighteen lines or so long. _Stamens._--Six.
Filaments filiform. Anthers basifixed. _Ovary._--Three-celled.
Style slender. Stigma three-lobed. _Hab._--The interior of the
Coast Ranges, from Sonoma County to the Willamette Valley.
[Illustration FAWN-LILY--_Erythronium giganteum_.]
The dog's-tooth violets expand into larger, finer creations upon our shores
than were ever dreamed of elsewhere. They seem to imbibe new vigor in the
sweet life-giving air of our Coast Range forests. In Southern Oregon, they
reach their maximum development, manifesting themselves in numerous
beautiful species. With us the common title becomes still more
inappropriate than for the Atlantic species--for nothing could be farther
from a violet than these large pale flowers, which in reality look far more
like lilies. Indeed, in Mendocino County they are commonly known as
"chamise-lilies." Another name is "Adam and Eve," bestowed because the
plant often bears a large and a small flower at the same time.
Personally, I am inclined to favor Mr. Burroughs' suggestion of
"fawn-lily." It is both appropriate and pretty. The two erect leaves are
like the ears of a fawn; their beautiful mottling is not without a hint of
the fawn's spots; and the blossom is lily-like. The plant is shy, too,
keeping to the seclusion of our deep cañons. In such situations we may find
them in groups of a few, or occasionally in beds of hundreds. No more
delightful surprise could be imagined than to come suddenly upon such a
garden far from the habitations of man. The pale flowers, with orange
centers, when fully open, roll their petals back to the stem, like those of
the leopard-lily; but in cloudy weather they often maintain a campanulate
outline. Plants have frequently been seen with from eight to sixteen
flowers upon a stem, the flowers three or four inches across!
These are great favorites in gardens, and in cultivation are known as _E.
grandiflorum_. We have several species of _Erythronium_, all of them
beautiful.
STICKY MONKEY-FLOWER.
_Mimulus glutinosus_, Wend. Figwort Family.
Glutinous shrubs two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Narrowly
oblong to linear; one to four inches long; with margins at
length rolled backward. _Flowers._--Corn-color to red; eighteen
lines to three inches long. _Calyx._--Irregularly five-toothed.
_Corolla._--Funnel-form; five-lobed; the lobes gnawed.
_Stigma._--White. (See _Mimulus_.) _Hab._--San Francisco to San
Diego, and southward.
[Illustration STICKY MONKEY-FLOWER--_Mimulus glutinosus_.]
During a walk upon the hills, at almost any time of year, we may find the
corn-colored blossoms of the sticky monkey-flower, but they are most
abundant in spring and summer. When in full flower the small bushes are
very ornamental, as they are a perfect mass of bloom. They are said to be
especially handsome as greenhouse plants.
The flowers vary through a wide range of color, from almost white to a rich
scarlet, but the commoner hue is the corn-color. The scarlet-flowered form,
found at San Diego, constitutes the _var. puniceus_, Gray. Another form,
with red-brown to salmon-colored flowers on very short pedicels, is the
_var. linearis_, Gray. The very long-flowered form is the _var. brachypus_,
Gray. The sensitive lips of the stigma close upon being touched or after
receiving pollen.
CREEPING WOOD-VIOLET.
_Viola sarmentosa_, Dougl. Violet Family.
_Stems._--Creeping. _Leaves._--Round-cordate; six to eighteen
lines broad; finely crenate; often rusty beneath; usually
punctate with dark dots. _Peduncles._--Slender.
_Flowers._--Small; light yellow without and within. (Flower
structure as in _V. pedunculata_.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges, from
Monterey to British Columbia.
This modest little violet is found commonly in woods,--often in redwood
forests,--where it carpets the ground with its shapely little round leaves.
Its specific name refers to its running habit.
COMMON BLACK MUSTARD.
_Brassica nigra_, Koch. Mustard Family.
_Stems._--Six inches to twelve feet high. _Lower
leaves._--Lyrate; with large terminal lobes. _Upper
leaves._--Lobed or entire. _Flowers._--Yellow. _Sepals._--Four.
_Petals._--Four; three to four lines long. _Stamens._--Six.
_Ovary._--Two-celled. Style long. _Pod._--Six to nine lines
long, with seeds in one row. _Hab._--Common everywhere;
introduced.
I can give no truer idea of the manner of growth of this common plant in
California than by quoting Mrs. Jackson's charming description of it from
"Ramona":--
"The wild mustard in Southern California is like that spoken of in the New
Testament, in the branches of which the birds of the air may rest. Coming
up out of the earth, so slender a stem that dozens can find starting-point
in an inch, it darts up a slender, straight shoot, five, ten, twenty feet,
with hundreds of fine, feathery branches locking and interlocking with all
the other hundreds around it, till it is an inextricable network, like
lace. Then it bursts into yellow bloom, still finer, more feathery and
lacelike. The stems are so infinitesimally small and of so dark a green,
that at a short distance they do not show, and the cloud of blossoms seems
floating in the air; at times it looks like a golden dust. With a clear,
blue sky behind it, as it is often seen, it looks like a golden snowstorm."
The tall stems are favorite haunts of the red-winged blackbird, who tilts
about among them, showing his scarlet wings and occasionally plunging into
the depths below, as though he found a spot there much to his mind.
A very superior oil is made from the seed of the mustard, which is one of
the strongest antiseptics known. It is especially adapted to the needs of
the druggist, because it does not become rancid. The flour of mustard is
now much used by surgeons to render their hands aseptic. Tons of the seed
are exported from California every year.
ECHEVERIA.
_Cotyledon lanceolata_, Benth. and Hook. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.
Fleshy plants, with tufted radical leaves. _Leaves._--Narrowly
lanceolate; the outer ones two to four inches long; acuminate.
_Scapes._--Fifteen inches high; their lower leaves lanceolate;
becoming above broadly triangular-ovate, clasping, acute;
bearing on their summit a branching flower-cluster.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Cylindrical; of five almost
distinct, oblong, acute petals, four to six lines long,
reddish-yellow. _Stamens._--Ten. _Ovaries._--Five; distinct;
one-celled. _Hab._--Los Angeles to San Diego.
These plants, which are of frequent occurrence in the south, usually affect
dry, sandy soils. The fleshy foliage is of a warm tone, owing to a
suffusion of pink in the leaves. These have a loose, erect habit, and are
not crowded in dense rosettes, as are those of some species, and they are
so weak that they pull apart easily. The tall flowering stems have but few
leaves, and are sometimes nearly naked.
In early summer these plants put forth a strong effort, quickly sending up
several tall, vigorous flower-shoots, drawing upon the nourishment stored
in the fleshy leaves, which then become limp and shriveled.
Growing upon the coast at San Diego is a very curious and interesting
species--_C. edulis_, Brew. This has cylindrical leaves, about the size of
a lead-pencil, which grow in tufts, often a foot or two across. Its flowers
are greenish-yellow. It is commonly known as "finger-tips." Its young
leaves are considered very palatable by the Indians, who use them as a
salad.
HEN-AND-CHICKENS.
_Cotyledon Californicum_, Trelease. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.
(For flower structure, see _Cotyledon lanceolata_.)
_Hab._--Central California.
The word "cotyledon" signifies any cup-shaped hollow or cavity, and has
been applied to the plants of this genus on account of the manner of growth
of the leaves, which is usually in a hollow rosette. The fleshy leaves are
often covered with a bloom or a floury powder. These plants are familiar to
most of us, as some of the species are extensively cultivated in our
gardens as border-plants. Owing to their habit of producing a circle of
young plants around the parent, they are commonly called
"hen-and-chickens." We have several native species, which are usually found
upon warm, rocky hill-slopes, or upon rocks near the sea.
_C. Californicum_ is a beautiful form, with pointed, ovate leaves, of a
light glaucous green, often tinged with pink. Its flowers are yellow, and
have their petals distinct almost to the base, and its carpels are
distinct. We are told that the Indians make soothing poultices of these
leaves.
[Illustration HEN-AND-CHICKENS--_Cotyledon Californicum_.]
Another species--_C. pulverulenta_, Benth. and Hook.,--found from Santa
Barbara to San Diego, is a very beautiful plant. It bears its leaves in a
symmetrical rosette, like a diminutive century-plant. These leaves are
usually covered with a dense white bloom, and the outer ones are spatulate,
abruptly pointed, and two to four inches broad at the tip, while the inner
are pointed. The plants are sometimes a foot and a half across, and send up
as many as eight of the leafy flowering stems, which look like
many-storied, slender Chinese pagodas. The blossoms are pale-red.
BLADDERPOD.
_Isomeris arborea_, Nutt. Caper Family.
Shrubby; evil-scented. _Leaves._--Alternate; compound, with
three leaflets. _Flowers._--With their parts in fours.
_Petals._--Yellow; five to eight lines long. _Stamens._--Eight;
of equal length. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style short.
_Pod._--Pendulous; inflated; pear-shaped; on a long stalk.
_Hab._--Santa Barbara to San Diego.
This low shrub is somewhat plentiful upon the mesas of the south. Its
yellow flowers attract one to it, only to be repulsed by the dreadful odor
of its foliage. It certainly ought to have some compensating utility for so
repellent a characteristic. The ovary is so long-stalked, even in the
flower, that it looks like an abnormal, inflated stigma.
This is the only species of the genus.
YELLOW GLOBE-TULIP. DIOGENES' LANTERN. GOLDEN LILY-BELL.
_Calochortus pulchellus_, Dougl. Lily Family.
_Stems._--Somewhat flexuous, with spreading branches; two
inches to a foot or more high. _Radical leaf._--Equaling or
exceeding the stem; four to twelve lines broad.
_Sepals._--Greenish or yellow; eight to twelve lines long.
_Petals._--Yellow; strongly arched; glandular ciliate.
_Gland._--A deep pit, conspicuously prominent on the outside of
the petals, covered within by appressed hairs. (See
_Calochortus_.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges, from Monterey to
Mendocino County.
We have no more charmingly graceful flower than the yellow globe-tulip. A
single, long, grasslike leaf precedes the flexuous stem, with its quaintly
arched and delicately fringed blossoms. There is a certain quizzical look
about these flowers--something akin to the inquiring look of Diogenes, as
he thrust his lantern into all sorts of out-of-the-way places in broad
daylight. The margins of the petals look as though they had been snipped
into a very fine, delicate fringe, unlike the slender, tapering hairs of
_C. alba_.
[Illustration DIOGENES' LANTERN--_Calochortus pulchellus_.]
The Indians are fond of the bulbs, which they eat with great relish,
calling them "Bo."
YELLOW SAND-VERBENA.
_Abronia latifolia_, Esch. Four-o'clock Family.
_Stems._--Prostrate; rubbery. _Leaves._--Opposite; unequal;
roundish; an inch or so across; petioled; leathery; gummy.
_Flowers._--Yellow; five or six lines long; in dense clusters,
subtended by an involucre of five distinct bracts.
_Perianth._--Salver-shaped. Tube green; its base strongly
angled or winged. Limb yellow; four or five-lobed.
_Stamens._--Mostly five, within the perianth.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style filiform. Stigma club-shaped.
_Hab._--The seashore from Vancouver Island to Monterey.
The fragrant blossoms of the yellow sand-verbena may be found upon the
beach at almost any time of year. The stout root, which often becomes
several feet long, is sometimes eaten by the Indians.
SEA-DAHLIA.
_Leptosyne maritima_, Gray. Composite Family.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sometimes six inches long; two or three
times divided into rather sparse, linear divisions; quite
succulent. _Flower-heads._--Solitary; on naked peduncles from
six inches to two feet long; large; three or four inches
across; yellow; of disk- and ray-flowers. _Rays._--Narrowly
oblong; ten-nerved; three-toothed. _Involucre._--Double; the
outer part of several loose, leafy scales; the inner of eight
to twelve, erect, more chaffy ones. _Hab._--The seashore of San
Diego and the islands.
On the cliffs overlooking the sea, where its merry yellow faces can watch
the white-crested breakers as they chase one another ashore in never-ending
succession, and where the pelicans sail lazily over in lines, and gulls
circle and scream, the sea-dahlia flaunts its large yellow flowers. They
closely resemble the yellow single dahlias of our gardens; but the foliage
is cut into long lobes, and has the appearance of a coarse, very open
lace. The odor of the flowers is not especially agreeable, but the plant
merits a place in the garden for its beauty.
[Illustration YELLOW SAND-VERBENA--_Abronia latifolia_.]
FALSE LUPINE.
_Thermopsis Californica_, Wats. Pea Family.
_Stems._--Two feet tall. _Leaves._--With leafy stipules an inch
long. _Leaflets._--Three; obovate to oblanceolate; an inch or
two long; somewhat woolly. _Flowers._--Yellow; in
long-peduncled recemes. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft; the two
upper teeth often united. _Corolla._--Papilionaceous; eight
lines long. _Stamens._--Ten; all distinct.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Pod._--Silky; six- to eight-seeded.
_Hab._--Marin County and southward.
The false lupine very closely resembles the true lupines, but may be
distinguished from them by the stamens, which are all distinct, instead of
being united into a sheath. Its silvery foliage and racemes of rather large
canary-colored flowers are common upon open hill-slopes by April.
TIDY-TIPS. YELLOW DAISY.
_Layia platyglossa_, Gray. Composite Family.
_Stems._--A foot or so high; loosely branching.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; the lower linear and pinnatifid,
the upper entire. _Flowerheads._--Solitary; terminal; of
disk- and ray-flowers. _Disk-flowers._--Yellow, with black
stamens. _Rays._--Bright yellow, tipped with white; six lines
long; four lines wide; three-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout Western
California; in low ground.
Among the most charming of our flowers are the beautiful tidy-tips. In
midspring, countless millions of them lift themselves above the sheets of
golden _Bæria_ on our flower-tapestried plains. The fresh winds come
sweetly laden with their delicate fragrance. Were they not scattered
everywhere in such lavish profusion, we would doubtless cherish them in our
gardens.
Growing among these blossoms is often found another flower, somewhat
similar to them. This is _Leptosyne Douglasii_, DC., the false tidy-tip. It
has not the clean, natty appearance of _Layia platyglossa_; for the gradual
blending of the light tips into the darker yellow below gives it an
indefinite, unattractive look. There is a difference in the involucre,
which has two series of bracts, and there are no touches of black among the
disk-flowers.
[Illustration FALSE TIDY-TIPS--_Leptosyne Douglasii_. TIDY-TIPS--_Layia
Platyglossa_.]
GOLDEN BUTTERFLY-TULIP.
_Calochortus clavatus_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Hab._--Los Angeles County to San Luis Obispo and El Dorado
County.
Of all our Mariposa tulips, this is the largest-flowered and
stoutest-stemmed, and once seen is not readily forgotten. Its magnificent
flowers are sometimes six inches across, though not usually so large, and
have the form of a broad-based cup. The sturdy, zigzagging stems and
glaucous leaves and bracts, combined with the large rich, canary-colored or
golden flowers, make a striking plant. The first glance within the cup
shows the ring of club-shaped hairs, characteristic of this species, and
the anthers radiating starlike in the center; and as the latter are often a
dark, rich prune-purple, the effect can readily be imagined.
I saw this charming Mariposa blooming in abundance in May near Newhall,
where its golden cups were conspicuously beautiful against the soft browns
of the drying fields and hill-slopes. It is usually found growing upon lava
soil.
_C. Weedii_, Wood., found from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, is a charming
species, somewhat similar to the above. Its flowers are yellow, purple, or
pure white, and it may be known by several characteristics. Its bulb is
heavily coated with coarse fibers; it has a single, long radical leaf, like
_C. albus_, but unusual among the Mariposas; and its cups are covered all
over within with silky hairs.
* * * * *
_Malacothrix Californica_, DC. Composite Family.
_Leaves._--All radical; pinnately parted into very narrow
linear divisions. _Scape._--Six inches to a foot high; bearing
a solitary, large, light-yellow head. _Flower-head._--Composed
of strap-shaped ray-flowers only; five-toothed at the apex.
_Involucres._--Of narrow acute scales in two or three series.
_Receptacle._--Nearly naked. _Hab._--San Francisco to San
Diego, and eastward.
These beautiful _Compositæ_ are conspicuous upon our open plains in late
spring, and are among the handsomest plants of the family. The fine flowers
seem to be sown like disks of light over the flower-carpet of the plain.
BUTTER-AND-EGGS.
_Orthocarpus erianthus_, Benth. Figwort Family.
Slender, with many erect branches; stems and bracts usually
dark-reddish; soft pubescent. _Corolla._--Deep sulphur-yellow;
the slender falcate upper lip dark purple; the tube very
slender, but the sacs of the lower lip large and deep, their
folds hairy within. (See _Orthocarpus_.) _Hab._--Monterey
County and northward; very common.
There are many species of _Orthocarpus_, and they are more numerous in
Middle and Northern California and in the Sierras, few of them reaching the
south. They are very difficult of determination, and are not well
understood by botanists yet. A common name for the plants of this genus is
"owl's clover."
BRASS BUTTONS.
_Cotula coronopifolia_, L. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Six inches to a foot long. _Leaves._--Alternate;
lanceolate or oblong-linear; pinnatifid or entire.
_Flower-heads._--Solitary; yellow; three to six lines across;
without rays. _Involucre._--Of two ranks of nearly equal,
scarious-margined scales. _Hab._--Common everywhere.
These little weeds are natives of the Southern Hemisphere, but are now
common everywhere. They affect wet places, and their little flowers, like
brass buttons, are very familiar objects along our roadsides. The foliage
when crushed gives out a curious odor, between lemon-verbena and camphor.
DEER-WEED. WILD BROOM.
_Hosackia glabra_, Torr. Pea Family.
Woody at base; two to eight feet high; erect or decumbent.
_Stems._--Many; slender; branching; reed-like.
_Leaves._--Sparse; short-petioled; mostly trifoliolate.
Leaflets three to six lines long; oblong to linear-oblong;
nearly glabrous. _Flowers._--In numerous small axillary umbels;
yellow; four lines long. _Calyx._--Less than three lines long;
five-toothed. _Corolla._--Papilionaceous. _Stamens._--Nine
united and one free. _Pod._--Elongated; exserted. Seeds two.
(See _Leguminosæ_.) _Hab._--Common throughout the State.
This graceful, willowy plant, whose slender branches are closely set with
small golden-yellow flowers, in which there is often a hint of red, is as
ornamental as any of the small-flowered foreign _Genestas_, or brooms, we
grow in our gardens; but because it is so very abundant throughout our
borders, we have become blind to its merits. It is especially beautiful and
symmetrical in the south, where the low, bushy plants often spread over
several feet of ground; and on the mesas of Coronado, the plants growing
not far removed from one another, lend to the natural scene the aspect of a
garden. There it is in full flower in April; but in the north the blossoms
are usually later in arriving, and it is often June before they show
themselves; then making whole hill-slopes dull-yellow among the chaparral.
It is a great favorite with the bees, and for them holds untold treasure in
honey-making sweets. Among the mountaineers it is known as "deer-weed" and
"buck-brush," as both deer and stock are said to feed upon it and flourish,
when pasturage is scarce, though they rarely touch it when other food is
plenty.
TREFOIL SUMACH. FRAGRANT SUMACH. SQUAW-BERRY.
_Rhus Canadensis, var. trilobata_, Gray. Poison-Oak or Cashew Family.
Shrubs two to five feet high; spreading.
_Leaves._--Three-foliolate. _Leaflets._--Sessile; wedge-shaped;
six lines to an inch long; pubescent, becoming smooth.
_Flowers._--Yellowish; minute; borne in short, scaly-bracted
spikes preceding the leaves. _Fruit._--Viscid; reddish; two or
three lines in diameter; pleasantly acid. _Syn._--_R.
aromatica, var. trilobata_, Gray. _Hab._--Dakota to Texas, and
west to California and Oregon.
[Illustration DEER-WEED.--_Hosackia glabra_.]
The dense foliage of these little bushes has a strong odor, which is not
altogether agreeable, while their small fruit has a pleasant acid taste,
and is much relished by the Indians.
Dr. Edward Palmer writes that this shrub furnishes the Indians of Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California with one of the most valuable
of basket materials. The young twigs, which are much tougher than those of
the willow, are soaked, scraped, and split. The baskets are then built up
of a succession of small rolls of grass, over which the split twigs are
closely and firmly bound. The baskets thus made are very durable, will hold
water, and are often used to cook in, by dropping hot stones into them till
the food is done. The wood exhales a peculiar odor, which is always
recognizable about the camps of these Indians, and never leaves articles
made from it.
This is grown in England as an ornamental shrub.
GOLDEN STARS.
_Bloomeria aurea_, Kell. Lily Family.
_Bulb._--Six lines in diameter. _Leaf._--Solitary; about
equaling the scape; three to six lines broad. _Scape._--Six to
eighteen inches high. _Flowers._--Yellow; fifteen to sixty in
an umbel. _Perianth._--About an inch across. _Stamens._--Six;
with cup-shaped appendages. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style
club-shaped. Stigma three-lobed. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from
Monterey to San Diego.
Just as the floral procession begins to slacken a little before the
oncoming of summer, the fields suddenly blossom out anew and twinkle with
millions of the golden stars of the _Bloomeria_. These plants are closely
allied to the _Brodiæas_, and by some authorities are classed as such. They
are especially characterized by the structure of the stamens, which rise
out of a tiny cup. Under a glass this cup is seen to be granular, somewhat
flattened, and furnished with two cusps, or points. The anthers are a very
pretty Nile or peacock green.
[Illustration GOLDEN STARS--_Bloomeria aurea_.]
Another species--_B. Clevelandi_, Wats.--is easily distinguished from the
above by its numerous narrow leaves and its green-nerved perianth. This is
found at San Diego, upon the mesas in midspring, growing abundantly in
spots which, earlier in the season, have been mud-holes. Its open flowers
are so outnumbered by the numerous undeveloped green buds, that, even
though it grows in masses, it is not very showy, but makes the ground a
dull yellow. But its flower-clusters are feathery and delicate.
There is another plant which closely resembles the _Bloomerias_. This is
the "golden Brodiæa"--_Brodiæa ixioides_, Wats. But the filaments, instead
of having a cuplike appendage, are winged, with the little anthers swinging
prettily upon their summits. This is found in the Coast Ranges, from Santa
Barbara northward, also in the Sierras. It is a beautiful flower;
especially when seen starring the velvet alpine meadows in August.
Another plant--_Brodiæa lactea_, Wats.--the "white Brodiæa" has flowers
similar to the above, but pure white (sometimes lilac), with a green
mid-vein. This is common in late spring from Monterey to British Columbia.
YELLOW SWEET CLOVER.
_Melilotus parviflora_, Desf. Pea Family.
_Hab._--Widely naturalized from Europe.
In early summer the breezes come laden with fragrance from the sweet
clover. This is easily recognized by its tall stems, its fragrant leaves,
with three small, toothed leaflets, and its small crowded racemes of minute
yellow flowers a line long.
A white form--_Melilotus alba_, Lam.--is found in the north. Its flowers
are vanilla-scented.
This plant is a highly valued remedy in the pharmacopœia for various
ailments, and its sweet-scented flowers have been used for flavoring many
products, such as Gruyère cheese, snuff, and tobacco. In Europe the
blossoms are packed among furs to give them a pleasant odor and keep away
moths.
CALIFORNIAN COMPASS-PLANT. SUNFLOWER.
_Wyethia angustifolia_, Nutt. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Six inches to two feet high.
_Leaves._--Long-lanceolate; pointed at both ends; the radical
and lower ones six to twelve inches long; the upper sessile,
shorter, and often broader. _Flower-heads._--Yellow; composed
of ray- and disk-flowers. Plume-like styles of the latter
conspicuous. _Ray flowers._--Numerous; one inch long; six lines
wide; early deciduous. _Involucre._--Broadly campanulate, of
numerous erect, loose, foliaceous, ciliate scales, in several
rows. _Hab._--Monterey, east to the Sierra foothills and north
to Oregon.
In late spring our open plains and hillsides are often plentifully sown
with the large golden flowers of these Californian compass-plants, called
"sunflowers" by many people. There is a belief prevalent that their erect
leaves always stand with their edges pointing north and south, whence the
common name. This trait is said to be true of all the species.
_W. helenioides_, Nutt., has large, broad leaves, which are white-woolly
when young. Its flower-heads are often four inches or more across.
This plant is used as a common domestic remedy for coughs and colds by
Californian housewives, and goes under the unmerited name of "poison-weed."
It has also been adopted among physicians as an officinal drug. The root,
which is slightly bitter and aromatic, is made into a tincture and
administered for asthma, throat disorders, and epidemic influenza, with
excellent results. It blooms in early spring, and is common upon hillsides.
Another species, very similar to the above, is _W. glabra_, Gray. This may
be known by its smooth green leaves, which are often very viscid. It is
found from Marin County southward, in the Coast Ranges, and probably
northward.
_W. mollis_, Gray, or "Indian wheat," is very abundant in the Sierras,
growing all through the open woods, and covering great tracts of dry
gravelly soil. Its large, coarse, somewhat woolly radical leaves stand
erect and clustered, usually having a flower-stalk or two in their midst,
bearing some smaller leaves, and several yellow flower-heads, which
resemble small sunflowers with yellow centers. It has a strong odor, and
gives a characteristic smell to the region where it grows. The common name,
"Indian wheat," has been bestowed upon it not because it in the least
resembles wheat, but because the Indians gather the seed in great
quantities and grind it into a flour.
CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM.
_Fremontia Californica_, Torr. Hand-tree Family.
Shrubs or trees from two to twenty feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; round-cordate to round-ovate;
moderately three- to five-lobed or cleft; woolly or whitish
beneath; the larger two inches wide.
_Flowers._--Short-peduncled on very short lateral branches;
numerous; one to three inches across; having three to five
small bractlets. _Calyx._--Corolla-like; brilliant gold,
five-cleft nearly to the base; the lobes having a rounded,
hairy pit at base. _Corolla._--Wanting. _Filaments._--United to
their middle; each bearing a linear, adnate, curved, two-celled
anther. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style filiform. _Hab._--Dry
Sierra foothills, from Lake County southward.
No more beautiful sight is often seen than a slope covered with the wild
slippery-elm in blossom. The bushes are almost obscured from view by the
masses of large golden flowers. This shrub takes on various forms;
sometimes sending out in every direction long slender branches, which are
solid wreaths of the magnificent blooms; and again assuming a more erect,
treelike habit. It has been hailed with delight in the gardens of our
Southern States, and heartily welcomed in France and England. Why do not
_we_ honor it with a place in our own gardens, instead of giving room to so
many far less beautiful exotics?
It flowers in early summer, and its season of bloom is said to last only
about two weeks, but the brilliant hibiscus-like blossoms, drying upon
their stems, maintain for a long time a semblance of their first beauty.
The branches are tough and flexible, and are often cut for whips by
teamsters. Among the mountaineers it is generally known as "leatherwood."
But this name properly belongs to another entirely different plant, _Dirca
palustris_.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM--_Fremontia Californica_.]
The bark of the _Fremontia_ so closely resembles that of the slippery-elm
in taste and other qualities, that it is difficult to distinguish between
them; and it is used in the same manner for making poultices.
We are told that this shrub thrives best upon a disintegrated granite soil,
and reaches its finest development upon the arid slopes bordering such
rainless regions as the Mojave Desert. It was first discovered by General
Fremont when crossing the Sierras, about half a century ago, and was named
in his honor. It is closely related to the mallows.
DODDER. LOVE-VINE. GOLDEN-THREAD.
_Cuscuta_, Tourn. Morning-Glory Family.
Leafless plants with filiform, yellow or orange-colored stems;
germinating in the soil; soon breaking off and becoming
parasitic upon other plants. _Flowers._--Small; white; densely
clustered. _Calyx._--Usually five-cleft or parted.
_Corolla._--Tubular or campanulate; four- or five-toothed or
lobed. _Stamens._--On the corolla, alternate with its lobes.
Filaments with fringed scales below. _Ovary._--Globose;
two-celled. Styles two.
. . . "while everywhere
The love-vine spreads a silken snare,
The tangles of her yellow hair."
Though popularly known as the love-vine, because of its clinging habit, it
must be confessed that this pernicious plant in no respect merits the
title. On the other hand, it might with propriety be called the octopus of
the plant world. If you break a branch from a plant which has become its
victim, you can see how it has twined itself about it, drawing its very
life-blood from it at every turn, by means of ugly, wartlike suckers.
It is no wonder, however, that people are generally deceived as to the
moral character of this plant--for it is indeed a beautiful sight, when it
spreads its golden tangle over the chamisal, wild buckwheat, and other
plants, often completely hiding them from view.
We have a number of species. _C. salina_ often covers our salt marshes with
brilliant patches of orange.
LARGE YELLOW LUPINE.
_Lupinus arboreus_, Sims. Pea Family.
Shrubby; four to ten feet high. _Flowers._--Large; in a loose,
whorled raceme; sulphur-yellow; very fragrant.
_Leaflets._--Four to eleven; generally about nine; narrowly
lanceolate; nine to twenty lines long. _Pods._--Two to three
inches long; ten- to twelve-seeded; silky pubescent. (See
_Lupinus_.) _Hab._--Common from the Sacramento to San Diego.
The large yellow lupine is a common plant upon our wind-swept mesas,
growing in sandy soil. Its shrubby form, somewhat silvery foliage, and
large canary-colored, very fragrant flowers make it always a conspicuous
and beautiful plant.
This species, together with _L. albifrons_, have been found most useful in
anchoring the shifting sands of the dunes near San Francisco. It was
accidentally discovered in a deep cutting that these lupines sent their
roots down sometimes twenty feet, and the idea was conceived of making use
of them in the above manner. Barley, which grows more rapidly than the
lupine, was sown to protect the plants while very young. In a single year
the lupines covered the sands with a dense growth, two or three feet high,
sufficient to prevent them from shifting during the severest storms, and to
allow of the subsequent planting of various pines, willows, and other
trees. Thus the way was prepared for one of the most beautiful of
pleasure-grounds--the Golden Gate Park of San Francisco which can hardly be
rivaled anywhere for natural situation and diversity of scene.
One of our handsomest species is _L. Stiveri_, Kell., found in the
Yosemite. Its blossoms have yellow standards and rose-colored wings.
ST. JOHN'S-WORT.
_Hypericum concinnum_, Benth. St. John's-wort Family.
_Stems._--Three to eighteen inches high; branching from a woody
base. _Leaves._--Opposite; often in four ranks; linear to
oblong; six lines to an inch or more long; usually folded;
translucently dotted. _Flowers._--Golden yellow; over an inch
across. _Sepals._--Five. _Petals._--Five; margins black-dotted.
_Stamens._--Numerous; in three bunches. _Ovary._--Usually
three-celled. Styles three. _Hab._--Central California.
Just as spring is merging into summer, we may look for the bright golden
flowers of our common St. John's-wort. The numerous stamens give these
blossoms a feathery appearance, and the leaves often group themselves
characteristically in four ranks upon the stems.
All the plants of the genus are known as St. John's-wort, because certain
of the species were supposed to flower upon the anniversary of this saint.
Perhaps there are no other plants around which tradition has thrown such a
glamour. Mr. Dyer says, in his interesting book, "The Folk-Lore of Plants,"
that the St. John's-wort was supposed to be an excellent amulet against
lightning, and that it had the magic property of revealing the presence of
witches; whence in Germany it was extensively worn on St. John's Eve, when
the air was supposed to be peopled with witches and evil spirits, who
wandered abroad upon no friendly errands. In Denmark it is resorted to by
anxious lovers who wish to divine their future.
GOLDEN DICENTRA.
_Dicentra chrysantha_, Hook. and Arn. Bleeding-heart Family.
_Stems._--Glaucous and smooth; two to five feet high.
_Leaves._--The larger ones a foot long or more; finely
dissected into small linear lobes. _Flowers._--Erect; yellow;
six to nine lines long; in a loose terminal panicle a foot or
two long. _Sepals._--Two; small; caducous.
_Corolla._--Flattened and cordate; of two pairs of petals; the
outer larger, saccate at base, and with spreading tips; the
inner much narrower, spoon-shaped, their tips cohering and
inclosing the anthers and stigma. _Stamens._--Six.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style slender. Stigma two-lobed.
_Hab._--Dry hills, Lake County to San Diego.
[Illustration ST. JOHN'S-WORT--_Hypericum concinnum_.]
The arrangement of the essential organs in the genus _Dicentra_ is very
curious and interesting. The six stamens are borne in two companies of
three each, which stand in front of the outer petals, and have their
filaments more or less united at the base. The central stamen in each group
has a two-celled anther, while its neighbor on either hand has but a
one-celled anther. The stigma-lobes often bend downward prettily, like the
flukes of a little anchor.
To this genus belongs the beautiful Oriental bleeding-heart of the garden;
and we have two or three interesting native species.
_D. chrysantha_ is usually a somewhat coarse plant, lacking the grace of
_D. formosa_, the Californian bleeding-heart. The pale leaves, which are
minutely and delicately dissected, are suggestive of the fronds of certain
Japanese ferns. But the flower-stalks are often stiff and sparsely
flowered, and the blossoms, which are erect, not pendulous, have an
over-powering narcotic odor, much like that of the poppy. These plants may
be found upon dry hillsides or in sandy washes in early summer, where the
brilliant yellow blossoms are quite conspicuous. One view of these flowers
is not unlike the conventionalized tulip.
This species is said to thrive well in cultivation and make a very
effective plant when grown in rich garden soil.
CALIFORNIAN DANDELION.
_Troximon grandiflorum_, Gray. Composite Family.
Herbs with woody tap-root and milky juice. _Leaves._--All
radical; lanceolate or oblanceolate; mostly laciniately
pinnatifid. _Scapes._--One to two and one half feet high.
_Heads._--Solitary; two inches or so across; of strap-shaped
yellow rays only. _Involucre._--Of several series of imbricated
scales, the outer foliaceous and loose. _Receptacle._--Mostly
naked; pitted. _Akenes._--Two lines long; tapering into a
filiform beak six or eight lines long, surmounted by a tuft of
silk. _Hab._--Washington to Southern California near the Coast.
The common dandelion of the East has found its way into our lawns, but it
never adapts itself as a wild plant to the vicissitudes of our dry summer
climate. Nature has given us a dandelion of our own, of a different genus,
which is quite as beautiful, though its flowers are not so vivid a gold.
They are larger than those of the Eastern plant, and are borne upon taller
stems. In early summer the large, ethereal globes of the ripened seed are
conspicuous objects, hovering over our straw-tinted fields.
Mr. Burroughs writes of the dandelion:--"After its first blooming, comes
its second and finer and more spiritual inflorescence, when its stalk,
dropping its more earthly and carnal flower, shoots upward and is presently
crowned by a globe of the most delicate and aerial texture. It is like the
poet's dream, which succeeds his rank and golden youth. This globe is a
fleet of a hundred fairy balloons, each one of which bears a seed which it
is destined to drop far from the parent source."
If gathered just before they open and allowed to expand in the house, these
down-globes will remain perfect for a long time and make an exquisite
adornment for some delicate vase.
We have several other species of _Troximon_, but this is our finest.
* * * * *
_Hosackia bicolor_, Dougl. Pea Family.
Smooth throughout; erect; two feet high. _Leaves._--With rather
large, scarious, triangular stipules; pinnate.
_Leaflets._--Five to nine; obovate or oblong; six to twelve
lines long. _Peduncles._--Three- to seven-flowered; naked or
with a small scarious, one- to three-leaved bract.
_Flowers._--Seven lines long. _Calyx-teeth._--Triangular; half
as long as the tube. _Standard._--Yellow; wings and keel white.
_Stamens._--Nine united; one free. _Pod._--Linear; nearly two
inches long; acute. _Hab._--Middle California to the State of
Washington.
The yellow and white blossoms of this pretty _Hosackia_ are quite showy,
and are usually found upon low ground near the seaboard.
Another similar species, also having a yellow standard and white wings and
keel, is _H. Torreyi_, Gray. This is more or less silky pubescent; its
wings are not spreading, its leaflets are narrower, and the bract of the
umbel is sessile. This is found along shaded stream-banks both in the
higher Coast Ranges and in the Sierras, and blooms in summer.
_H. gracilis_, Benth., with the standard yellow and the widespreading wings
and shorter keel of rose-color, occurs in moist meadows along the coast
from Monterey to the Columbia. It blooms by the middle of April.
_H. crassifolia_, Benth., a very large species, two or three feet high,
with greenish-yellow or purplish flowers, is abundant in the Yosemite
Valley about the borders of meadows. It is also common in the foothill
region.
SKUNK-CABBAGE.
_Lysichiton Camtschatcensis_, Schott. Arum Family.
_Rootstock._--Thick; horizontal. _Leaves._--All radical;
oblong-lanceolate; acute; one to three feet or more long; three
to ten inches broad; narrowed to a short petiole or sessile.
_Flowers._--Small, crowded on a spadix, at the summit of a
stout peduncle becoming six to twelve inches long.
_Spadix._--With an erect, spoon-shaped spathe, one and one-half
to two feet long; bright yellow. _Perianth._--Four-lobed.
_Stamens._--Four. Filaments short, flat. _Ovary._--Conical;
two-celled. Stigma depressed. _Fruit._--Fleshy, coalescent and
sunk in the rachis. _Hab._--Peat bogs; from Mendocino County
northward to Alaska; also, perhaps, in the Rocky Mountains.
In our northwestern counties, before the frost is entirely out of the
ground, the leaves of the skunk-cabbage may be seen pushing their way up
through the standing water of marshy localities. They soon attain a great
size, and resemble the leaves of the banana-tree. They are of a rich
velvet-green, slightly mottled, and are said to rival some of the tropical
productions of our greenhouses.
There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the disagreeableness of
these leaves. I suspect the odor lies mostly in the slimy, soapy sap, and
is not very noticeable if they are not bruised or cut.
When the plants are in bloom, in May and June, they are very handsome, the
large spoon-shaped, golden spathes being conspicuous at some distance. As
this spathe withers away, the flower-stalk continues to grow, and its
little greenish-yellow blossoms become brown.
[Illustration _Hosackia gracilis._]
The peppery root is highly esteemed for medicinal purposes, and is
gathered and made into a salve, which is considered a specific for
ringworm, white swelling, inflammatory rheumatism, etc. The root is said to
enter largely into the composition of a patent medicine called "Skookum."
Mr. Johnson, of the U.S. Forestry Department in Oregon, tells me that the
bears are very fond of this root, and dig industriously for it, often
making a hole large enough to bury themselves, and he mentions having seen
whole fields plowed up by them in their search for it.
This plant belongs to the same family as the skunk-cabbage of the East and
the calla-lily. It has been found in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
BLAZING-STAR.
_Mentzelia lævicaulis_, Torr. and Gray. Loasa or Blazing-star Family.
_Stems._--Stout; two or three feet high; white.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate; sinuate-toothed; two
to eight inches long. _Flowers._--Sessile, on short branches;
light yellow or cream-color; three or four inches across.
_Calyx-tube._--Cylindrical; naked; limb five-cleft nearly to
the base. _Petals._--About ten; oblanceolate; acute.
_Stamens._--Numerous on the calyx; almost equaling the petals.
_Ovary._--One-celled; truncate at summit. Style three-cleft.
_Capsule._--Fifteen lines long. _Hab._--San Diego to the
Columbia River, and eastward to Wyoming.
After most other flowers have departed, the magnificent blossoms of the
_Mentzelia_ come forth. It seems as though they had waited for the
firmament to be clear of other stars before bursting upon the sight. Their
enormous blossoms are crowned by the soft radiance of the long stamens,
"like the lashes of light that trim the stars."
These plants are furnished with barbed hairs, which cause them to cling to
whatever they come in contact with. They are of tall and spreading habit,
and are often found in the dry beds of streams, where their flowers open in
the daytime--unlike those of _M. Lindleyi_, which open at night.
[Illustration BLAZING-STAR--_Mentzelia Lindleyi_.]
_M. Lindleyi_, Torr. and Gray, is one of the most brilliantly radiant of
all our flowers. Its charming blossoms, which open on the edge of evening,
are of a delicate silken texture, and of the richest gold. When the
flowers first open, the stamens lie flat upon the petals; but they
gradually rise up, forming a large tuft in the center of the flower. The
faded sepals crown the long seed-vessel, like the flame of the conventional
torch seen in old pictures. This grows in the Monte Diablo Range; and Niles
and Alum Rock are convenient places to find it. It is cultivated in Eastern
gardens under the name of _Bartonia aurea_.
STONECROP.
_Sedum spathulifolium_, Hook. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.
_Leaves._--Alternate; fleshy; spatulate; six to ten lines long;
sessile; crowded in rosettes at the ends of the decumbent
branches. _Scapes._--Four to six inches high. _Flowers._--In
compound, one-sided, loose cymes; their parts four or five;
pale-yellow. _Sepals._--United at base. _Petals._--Lanceolate;
three lines long. _Stamens._--Twice the number of the petals.
_Pistils._--Equaling the number of the petals; attenuate into
the short styles. _Ovaries._--One-celled. _Hab._--Middle
California to Vancouver Island.
Blooming somewhat earlier than the "hen-and-chickens," but in similar
situations, the stonecrop often clothes rock-masses with beautiful color.
The common name, "orpine," was given on account of the yellow, or orpine,
flowers; and the name "stonecrop," from its always growing in stony places.
PRICKLY-PEAR. TUNA.
_Opuntia Engelmanni_, Salm. Cactus Family.
Erect, bushy, spreading shrubs without leaves, with flattened
stems produced in successive, compressed oval Joints.
_Joints._--Six to twelve inches long; studded sparsely with
bundles of stout spines. _Flowers._--Solitary; sessile; yellow
or red; about three inches across. _Sepals_, petals, and
stamens numerous in many series, their cohering bases coating
the one-celled ovary and forming a cup above it.
_Petals._--Spreading. Style one, with several stigmas.
_Fruit._--Purple; oval; pulpy; juicy; two inches long.
_Hab._--Southern California, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc.
The genus _Opuntia_ is divided into two sections, consisting respectively
of flat-stemmed and cylindrical-stemmed plants, the former commonly known
as "prickly-pear," or "tuna," the latter as _Cholla cactus_.
Of the former, _O. Engelmanni_ is our commonest wild species. It is the one
seen from the car-windows growing in great patches upon the Mojave Desert,
and it is abundant upon dry hills all through the south. There are two
varieties of it--_var. occidentalis_, Engelm., the form prevalent in the
interior, and _var. littoralis_, Engelm., found upon the sea-coast from
Santa Barbara to San Diego.
These plants have a very leathery, impermeable skin, from which evaporation
takes place but slowly, which enables them to inhabit arid regions. The
fruit is sweet and edible, and the Indians, who are especially fond of it,
dry large quantities for winter use. They make of the fresh fruit a sauce,
by long-continued boiling, which they regard as especially nutritious and
stimulating after it is slightly fermented. They also roast the leaves in
hot ashes and eat the slimy, sweet substance which is left after the outer
skin and thorns have been removed.
Cattle-men of the southern plains plant the different species as hedges
about their corrals, and feed the succulent joints to their stock after
burning off the spines.
Several Mexican species were planted in the early days about the Missions
by the Padres, as defensive hedges, and remnants of these redoubtable
fortifications, ten to fifteen feet high, are still to be seen stretching
for miles through our southern fields.
In Mexico the _Opuntia tuna_ is largely cultivated for the rearing of
cochineal insects.
VENEGASIA.
_Venegasia carpesioides_, DC. Composite Family.
Several feet high; leafy to the top. _Leaves._--Alternate;
slenderly petioled; cordate or ovate-deltoid; crenate; two to
four inches long; thin. _Flower-heads._--Large; two-inches
across, including the rays; yellow; slender-peduncled; composed
of ray- and disk-flowers. _Rays._--Over an inch long; six lines
wide; two- or three-toothed; fertile; about fifteen.
_Involucre._--Broad; of many roundish-green scales; becoming
scarious inward. _Hab._--Santa Barbara and southward.
This plant, with its ample thin leaves and large yellow flowers, would
arrest the attention anywhere. It often grows under the shade of trees in
cool cañons, where its blossoms brighten the twilight gloom. It is an
admirable plant, and has but one drawback--its rather unpleasant odor. It
is the only species of the genus which was named in honor of an early
Jesuit missionary, Michael Venegas. It is especially abundant and beautiful
about Santa Barbara.
FALSE PIMPERNEL.
_Hypericum anagalloides_, Cham. and Schlecht. St. John's-wort Family.
_Stems._--Numerous; weak; low; spreading; rooting at the
joints. _Leaves._--Two to six lines long; oblong to round;
clasping. _Flowers._--Three or four lines across;
salmon-colored. _Stamens._--Fifteen to twenty.
_Capsule._--One-celled. _Hab._--Lower California to British
Columbia, eastward into Montana.
In moist places the prostrate stems of this little plant often make dense
mats.
Its specific name indicates its resemblance to the Anagallis, or pimpernel.
In fact, one might easily imagine it a pimpernel with salmon-colored
flowers.
CANCER-ROOT. NAKED BROOM-RAPE.
_Aphyllon fasciculatum_, Gray. Broom-rape Family.
Leafless parasitic plants. _Stems._--Scaly; thickened and
knotty below, and bearing on their summits few or many
clustered, one-flowered peduncles of about the same length.
_Flowers._--Yellowish; sometimes purplish or reddish outside.
_Calyx._--Slenderly five-toothed. _Corolla._--Tubular; over an
inch long, with five spreading lobes; somewhat bilabiate.
_Stamens._--Four; in pairs; included. _Ovary._--One-celled.
Style slender. Stigma two-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout California,
eastward to Lake Superior.
There are about half a dozen species of cancer-root known upon our Coast,
all strange-looking, leafless plants, of very doubtful moral character--for
I fear it must be confessed they are thieves. Stealthily sending their
roots down and imbedding them in the roots of their victims, they draw from
them the nourishment needed for their sustenance. But they have been
overtaken by the proper retributive punishment--for having no longer any
need of organs for the elaboration of nourishment, they are denied green
leaves, the most beautiful adornment of many plants; and even the flowers
of some of them seem to us to have a sickly, unwholesome hue. However, it
must be acknowledged that these plants are quite interesting, despite their
evil ways.
[Illustration CANCER-ROOT--_Aphyllon fasciculatum_.]
_A. fasciculatum_ usually blooms in early summer, on dry, rocky hills, and
is parasitic upon the roots of sagebrush, wild buckwheat, etc.
YELLOW MARIPOSA TULIP.
_Calochortus luteus_, Dougl. Lily Family.
_Stems._--Four to twelve inches high; bearing a single bulblet
inclosed in the stem-sheath. _Leaves._--Very narrow; one to
three lines wide. _Flowers._--Erect; cup-shaped; yellow; small;
not oculated, but the petals striated with brown lines,
especially on the middle third. _Gland._--Transversely oblong
to lunate; densely hairy with orange-colored ascending hairs,
with scattered spreading hairs about it. _Capsule._--Broad at
the base; tapering upward. _Hab._--Clay soil; Coast Ranges from
Mendocino County to San Diego.
The typical _C. luteus_, as described above, is the least beautiful of all
the Mariposa tulips, being lower of stature and smaller of flower than most
of the others; but among its varieties may be found some of the most
charming flowers of the genus, the true butterfly-tulips of the early
Spanish, often oculated and marked in a wonderful manner. In color and
marking they often run closely into forms of _C. venustus_, the only
constant characters by which to distinguish them being found in the shape
of the gland and the capsule and the character of the soil in which they
grow.
There are two well-marked varieties--_citrinus_ and _oculatus_--besides
numerous other forms, where the species seems to have run riot in color and
marking. The _var. citrinus_ is a strong, vigorous-growing plant, with
flowers of a deep lemon-yellow, with a large, distinct, very dark maroon
eye on each petal. It is exceedingly beautiful.
SILVER-WEED. CINQUEFOIL.
_Potentilla Anserina_, L. Rose Family.
_Stems._--Prostrate. _Leaves._--All radical; a foot or so long;
pinnate, with seven to twenty-one leaflets with smaller ones
interposed. _Leaflets._--Sessile; oblong; toothed; shining
green; silvery beneath. _Flowers._--Bright yellow;
long-peduncled; solitary; an inch across. _Sepals._--Five; with
five bractlets between. _Petals._--Five. _Stamens._--Twenty to
twenty-five. _Pistils._--Numerous; on a hairy receptacle.
_Hab._--Throughout North America.
The bright golden blossoms of the silver-weed are common in moist places,
haunting stream-banks, lingering about stagnant ponds, or even pushing
their way up amid the grasses of our salt marshes. The white under-surfaces
of the leaves are responsible for one of the common names of this plant.
_P. glandulosa_, Lindl., is found upon dry hillsides. It is one or two feet
high, and is an ill-smelling, somewhat sticky plant, with glandular hairs.
The stems are leafy, and the small flowers, like pale-yellow
strawberry-blossoms, are produced in loose clusters. The corolla scarcely
exceeds the calyx. The leaves, which have from five to nine leaflets, have
not the silvery under-surface of those of _P. Anserina_.
COMMON EVENING PRIMROSE.
_Œnothera biennis_, L. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--Stout; usually simple; one to five feet high; more or
less hairy. _Leaves._--Mostly sessile; lanceolate to oblong;
two to six inches long; denticulate. _Flowers._--Golden yellow;
in a leafy spike; erect in the bud. _Calyx-tube._--Twelve to
thirty lines long. _Petals._--Six to nine lines long.
_Stigma-lobes._--Linear. _Capsule._--An inch or less long. (See
_Œnothera_.) _Hab._--Throughout the United States.
The common evening primrose is a very widespread plant in the United
States, and it has long been in cultivation in Europe. Its flowers open
suddenly at night, and, according to tradition, with a popping noise.
Referring to this, the poet Keats speaks of--
"A turf of evening primroses,
O'er which the mind may hover till it dozes;
O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep,
But that 'tis ever startled by the leap
Of buds into ripe flowers."
These blossoms are said to be luminous at night, shining by the sunlight
they have stored during the daytime.
The young roots, which are edible, are excellent, either pickled or boiled,
having a nutty flavor. In Germany and France these are used, either stewed
or raw, in salads, like celery; and the young mucilaginous twigs are also
used in the same way. A tincture of the whole plant is a valued remedy in
medicine for many disorders. Our Californian plants are mostly of the _var.
hirsutissima_, Gray, having very large flowers and a hairy capsule.
GUM-PLANT. RESIN-WEED. AUGUST-FLOWER.
_Grindelia cuneifolia_, Nutt. Composite Family.
Bushy; two to four feet high; smooth.
_Leaves._--Cuneate-spatulate to linear-oblong; leathery; three
or four inches long. _Flower-heads._--Solitary; terminating the
branches; yellow; composed of disk- and ray-flowers.
_Rays._--One inch long. _Involucre._--Hemispherical; of
numerous scales, with spreading tips. _Buds_.--Covered with a
milky gum. _Syn._--_Grindelia robusta, var. angustifolia_,
Gray. _Hab._--From Santa Barbara northward.
The _Grindelias_ are especially characteristic of the region west of the
Mississippi River, and are all known as "gum-plant," or "resin-weed," owing
to the balsamic exudation which is found mostly upon the flower-heads. We
have several species, all of which are rather difficult of determination.
Before the occupation of California by the whites, the value of these
plants was known to the Indians, who used them in pulmonary troubles, and
as a wash in cases of oak-poisoning or other skin-diseases. They are now
made into a drug by our own people, who use them in the same manner as the
aborigines.
By the middle of August our salt marshes are gay with the bright yellow
flowers.
Every year men are sent out to gather the plant. Only about five or six
inches of the tops of the branches are cut, as the resin is found mostly
there in the form of a white gum. Tons of these shoots are shipped East
annually, to be returned to us later in the form of the medicine called
"grindelia."
[Illustration GUM-PLANT--_Grindelia cuneifolia_.]
_Grindelia hirsutula_, Hook. and Arn., is a pretty species, flowering in
early summer upon hill-slopes. This may be known by its reddish stems and
more slender and fewer ray-flowers.
SULPHUR-FLOWER.
_Eriogonum umbellatum_, Torr. Buckwheat Family.
_Leaves._--All radical; obovate to oblong-spatulate; two inches
or less long; mostly smooth above; sometimes woolly below.
_Scapes._--Three to twelve inches high.
_Flowers._--Sulphur-yellow; two or three lines long; many
contained in each little top-shaped involucre, on threadlike
stems. _Involucres._--Two lines or so long; deeply cleft, the
lobes becoming reflexed. _Perianth._--Six-parted.
_Stamens._--Nine. _Ovary._--Triangular; one-celled.
_Styles._--Three. Stigmas capitate. _Hab._--Mountains of Middle
and Northern California, and eastward.
Large companies of the sulphur-flower may be seen in the Sierras in July
and August, where it covers open, dry, rocky slopes, making brilliant
masses of color.
Growing with this is often found another species--_E. ursinum_, Wats.--with
flowers of a beautiful translucent cream-color, often tinged with pink.
WILD BOUVARDIA.
_Gilia grandiflora_, Gray. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--Erect; a foot or two high. _Leaves._--Two or three
inches long; linear or oblong-lanceolate; sessile.
_Flowers._--Salmon-color; crowded at the summit of the stem.
_Calyx._--With obconic tube and broad, obtuse lobes.
_Corolla._--Narrowly funnel-form, with tube an inch long, and
five-lobed border almost as broad. (See _Gilia_.)
_Hab._--Widely distributed.
This plant was formerly placed in the genus _Collomia_; but that genus was
not well founded, and all its species have now been transferred to _Gilia_.
From the resemblance of its showy buff or salmon-colored flowers to the
_Bouvardias_ of our gardens, these plants are popularly known as "wild
Bouvardia." The blossoms are found in early summer, and grow usually in dry
places, exposed to the sun.
[Illustration SULPHUR-FLOWER--_Eriogonum umbellatum_.]
LITTLE ALPINE LILY.
_Lilium parvum_, Kell. Lily Family.
_Bulbs._--Small; of short, thick, jointed scales.
_Stem._--Slender; eighteen inches to six feet high.
_Leaves._--Scattered, or in whorls; two to five inches long; an
inch or less broad; rich green. _Flowers._--Orange-vermilion,
dotted with purple; two to fifty; scattered or somewhat
whorled. _Capsule._--Sub-spherical; six to nine lines long.
_Hab._--The High Sierras, from Yosemite Valley to Lake Tahoe.
Passing from the parched and dusty plains of our central valleys in July
and August, we are transported as though upon the magic tapestry of Prince
Houssain into a heavenly region of springtime, where the streams, fed by
the snow lying in shadowy mountain fastnesses, gush through plushy emerald
meadows, starred with millions of daisies and bordered by luxuriant tangles
of larkspurs, columbines, monk's-hoods, lupines, and a thousand other
charming plants--a veritable flower-lover's paradise.
Here from the thickets, standing with their roots in the rich, loamy soil
of the brookside, gleam the small orange blossoms of the little alpine
lily--little only in flower, for the slender stems often rise to a height
of six feet, producing several whorls of rich green leaves. These lilies
are but an inch or an inch a half long, with their perianth-segments yellow
or orange below and deeper orange-vermilion above, their tips only being
rolled backward.
GOLDEN YARROW.
_Eriophyllum confertiflorum_, Gray. Composite Family.
White-woolly plants, at length smooth. _Stems._--A foot or two
high. _Leaves._--Cuneate in outline; divided into three to
seven narrow linear divisions. _Flowers._--Golden yellow; in
densely crowded flat-topped clusters. _Heads._--Small; of
disk- and ray-flowers. _Rays._--Four or five; broadly oval or
roundish. _Involucre._--Oval; of about five thin bracts; two
lines long. _Hab._--From San Francisco to the Sierras, and
southward to San Diego.
[Illustration LITTLE ALPINE LILY--_Lilium parvum_.]
In early summer many a dry, rocky hill-slope is ablaze with the brilliant
flowers of the golden yarrow. The brown-mottled butterfly may often be
seen hovering over it, or delicately poising upon its golden table, fanning
his wings.
_E. cæspitosum_, Dougl., is a very handsome species with solitary golden
flower-heads an inch or so across. Its leaves are broader and not so finely
divided, and some of the upper ones are linear and entire. This is found
throughout California.
TARWEED. WILD COREOPSIS.
_Madia elegans_, Don. Composite Family.
Usually viscid throughout. _Stems._--Three to six feet high.
_Leaves._--Crowded at the base of the stem; six to ten inches
long; small above. _Flower-heads._--Of both ray- and
disk-flowers. _Rays._--Twelve to fifteen; one inch long;
three-lobed at the apex; yellow, sometimes with a dark-red
base. _Involucre._--With one series of scales, each clasping a
ray. _Hab._--Throughout California, and in Oregon and Nevada.
This is one of the most beautiful of all our tarweeds. Its golden,
Coreopsis-like flowers open after sunset, and close at the first warmth of
the morning rays.
All the _Madias_ are used medicinally by old Spanish settlers.
_Madia sativa_, Molina, is one of our most troublesome species, because its
viscid secretion is so very abundant. The plants are tall, but the flowers
are inconspicuous, owing to the smallness or absence of the rays. It is
native of Chile as well as of California.
An oil of excellent quality was made from its seeds in that country before
the olive was so abundant.
LEOPARD-LILY. TIGER-LILY.
_Lilium pardalinum_, Kell. Lily Family.
Bulbs consisting of forking rhizomes, covered with small, erect
imbricated scales; often forming matted masses. _Stems._--Three
to ten feet high. _Leaves._--Usually whorled, with some
scattered above and below; lanceolate; three to seven inches
long. _Flowers._--Few to many; long-pediceled. _Perianth
segments._--Six; two or three inches long; six to nine lines
wide; strongly revolute; with orange base and reddish or
scarlet tips; spotted or dotted with purple on the lower half.
_Stamens._--Six. Anthers versatile. _Ovary._--Three-celled.
Style club-shaped. Stigma capitate. _Capsule._--Eighteen lines
or more long.
[Illustration TARWEED--_Madia elegans_.]
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Santa Barbara County
to British Columbia, and eastward.
No more magnificent sight could be imagined than a cañon-side covered with
a mass of these red and gold blossoms nodding on their tall stems. The
plants often grow in clumps and colonies of several hundred, and are always
found in the rich soil of stream-banks or of wet, springy places. Most of
us have been familiar with these spotted beauties from our childhood, with
their delicately swinging anthers full of cinnamon-colored pollen.
A friend writing us from near Mt. Shasta, one July, said: "I wish you could
have seen the _grove_ of tiger-lilies we saw near the place where we rested
and lunched. They sprang from a velvet bed of mosses and ferns, under the
shadow of a great rock, that towered at least a hundred feet above them.
Out of the rock sprang two streams of living water, ice-cold, which crossed
the trail and dashed over a rock below. Upon one plant we counted
twenty-five buds and blossoms, while a friend counted thirty-two upon
another."
Under extraordinarily favorable conditions, this lily has been known to
reach a height of ten feet.
YELLOW POND-LILY.
_Nuphar polysepalum_, Engelm. Water-Lily Family.
_Leaves._--Six to twelve inches long; three fourths as wide;
obtuse; deeply cleft at base; floating or erect.
_Flowers._--Floating; three to five inches across.
_Sepals._--Eight to twelve; petaloid; bright yellow, sometimes
greenish without. _Petals._--Twelve to eighteen; small; about
equaling the stamens, and resembling them.
_Stamens._--Numerous; red; recurved in age; pollen yellow.
_Ovary._--Large; eight- to twenty-celled. Stigma button-shaped;
many-rayed; four lines to an inch across. _Hab._--From Colorado
to Central California, and northward to Alaska.
Most of us are familiar with the yellow water-lily, and have seen its
pretty shield-shaped leaves floating upon the surface of some glassy pond,
starred with its large, golden flowers. The latter are sometimes five
inches across and quite showy. Sometimes entire marshes are covered with
the plants. The large seeds are very nutritious, and form an important
article of diet among the northern Indians.
HUMBOLDT'S LILY. TIGER-LILY.
_Lilium Humboldtii_, Roezl and Leichtlin. Lily Family.
_Bulbs._--Large; often weighing over a pound; with scales two
or three inches long. _Stems._--Stout; purplish; three or four
feet high; eight- or ten-flowered, or more.
_Leaves._--Wavy-margined; roughish; _Flowers._--Large; six to
eight inches in diameter; golden yellow; spotted with pale
purple, turning to red or brown. _Segments._--Having papillose
prominences near the base. (Otherwise like _L. pardalinum_.)
_Hab._--The foothills of the Sierras; southward to San Diego.
This wonderful lily, at first glance, resembles the common leopard- or
tiger-lily--_L. pardalinum_--and it is found sometimes in the same regions
as the latter, but never in the same kind of localities. It affects the
loose soil of dry, upland woods, but never grows in wet or boggy places.
Its flowers are larger than those of _L. pardalinum_, and have more of a
golden hue and less of red in them.
By July this lily is in full bloom and a magnificent sight. A plant was
once known which had fifty buds and blossoms, thirty of which were open at
once!
COMMON SUNFLOWER.
_Helianthus annuus_, L. Composite Family.
Hispid, coarse plants. _Stems._--Several feet high.
_Leaves._--Mostly alternate; petioled; deltoid-ovate to
ovate-lanceolate; acuminate; three to seven inches long;
three-ribbed at base. _Flower-heads._--Large; three or four
inches across, including the rays; solitary; composed of yellow
ray-flowers and purple-brown, tubular disk-flowers.
_Involucre._--Of several series of imbricated, ovate, acuminate
scales. _Disk._--An inch or so across. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
The stately form of the sunflower is a common sight in the south, where
whole fields are often covered with the plants. Their season of blossoming
is supposed to be in the autumn, but we have seen them blooming just as
gayly in March. This wild sunflower of the plains is believed to be the
original parent of the large sunflower of our gardens.
Its seeds are used by the Indians as food and in the preparation of
hair-oil.
Popular tradition makes this blossom a worshiper of the sun, and it is
believed to follow him with admiring glances.
"The lofty follower of the sun,
Sad when he sets, shuts up her hollow leaves,
Drooping all night, and when he warm returns,
Points her enamored bosom to his ray."
Another species--_H. Californicus_, DC.--found from San Francisco Bay
southward, along streams, has something the same habit as the above, but
may be known from it by its slender, smooth stems, leafy to the top, the
long, sprawling, awl-shaped bracts of its involucre, and its more delicate
flowers, about two and a half inches across. The disk-corollas are slightly
pubescent below. This species has a rather strong balsamic odor.
PINE-DROPS.
_Pterospora andromedea_, Nutt. Heath Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high. _Bracts._--Crowded at base;
scattered above. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Three lines
long; yellowish. _Stamens._--Ten. Anthers tailed; opening
lengthwise. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style short. Stigma
five-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout California, and across the
continent.
In our walks in the mountains, we occasionally encounter the flesh-colored
wands of this curious plant. The colorless leaves are reduced to mere
bracts, and the stems are densely clothed above with the little yellowish
waxen bells. The whole plant is very viscid and disagreeable to handle.
Though rare, it is found all across the continent. In the East it grows
only under pine-trees, upon whose roots it is supposed to be parasitic,
while in California it is said to be found under both oaks and pines.
There is but a single species in this genus. The seed is furnished with a
broad membranous wing, which has given rise to the name _Pterospora_,
derived from two Greek words, meaning _wing_ and _seed_.
[Illustration PINE-DROPS--_Pterospora andromedea_.]
TARWEED.
_Hemizonia luzulæfolia_, DC. Composite Family.
Glandular, strong-scented plants. _Stems._--Loosely branching;
slender; six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Linear; very
small above; elongated and withering early below.
_Flower-heads._--White or light yellow; composed of ray- and
disk-flowers. _Rays._--Six to ten; two to five lines long;
three-lobed. _Scales._--of the involucre each clasping a ray.
_Hab._--Common throughout the western part of the State.
Under the common designation of "tarweed," plants belonging to two
different genera--_Madia_ and _Hemizonia_--and comprising thirty or forty
species, may be found. They are mostly annuals or biennials, with viscid,
heavily scented foliage, which make themselves conspicuous in late summer
and through the autumn. The _Hemizonias_ are distinctively Californian;
while the _Madias_ we have in common with Chile. Their viscid exudation is
particularly ruinous to wool and clothing, but alcohol is a solvent for it,
and will generally remove it.
We wonder how these plants, which flourish in our driest seasons, can
extract so much moisture from the parched earth, and of what practical use
this resinous secretion can be in their economy. Though some of them are
described as having a disagreeable odor, many of them have a very pleasant
balsamic fragrance, which gives our summer and autumn atmosphere a peculiar
character of its own. Whole fields and hillsides are tinged with their warm
olive foliage, or are yellow with their golden flowers, which appear like a
fall revival of the buttercups. The flowers open mostly at night or in
early morning, closing in bright sunshine.
_Hemizonia luzulæfolia_ is a common species, whose flowers are redolent of
the odor of myrrh.
[Illustration TARWEED--_Hemizonia luzulæfolia_.]
CALIFORNIAN GOLDENROD.
_Solidago Californica_, Nutt. Composite Family.
_Stem._--Rather stout; low or tall. _Leaves._--Oblong, or the upper
oblong-lanceolate, and the lower obovate. _Flowers._--In a dense, pyramidal
panicle, four to twelve inches long, with mostly erect racemose branches.
_Heads._--Three or four lines long; yellow. _Rays._--Small; seven to
twelve; about as many as the disk-flowers. _Hab._--Throughout California,
to Nevada and Mexico.
Our State is not so rich in goldenrods as New England, yet we have several
rather pretty species. _Solidago Californica_ is found upon dry hills, and
blooms from July to October. It is said to thrive well under cultivation.
It differs from the "Western goldenrod" in having its flowers in a
pyramidal cluster.
MOTH-MULLEIN.
_Verbascum Blattaria_, L. Figwort Family.
_Stem._--Tall and slender. _Leaves._--Alternate; oblong; crenate-toothed;
nearly smooth; the upper ovate, acute, clasping. _Flowers._--Yellow or
white; purple-tinged; an inch or so across; in a terminal raceme; the
pedicels much exceeding the calyx-lobes. _Calyx._--Five-parted.
_Corolla._--Wheel-shaped, with five rounded, somewhat unequal lobes.
_Stamens._--Five. Filaments violet-bearded. Anthers confluently one-celled.
Pollen orange-colored, copious. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style slender.
_Hab._--The Upper Sacramento Valley, etc.; naturalized from Europe.
The mulleins are natives of Europe, which have found their way across the
water to us. Two or three species are now common in some localities. The
moth-mullein is so called because its blossoms have the appearance of a
number of delicate moths resting upon the stem. This is a tall, green
plant.
Another species--_V. Thapsus_, L.--is also quite common. In the Sacramento
Valley its tall, woolly tapers may be seen leaning in every direction,
giving the fields a disorderly appearance. This plant abounds throughout
Europe and Asia, and was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who
made lampwicks of its dried leaves and utilized its stalks, dipped in
tallow, for funeral torches. In medieval Europe it was called "hag-taper,"
because it was employed by witches in their incantations. In Europe at the
present time it is known as the "American velvet-plant," because of a
mistaken idea that it is a native of this country.
WESTERN GOLDENROD.
_Solidago occidentalis_, Nutt. Composite Family.
Smooth throughout. _Stems._--Paniculately branched; two to six
feet high. _Leaves._--Linear; entire; obscurely three-nerved;
two to four inches long; one to three lines wide.
_Flower-heads._--In numerous small, flat clusters, terminating
the slender branchlets; three lines long; yellow.
_Rays._--Sixteen to twenty not surpassing the eight to fourteen
disk-flowers. _Involucre._--Of imbricated scales; the outer
successively shorter. _Hab._--Near the Coast, from Southern
California to British America.
The Western goldenrod, with its slender, willowy stems and small
flower-clusters, may be found in wet places in late summer and early
autumn. Its blossoms are acacia-scented.
CREOSOTE-BUSH. GOBERNADORA. HIDEONDO.
_Larrea Mexicana_, Moricand. Creosote-Bush Family.
Ill-smelling, resinous shrubs, four to ten feet high; diffusely
branched. _Leaves._--Opposite; with two unequal leaflets.
_Leaflets._--Three to six lines long; pointed; sessile.
_Flowers._--Solitary; yellow. _Sepals._--Five; silky;
deciduous. _Petals._--Five; three or four lines long.
_Stamens._--Ten; on a small ten-lobed disk. Filaments winged
below. _Ovary._--Five-celled; Style slender. _Hab._--Inland
deserts of the southern part of the State.
The most plentiful shrub growing in our southern desert regions is the
creosote-bush, so called because its sticky leaves burn with a black smoke
and a rank odor, between creosote and carbolic acid.
These shrubs often cover vast tracts of arid soil, and in places are the
only growth to be seen. The evergreen foliage is of a warm olive tone, and
is borne at the ends of many slender, grayish branches. The small,
stemless, opposite leaves, each divided almost to its base into two
leaflets, spread butterfly-like upon the slender branchlets. The leaf-nodes
are swollen into small, warty prominences, which are especially resinous.
In many localities, especially in Arizona, the branches of this shrub are
thickly incrusted with a certain gummy substance, which careful examination
has proved to be almost identical with the East Indian shellac of commerce.
This is caused by an insect of the genus _Coccus_, who stings the young
twigs, at the same time laying its eggs in them, causing them to exude the
gum. Could this gum be collected in sufficient quantities, it would
doubtless prove a valuable article of commerce, probably not inferior to
the East Indian lac. Dr. Edwd. Palmer writes that it is extensively used by
our Indians as a cement with which to fasten their flint arrowheads to the
shafts, to mend broken pottery, and to make water-tight their baskets,
woven of grass and roots. The plant yields a greenish-yellow dye, with
which they paint their persons and color their fabrics; but garments so
dyed are said to emit a disagreeable odor always upon being heated.
A lotion made by steeping the branches in water is said to be an excellent
remedy for sores; while the leaves dried and reduced to powder are
effectively used for the same purpose. Some of our pharmacists say that the
plant is a valuable remedy for rheumatism.
By the Spanish-Californians this shrub is known as "gobernadora" and
"hideondo"; and by the American settlers of the desert it is known by
several uncomplimentary names, among them the meaningless one of
"greasewood."
It blossoms in early summer.
III. PINK
[_Pink or occasionally or partially pink flowers not described in the Pink
Section._
_Described in the White Section_:--
ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM--Yarrow.
CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS--Mariposa Tulip.
CHIMAPHILA MENZIESII--Prince's Pine.
CONVOLVULUS LUTEOLUS--Wild Morning-glory.
GAULTHERIA SHALLON--Salal.
LATHYRUS TORREYI.
LATHYRUS VESTITUS--Common Wild Pea.
LAYIA GLANDULOSUM--White Daisy.
LILIUM RUBESCENS--Ruby Lily.
MALACOTHRIX SAXATILIS.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM CRYSTALLINUM--Ice-Plant.
ŒNOTHERA CALIFORNICA--White Evening Primrose.
ORTHOCARPUS VERSICOLOR--White Owl's Clover.
PYROLA APHYLLA.
RHODODENDRON OCCIDENTALE--Californian Azalea.
RUBUS SPECTABILIS--Salmon-Berry.
SPIRÆA BETULIFOLIA--Pink Spiræa.
SPIRÆA DOUGLASII--Californian Hardhack.
SPRAGUEA UMBELLATA--Pussy's-Paws.
_Described in the Yellow Section_:--
HOSACKIA GRACILIS.
_Described in the Blue and Purple Section_:--
CALOCHORTUS SPLENDENS--Mariposa Tulip.
CALOCHORTUS UNIFLORUS.
TRILLIUM SESSILE--Californian Trillium.
_Described in the Red Section_:--
GILIA AGGREGATA--Scarlet Gilia.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section_:--
CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--Californian Lady's Slipper.
GOMPHOCARPUS TOMENTOSUS--Hornless Woolly Milkweed.
RUMEX HYMENOSEPALUS--Wild Pie-Plant; Canaigre.]
RED-STEMMED FILAREE. ALFILERILLA. CLOCKS. PIN-CLOVER.
_Erodium cicutarium_, L'Her. Geranium Family.
_Leaves._--Chiefly radical in a depressed rosette; six to ten
inches long; dissected into narrow toothed lobes. Stem-leaves
smaller. _Flowers._--Pink; four to eight in an umbel; parts in
fives. _Petals._--Four lines long. _Stamens._--Five perfect,
with flattened filaments; five reduced to mere scales.
_Carpels_ and styles one or two inches long; separating upward
from a central axis into twisted, bearded tails.
_Hab._--Throughout the State.
The name "alfilerilla" is Spanish, coming from _alfiler_, a needle, and
refers to the long, slender beak of the carpels. By corruption it has
become "filaree."
This plant is found in abundance everywhere, and is one of our most
valuable forage-plants. It varies greatly in size, and becomes very rank in
growth where the soil is rich. Ordinarily, it makes its appearance soon
after the beginning of the rainy season, as a rosette of leaves lying upon
the ground, and later it sends up its reddish stems. Its seed-vessels look
like a group of fantastic, long-billed storks, and the long beaks of the
carpels, as they separate from the central axis, begin to curl about any
convenient object. They are thus widely disseminated in the hair of animals
and the clothing of people. Children call them "clocks," and love to stand
the seed up in their clothing and watch the beaks wind slowly about, like
the hands of a timepiece.
We have several other species of _Erodium_. _E. moschatum_, L' Her., is a
coarser plant whose foliage has a musky fragrance, especially when wilted.
It is also a valuable forage-plant and is commonly known as "musky filaree"
or "green-stemmed filaree."
_E. Botrys_, Bertoloni, is a very abundant plant. Its flowers are larger,
six lines across, and are pink, strongly veined with wine-color. The beaks
of its carpels are sometimes four inches long.
[Illustration RED-STEMMED FILAREE--_Erodium cicutarium_.]
REDWOOD-SORREL.
_Oxalis Oregana_, Nutt. Geranium Family.
Herbs with sour juice. _Leaves._--With three leaflets; petioles
two to even twelve inches long. Leaflets one or two inches
broad; usually light-blotched. _Scapes._--One to six inches
long; one-flowered. _Sepals._--Five. _Petals._--Five; nine to
twelve lines long; white or rose-colored, often veined with
darker color; usually having an orange spot at base.
_Stamens._--Ten. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Styles five.
_Hab._--Coast woods, from Santa Cruz to Washington.
In deep woods, "where no stir nor call the sacred hush profanes," the
beautiful leaves and delicate flowers of the redwood-sorrel cover the
ground with an exquisite tapestry, which catches the shimmer of the
sunlight as it sifts down through the tall trees. If the goddess Nanna in
passing left the print of her pretty fingers upon the clover, perhaps some
wood-nymph may have touched the leaves of this charming plant. Each day as
twilight deepens, the leaflets fold gently together and prepare to sleep.
The small yellow oxalis--_O. corniculata_, L.--becomes a troublesome weed
in our lawns.
ROCK-CRESS.
_Arabis blepharophylla_, Hook. and Arn. Mustard Family.
_Stems._--Four to twelve inches high.
_Radical-leaves._--Broadly spatulate; one or two inches long.
_Cauline-leaves._--Oblong; sessile. _All._--Ciliate.
_Flowers._--Purplish-pink. _Sepals._--Four; generally colored.
_Petals._--Four; six to nine lines long; clawed.
_Stamens._--Six; two shorter. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Stigma
button-shaped. _Pod._--Linear; an inch or more long; flattened.
_Hab._--The Coast, from San Francisco to Monterey.
The bright magenta-colored blossoms of the rock-cress may be looked for in
early spring along the hills of the Coast Ranges. This plant is said to be
very beautiful in cultivation. The generic name was bestowed because many
of the well-known species are natives of Arabia, while the formidable
specific name means "eyelash-leaved," referring to the ciliate leaves.
[Illustration REDWOOD-SORREL--_Oxalis Oregana_.]
WILD HOLLYHOCK.
_Sidalcea malvæflora_, Gray. Mallow Family.
_Stems._--Several; eight inches to two feet long.
_Leaves._--Round in outline; variously lobed and cut.
_Flowers._--Pink; in terminal racemes. _Calyx._--Five-cleft;
without bractlets. _Petals._--Five; united at base; one inch
long. _Stamens._--United in a column; in two series. Anthers
one-celled. _Ovaries._--Three to ten in a ring; separating at
maturity. Styles as many; filiform. _Hab._--The Coast from San
Diego to Mendocino County.
In early spring the graceful sprays of the _Sidalcea_ bend over our meadows
everywhere, making them bright with their pink blossoms, which the children
call "wild hollyhocks." The stamens of these flowers are especially pretty
and interesting if examined with a glass. By a careful dissection, the
stamen-column is found to be double, its outer part bearing five bunches of
stamens. The anthers are one-celled and of a beautiful rose-pink. They may
be seen best by pulling apart one of the unopened buds.
There are two kinds of these plants, one having large pale-pink flowers,
which are perfect; the other bearing smaller deep rose-pink blossoms, in
which the anthers are only rudimentary.
There are quite a number of species of _Sidalcea_ in California, but they
are very difficult of determination for the non-botanist.
REDBUD. JUDAS-TREE.
_Cercis occidentalis_, Torr. Pea Family.
Small trees or shrubs. _Leaves._--Alternate; slender-petioled;
round-cordate; palmately veined; smooth; about two inches in
diameter. _Flowers._--Rose-color; papilionaceous; clustered in
the axils. _Petals._--Four lines long; the standard smaller and
inclosed by the wings. _Stamens._--Ten; all distinct.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Pods._--Two or three inches long; thin.
_Hab._--Mt. Shasta to San Diego.
By April, or earlier, our interior hills and valleys begin to show the rosy
blossoms of the Judas-tree. The leafless branches are wreathed with the
abundant flowers, which gives the shrub the appearance of a garden
fruit-tree. When seen later, in its full summer foliage, it is almost
equally attractive. Its shapely leaves are then diversified by the
clusters of long purple pods, which hang gracefully among them.
[Illustration WILD HOLLYHOCK--_Sidalcea malvæflora_.]
The Indians find the slender twigs of this shrub very useful in their
basket-making. By means of the thumb-nail or flints, they split them into
threads, which they use as woof.
A closely allied species of _Cercis_, growing in Palestine, had, according
to tradition, white flowers, until the arch-traitor Judas hanged himself
from its limbs, when it blushed pink for very shame.
In medieval Europe the Judas-tree was believed to be a favorite rendezvous
for witches, and it was considered dangerous to approach one at nightfall.
HUCKLEBERRY.
_Vaccinium ovatum_, Pursh. Heath Family.
Evergreen shrubs, three to eight feet high. _Leaves._--Ovate to
oblong-lanceolate; leathery; smooth and shining. _Flowers._--In
axillary clusters: small; pinkish. _Calyx._--Minutely
fine-toothed. _Corolla._--Campanulate; two or three lines long.
_Stamens._--Ten; anthers opening terminally. _Ovary._--Globose;
five-celled. Style filiform. _Berries._--Small; reddish,
turning black. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges from Monterey to
Vancouver Island.
When in bloom our Californian huckleberry is a delightful shrub. Its
leaves, which are of a particularly rich, shining green, are set at a
characteristic angle to the red stems, contrasting finely with their warm
tones; and the effect is heightened by the clusters of small pink and white
waxen bells scattered here and there amid the foliage.
The huckleberry is at its best upon the high ridges of the Coast Ranges,
where it becomes especially luxuriant in the fog-nurtured region of the
northern portion of the redwood belt. There its abundant berries become
juicy and delicious, and are much sought for preserving and pie-making. Its
branches, when cut, keep admirably in water and are favorite greens for
household decoration.
[Illustration HUCKLEBERRY--_Vaccinium ovatum_.]
STAR-FLOWER. CHICKWEED-WINTERGREEN.
_Trientalis Europæa, var. latifolia_, Torr. Primrose Family.
_Root._--Tuberous. _Stem._--Four to eight inches high; with a
whorl of oval-pointed leaves one to four inches long.
_Flowers._--White or pink; eight lines across. _Calyx_ and
rotate corolla seven-parted, sometimes six- to nine-parted;
divisions pointed. _Stamens._--As many as the corolla-lobes,
and opposite them. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style filiform.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Monterey northward.
In April and May, as we walk through shaded woods, we begin to notice a
trim little plant three or four inches high, with very slender stem,
bearing at its summit a number of pretty leaves of varying size. A little
later, we find among them one or two delicate pink, starry flowers on very
slender, threadlike stems.
The generic name is from the Latin _triens_, and is in allusion to the
height of the plant, which is the third part of a foot.
CLINTONIA.
_Clintonia Andrewsiana_, Torr. Lily Family.
_Leaves._--Radical; oblong; six inches to one foot long; two to
four wide. _Flower-stem._--One or two feet high; with one leafy
bract. _Flowers._--Pink; many; in a terminal compound cluster
on pedicels an inch or less long. _Perianth._--Campanulate;
four to seven lines long. _Segments._--Six; gibbous at the
base. _Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Two- or three-celled.
_Fruit._--Beautiful, large, dark-blue berries. _Hab._--The
Coast Ranges, from Santa Cruz to Humboldt County.
This is one of the most distinguished-looking plants of our deep coast
woods. Its large leaves, of a rich polished green, arrange themselves
symmetrically around the short stem, seeming to come from the ground--and
so fine are they, that if no blossom appeared, we should feel the plant had
fulfilled its mission of beauty. But in April a blossom-stalk shoots up
from their midst, bearing upon its summit a cluster of deep rose-colored,
nodding bells. These are succeeded later by a bunch of superb dark-blue
berries, which might be made of lapis lazuli or the rarest old delft china.
I remember a beautiful spot upon the Lagunitas Creek, where the stream,
flowing over a brown, pebbly bottom, passes among the redwoods where their
tall shafts make dim cathedral aisles,--
... "forest-corridors that lie
In a mysterious world unpeopled yet."
Here little yellow violets and the charming wood-sorrel carpet the ground,
the fetid adder's-tongue spreads its mottled leaves, while groups of the
lovely _Clintonia_ put the finishing touches to an already beautiful scene.
LEMONADE-BERRY. MAHOGANY.
_Rhus integrifolia_, Benth. and Hook. Poison-oak or Cashew Family.
Evergreen shrubs two to six feet high, becoming small trees
southward. _Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; one to three
inches long; rigid; leathery. _Flowers._--Of two sexes, also
some perfect; in short, dense terminal clusters one to three
inches long; rose-colored or white. _Sepals_, petals, and
stamens four to nine; usually five. _Petals._--Rounded;
ciliate; one or two lines across. _Ovary._--One-celled. Stigmas
three. _Fruit._--Flat; one-seeded; six lines across; red;
viscid and acid. _Hab._--The Coast from Santa Barbara to San
Diego.
Growing everywhere upon the southern coast in great abundance, this shrub
forms low, dense, wind-shorn thickets. Farther inland it rises to a height
of several feet, with tough, India-rubber-like branches, and in Lower
California it becomes a small tree. In its better estate it is very
ornamental, especially in spring, when sprinkled with its clusters of small
pink flowers. The little drupes are covered with an acid, oily substance,
and have long been used by the Indians and Mexicans in the preparation of a
lemonade-like drink. These people are so fond of this fruit that they dry
it for winter use, grinding and roasting it as we do coffee. The wood of
these shrubs is of a dark-red color, which is responsible for the common
name, "mahogany."
Another _Rhus_ very common in the valleys of Southern California is _R.
laurina_, Nutt., usually called "sumach." It is an evergreen shrub, with
smooth, lanceolate leaves, two or three inches long, exhaling a rather
strong odor, considered by some like bitter almonds, and bearing dense
clusters of small white flowers in midsummer. Its small drupes are only a
line or two across. They are also coated with a waxen substance, and yield
a pungent oil.
In the mountains from Santa Barbara to San Diego is found another
species--_R. ovata_, Wats. This has large leathery, pointed leaves, and is
known as "lemonade-and-sugar-tree," as the acid berries are coated with a
sweet, waxen substance, which the Indians value as sugar. Its leaves
resemble in form those of the lilacs of our gardens.
SHOOTING-STARS. WILD CYCLAMEN. MAD VIOLETS.
_Dodecatheon Meadia_, L. Primrose Family.
_Leaves._--All radical; tufted; from obovate to lanceolate.
_Scape._--Three to fifteen inches high; umbel two- to
twenty-flowered. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft, the divisions
reflexed in flower, erect in fruit. _Corolla._--With extremely
short tube, and an abruptly reflexed five-parted limb; white,
rose-color, or purple. _Stamens._--Five; opposite the
corolla-lobes. Filaments short; united. Anthers standing erect
around the long style, forming a beak; violet.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Throughout the continent;
exceedingly variable.
The shooting-star is one of our prettiest spring flowers, which arrives a
little before the baby-eyes and just as the brakes are unrolling their
green crosiers. There is something particularly pleasing in these blossoms.
It seems as though Nature had taxed her ingenuity to produce something
original when she fashioned them. The name _Dodecatheon_, from the Greek,
is entirely a fanciful one, and means "the twelve gods."
Formerly _D. Meadia_, L., was considered the only species, embracing many
widely varying forms; but of late botanists have made several of the forms
into separate species.
_D. Hendersoni_ (Gray), Ktz., is the species prevalent in our central and
northern Coast Ranges. This has ovoid or obovoid, very obtuse, entire
leaves, with broad petiole, equaling the blade, two inches long. Its
flower-stem is from eight to twelve inches high, bearing a cluster of
bright rose-purple flowers. The corolla has a short, dark-maroon tube,
encircled by a band of yellow, sometimes merging into white. A variety of
this with very slender stems and the flower parts in fours is common in the
Bay region, and southward possibly to Santa Barbara. This is called _var.
cruciata_. Its blossoms have a strong odor, suggestive of a tannery. In
this species the capsule opens at the top, splitting into a number of
little teeth, which soon turn downward.
[Illustration SHOOTING-STARS--_Dodecathceon Hendersoni var. cruciata_.]
_D. Clevelandi_, Greene, is a beautiful species found in the south. It
sends up a tall shaft, crowned with a large cluster of beautiful blossoms,
varying from a delicate lilac to pure white. The petals are ringed below
with pale yellow, and the beak of the flower is a rich prune-purple. There
is a certain generous, fine look about these flowers, although they are
exquisitely delicate. Their charm is completed by a delicious perfume, like
that of the cultivated cyclamen.
Among the children the various forms are known by a number of names, such
as "mad violets," "prairie-pointers," "mosquito-bills," and
"roosters'-heads." The latter is said to be the designation of prosaic
little boys who see in these blossoms gaming possibilities, and who love to
hook them together and pull to see which head will come off first.
PRICKLY PHLOX.
_Gilia Californica_, Benth. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--Woody; two or three feet high. _Leaves._--Palmately
three- to seven-parted, with spreading, needle-like divisions,
two to four lines long. _Flowers._--Solitary, at the ends of
the branchlets; rose-pink or lilac, with a white eye.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla-limb._--An inch and a half
across. (See _Gilia_.) _Hab._--Dry hills from Monterey to San
Bernardino.
I hardly know how to describe these delightful flowers. At a little
distance the plant-stems have almost the look of a cactus, so densely are
they clothed with the small, rigid leaves. Nor does a closer acquaintance
serve to lessen the likeness--for in our breathless haste to take
possession of the beautiful blossoms we are quite certain to have their
prickly character impressed upon the hands as well as upon the sight. The
texture of the flowers is of the finest silk, with an exquisite sheen;
and they have a delicate fragrance. Growing at the tips of the numerous
branchlets, they often form large masses of rich rose-colored bloom, which
are especially brilliant and showy against the warm foliage.
[Illustration PRICKLY PHLOX--_Gilia Californica_.]
In some localities they are called "rock-rose," an unfortunate name in two
respects: it has long belonged to a yellow flower of an entirely different
family--_Helianthemum_; and these blossoms do not in the least resemble a
rose.
CALIFORNIAN FOUR-O'CLOCK.
_Mirabilis Californica_, Gray. Four-o'clock Family.
_Stems._--From a woody base; a foot or two long.
_Leaves._--Ovate; six to fifteen lines long; rather thick.
_Flowers._--Magenta-colored; one to three in a campanulate,
calyx-like, five-toothed involucre. Involucres nearly sessile.
_Perianth._--Six lines long; open funnel-form; five-lobed.
_Stamens._--Five. Anthers yellow. _Ovary._--Globose;
one-celled. Style filiform. Stigma capitate. _Hab._--Southern
California and eastward.
When the heat of the day is over and the morning-glories are folding
together their faded chalices, the bright little four-o'clocks begin to
open their myriad magenta-colored eyes upon the closing day, and they,
together with the evening primroses, will keep the vigils of the night.
These diaphanous little flowers, with their long stamens resting on the
lower side of the perianth, are like diminutive azaleas.
They are very puzzling, and the part that baffles the young botanist is the
calyx, which, as it sometimes has two or three corollas within it, cannot
be considered a calyx at all, but must be called an involucre. In reality
the corolla is absent, and the calyx, which is colored like a corolla, is
called a perianth. This appears to sit upon the top of the round ovary, but
in reality a green continuation of it is drawn down tightly over the
ovary.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN FOUR-O'CLOCK--_Mirabilis Californica_.]
BEACH MORNING-GLORY.
_Convolvulus Soldanella_, L. Morning-glory Family.
_Stems._--A foot or less long; trailing.
_Leaves._--Kidney-shaped; long-petioled; leathery; an inch or
two broad. _Flowers._--Pink to lavender; one to nearly three
inches across, with a pair of thin bracts just below the calyx,
partly enveloping it. (Otherwise as _C. luteolus_.) _Hab._--The
seashore from Puget Sound to San Diego.
The beach morning-glory trails its stems over the shifting sands of the
seashore, making clusters of beautiful foliage, over which the large,
delicate flowers raise their exquisite satin funnels.
CALYPSO.
_Calypso borealis_, Salisb. Orchis Family.
_Bulb._--Small; solid. _Stem._--Three to six inches high.
_Leaf._--An inch or two long. _Sepals_ and petals light to deep
rose-color; six to nine lines long. _Lip._--Brownish pink,
mottled with purple. _Style._--Petaloid, oval, and concave,
bearing the hemispherical anther on its summit underneath.
_Hab._--The northern Coast Ranges; also across the continent.
It has never been my good fortune to find this rare and exquisite little
orchid, but beautiful specimens have been sent from the redwoods of Sonoma
County and from Oregon. The books speak of it as growing in bogs; but I am
told by those who gathered them that the little plants sit lightly upon the
layer of needles that carpet the forest-floor. The roots scarcely penetrate
the soil, so that the plants are easily disengaged without digging.
Nature produced a perfect work when she fashioned this little plant, so
simple, so charming in every way, with its one dainty leaf and one unique
blossom. The form of the column is peculiarly interesting, being that of a
curving concave petal, bearing the anther, in the shape of a hollow
hemisphere, on its upper edge.
[Illustration CALYPSO--_Calypso borealis_.]
WILD PORTULACA.
_Calandrinia caulescens_, HBK.; _var. Menziesii_, Gray. Purslane Family.
Decumbent, branching herbs, mostly smooth.
_Leaves._--Alternate; linear to oblanceolate; one to three
inches long. _Flowers._--In loose racemes; rose-color or
magenta; about an inch across. _Sepals._--Two; keeled.
_Petals._--Mostly five. _Stamens._--Four to eleven.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style slender. Stigma three-cleft. Seeds
black, shining, lens-shaped. _Hab._--From Lower California to
Vancouver Island.
The wild portulaca is very abundant, and in seasons favorable to its
development is a very noticeable little plant. Its succulent stems have a
spreading habit and bear many satiny flowers of a deep purplish-pink, which
open in the bright sunshine. The petals, which are veined with a slightly
darker color, become white toward the center, and the little anthers are
full of orange-colored pollen. These blossoms have a delicate, somewhat
musky perfume.
Cattle are fond of the herbage, and the plants are considered excellent as
potherbs and for salads. The seeds, which are a favorite food of the wild
dove are very pretty, being lens-shaped, black and shining, with a granular
surface.
THE PRIDE OF CALIFORNIA.
_Lathyrus splendens_, Kell. Pea Family.
_Stem._--Climbing; six to ten feet. _Leaflets._--About eight;
scattered; very variable; linear to lanceolate or oblong;
acute; mucronate; strongly three- to five-nerved.
_Tendrils._--Two- to five-parted. _Stipules._--Small;
semi-sagittate. _Peduncles._--Stout; usually seven- to
ten-flowered. _Flowers._--Very large; brilliant crimson.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed; eighteen-nerved. _Standard_ and keel an
inch or more long. _Pods._--Three inches long; smooth;
compressed; ten- to twenty-seeded. _Hab._--Parts of San Diego
County, and southward.
Clambering over our wild shrubs, this wonderful pea gives them the
appearance of being loaded with a magnificence of bloom quite unwonted. The
blossoms are the richest and most gorgeous of crimsons throughout, and have
such a superb air that it is difficult to believe they are not the product
of centuries of careful selection by the gardener. The long standard turns
back over the stem, continuing the gracefully outlined keel in a long
compound curve. The blossoms hang from the stem in charming abandon, like a
flock of graceful tropic-birds poising upon the wing before taking flight,
or like a fleet of gayly decked pleasure-barges, with canopies thrown back,
fit for the conveyance of a Cleopatra.
[Illustration WILD PORTULACA--_Calandrinia caulescens_.]
CALIFORNIAN WILD CURRANT. INCENSE-SHRUB.
_Ribes glutinosum_, Benth. Saxifrage Family.
Shrubs six to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._--Three- to
five-lobed; glutinous when young; three to five inches broad.
_Flowers._--Rose-pink to pale pink; in long drooping racemes.
_Calyx._--Petaloid; five-lobed. _Petals_ and stamens five on
the calyx. _Ovary._--One-celled. Styles two; more or less
united. _Berries._--Blue, with a dense bloom; glandular-hispid.
_Syn._--_Ribes sanguineum_, Pursh. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges;
more common southward.
In early winter in the south, and somewhat later northward, the wild
currant becomes a thing of beauty hardly to have been expected. The young
foliage, of a clear brilliant green, is gayly decked with the long clusters
of peculiarly fresh pink blossoms, which seem like the very incarnation of
the spirit of Spring, producing a certain _eblouissement_, which quickens
our sense into an anticipation of beauty on every side.
We are made aware of a strong, heavy fragrance emanating from this shrub,
for which its numerous glands are responsible, and which has gained for it
the popular name of "incense-shrub" in some localities.
The fruit, which ripens toward fall, is dry and bitter, or insipid.
The genus _Ribes_ includes the currant and the gooseberry, and furnishes us
with several charming shrubs in California.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN WILD CURRANT--_Ribes glutinosum_.]
GROUND-PINK. FRINGED GILIA.
_Gilia dianthoides_, Endl. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
One to six inches high. _Leaves._--Six lines or so long; linear
to filiform. _Flowers._--Rose or lilac, blending inward to
white, with darker color or yellow in the throat.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Corolla._--Nine to twelve lines across;
fringed. (See _Gilia_.) _Hab._--From Santa Barbara to San
Diego.
In March our southern meadows and hill-slopes are all aglow with the lovely
flowers of this charming little _Gilia_. The plants are tiny, often no more
than an inch high, but are ambitious out of all proportion to their size,
covering themselves with blossoms exquisitely delicate in texture, form,
and coloring, which literally carpet the earth with an overlapping mosaic.
It is a wonderful thought that upon every one of these countless millions
of little flowers that clothe the fields Nature has bestowed such care that
each is a masterpiece in itself.
COMMON FLEABANE.
_Erigeron Philadelphicus_, L. Sunflower Family.
Hairy, perennial herbs. _Stems._--One to three feet high; leafy
to the top. _Root-leaves._--Spatulate or obovate.
_Stem-leaves._--Oblong; sessile, with broad clasping base;
irregularly toothed. _Flower-heads._--In a loose corymb.
_Disks._--Yellow; three or four lines across.
_Rays._--Innumerable; very narrow; flesh-color to rose-purple;
about three lines long. _Hab._--Widely distributed on the
Pacific and Atlantic Coasts.
The feathery, daisy-like flowers of the common fleabane are of frequent
occurrence in moist meadows or along the roadsides in spring. The
ray-flowers are so narrow as to form a delicate fringe around the disk.
The common name arose from the belief that these plants were harmful to
fleas.
[Illustration GROUND-PINK--_Gilia dianthoides_.]
TURKISH RUGGING.
_Chorizanthe staticoides_, Benth. Buckwheat Family.
A foot high or more, with widely spreading branches.
_Leaves._--All radical; oblong; obtuse; twelve to thirty lines
long, including petioles. _Involucres._--Loosely clustered;
sessile; one-flowered; campanulate; with six bristle-like
teeth. _Perianth._--Pink; two lines long; six-lobed; not
fringed. _Stamens._--Mostly nine; on the perianth.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Styles three. Stigmas capitate.
_Hab._--From Monterey to San Diego.
In late spring the dry, open hills of the south are overrun with the soft
lavender of the _Chorizanthe_. The flowers are small, but the whole plant
is purplish, and the stems are quite as productive of color as the
blossoms. In fact, the whole plant seems to consist of a scraggly
interlacement of slender branches and small flowers, as the leaves, which
nestle close to the ground, are not very noticeable.
CANCHALAGUA. CALIFORNIAN CENTAURY.
_Erythræa venusta_, Gray. Gentian Family.
Six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Six to twelve lines
long; pale apple-green. _Calyx._--Usually five-parted.
_Corolla._--Bright pink, with yellow or white center; an inch
or so across. _Stamens._--Five; anthers spirally twisted after
shedding the pollen. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style slender.
Stigmas two. _Hab._--From Plumas County southward; more
abundant southward.
Just as our attention has been called afresh to the fields by the sudden
appearance of the "golden stars," or _Bloomeria_, in late spring, we find,
as we stoop to gather them, a charming pink flower nestling close to the
earth amid the grasses. Though low of stature, these firstlings of the
season atone for it by brilliancy of color, and their pink blossoms have a
peculiarly clean, fresh, wide-awake appearance, reminding one of a
rosy-faced country wench.
While enjoying their bright beauty, we do not for a moment suspect that we
are paying homage to the famous "canchalagua" of the Spanish-Californians.
No well-regulated household among these people is without bundles of these
herbs strung upon the rafters--for they are considered by them an
indispensable remedy for fevers; also, an excellent bitter tonic, and are
said to possess rare antiseptic properties.
[Illustration CANCHALAGUA--_Erythræa venusta_.]
FALSE MALLOW.
_Malvastrum Thurberi_, Gray. Mallow Family.
Shrubby at base; three to fifteen feet high; densely tomentose.
_Leaves._--An inch or two across; thick. _Flowers._--Clustered
in the axils of the leaves; or in an interrupted naked spike.
_Calyx._--Five-lobed; with one to three bractlets.
_Petals._--Five, about six lines long; rose-purple.
_Stamens._--United in a column. _Ovaries._--Numerous; united in
a ring. Styles united at base. Stigmas capitate. _Hab._--The
southern Coast Ranges and islands of the Coast.
Upon the mesas of the south we often see a shrubby member of the mallow
family, with long, wandlike branches ornamented with closely set, pink
flowers, of delicate texture and pleasant perfume. This is the false
mallow. It is a very handsome and noticeable shrub when in full bloom. The
anthers are golden brown, and the stigmas are spherical instead of
filiform. Upon the seashore it blooms much earlier than in the valleys
inland.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. FIG-MARIGOLD.
_Mesembryanthemum æquilaterale_, Haworth. Fig-marigold Family.
Succulent plants. _Stems._--Elongating; forming large mats.
_Leaves._--Opposite; sessile; fleshy; three-angled; two inches
or more long; oblong. _Flowers._--Terminal; solitary; fifteen
lines to two inches across; pink. _Calyx._--With top-shaped
tube and five-lobed border. _Petals._--Very numerous; linear.
_Stamens._--Innumerable. _Ovary._--Four- to twenty-celled.
Stigmas six to ten. _Hab._--The Coast, from Point Reyes
southward.
The fig-marigold is a very common plant upon our seashore. It seems to
flourish best toward the south, where it covers large tracts of sand with
its succulent foliage, making mats of pleasant verdure in otherwise sandy
wastes. Its stems often trail many yards down the cliffs, making beautiful
natural draperies, decked with myriads of the pink blossoms. Because it is
capable of withstanding the drouth in the most remarkable manner, it has
been planted to produce verdure where irrigation is impossible. The very
numerous slender petals give the flower the appearance at first sight of a
_Composita_. The fruit is pulpy and full of very small seeds, like the fig,
and has a suggestion of the flavor of the Isabella grape.
[Illustration FALSE MALLOW--_Malvastrum Thurberi_.]
Many species of _Mesembryanthemum_ are cultivated in our gardens, mostly as
border-plants. The genus is a large one, most of the species being native
of Southern Africa, and it is supposed that the three species now common
upon our Coast were introduced in the remote past without the agency of
man.
* * * * *
_Gilia androsacea_, Steud. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--Three to twelve inches high; erect; spreading.
_Leaves._--Opposite; sessile; palmately five- to seven-parted;
seemingly whorled. _Flowers._--In terminal clusters.
_Corolla._--Salver-shaped; rose-pink, lilac, or white, with a
yellow or dark throat; its tube filiform, about an inch long;
limb eight to ten lines across. Filaments and style slender;
exserted. (See _Gilia_.) _Hab._--Throughout the western part of
the State; into the Sierra foothills.
The delicate flowers of this little plant may be found nestling amid the
grasses of dry hill-slopes in late spring, often making charming bits of
color. It is usually rather a low plant, but in specially favorable
situations it rises to a foot in height. Its fragile flowers vary from pure
white to lilac and a lovely rose-pink, and look like small phloxes.
* * * * *
_Mimulus Douglasii_, Gray. Figwort Family.
Flowering at half an inch high; later becoming a span high.
_Leaves._--Ovate or oblong; three- to five-nerved at base;
narrowed into a short petiole. _Flowers._--Rich maroon, with
deeper color in the throat and some yellow below.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--An inch to eighteen lines
long; with dilated throat. Lower lip much shorter than the
ample, erect, upper one; sometimes almost wanting. (See
_Mimulus_.) _Hab._--Throughout California.
This little _Mimulus_ is quite common upon gravelly or stony hills. Its
pert little maroon flowers, with their very long tubes and erect lobes, so
ridiculously out of proportion to the size of the tiny plant, give it the
look of some very important small personage.
[Illustration _Gilia Androsacea._]
BITTER-ROOT. SPAT'LUM. TOBACCO-ROOT.
_Lewisia rediviva_, Pursh. Purslane Family.
_Root._--Very thick. _Leaves._--Clustered; linear-oblong; one
or two inches long. _Scapes._--One-flowered; one or two inches
long; jointed in the middle, with a whorl of five to seven
scarious bracts at the joint. _Sepals._--Six to eight; six to
nine lines long; scarious-margined. _Petals._--Twelve to
fifteen; rose-color, sometimes white; oblong; eight to sixteen
lines long; rotately spreading in sunshine. _Stamens._--Forty
or more. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style three- to eight-parted
nearly to the base. _Hab._--The mountains of California,
northward and eastward.
Within our borders this little plant is not abundant, but must be sought
upon mountain heights. Formerly it was supposed not to occur south of Mt.
Diablo, but it has since been found in the mountains of the southern part
of the State and at intermediate points. It is very abundant in Montana,
where it has been adopted as the State flower.
The plants are very small, being but an inch or two high, but the flowers
are handsome and showy, and the delicate, rose-colored corollas, which are
often two inches across, are of an exquisite silken texture. The root is
remarkably large and thick for so small a plant, and it contains a
nutritious, farinaceous matter, much esteemed by the Indians for food.
Among them it is known as "spat'lum," and they gather large quantities of
it, which they store in bags for future use.
This was the "racine-amère," or "bitter-root," of the early French
settlers. It is also known as "tobacco-root," because when boiled it has a
tobacco-like odor.
The specific name, _rediviva_, was bestowed because of the wonderful
vitality of these plants. It is known upon good authority that specimens
which had been drying for two years in an herbarium continued to produce
leaves, and at last, when taken out and planted, went on growing and
blossomed!
This genus is an exception to the other members of the Purslane family, in
having more than two sepals.
SPINELESS TUNA.
_Opuntia basilaris, var. ramosa_, Parish. Cactus Family.
Low; spreading; branching freely above. _Joints._--Flat;
smooth; without large spines, but with close tufts of minute
bristles; obovate or fan-shaped; five to eight inches long;
nearly as wide at the top. _Flowers._--Large; brilliant
rose-magenta; two or three inches long. _Fruit._--Dry;
sub-globose. (Flower-structure as in _O. Engelmanni_.)
_Hab._--The southern deserts and San Bernardino Mountains.
In the arid regions of the southern interior, this _Opuntia_ is a very
common one, and its large, brilliant rose-magenta flowers attract the
attention wherever seen. They are very tempting blossoms, and it is hard to
resist them, even though we know the penalty will be the conversion of
thumbs and fingers into pin-cushions for innumerable, minute, tormenting
thorns.
SNOW-BERRY.
_Symphoricarpos racemosus_, Michx. Honeysuckle Family.
Shrubs two to four feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite;
short-petioled; cuneate to oblong; entire or lobed; nine to
eighteen lines long. _Flowers._--Small; mostly in terminal
clusters. _Calyx._--Adnate to the ovary; with five-toothed
border. _Corolla._--Campanulate; five-lobed; three lines long;
waxen; pinkish; very hairy within. _Stamens._--Five; on the
corolla. _Ovary._--Four-celled. _Berries._--Waxen-white; six
lines in diameter. _Hab._--Widely distributed.
In early winter the pure-white clusters of the snow-berry, on their almost
leafless stems, make flecks of light through the dun woods. At this season
of few woodland attractions, these berries, together with the trailing
sprays of the fragrant yerba buena and the long graceful leaves of the
iris, are about the only trophies to be obtained upon a walk. In early
spring, when their slender twigs first begin to leaf out, these little
shrubs are among the most delicate and airy of growing things, and make a
tender veil of green through the shadowy woodland. The blossoms, which
arrive rather late, are inconspicuous.
TREE-MALLOW.
_Lavatera assurgentiflora_, Kell. Mallow Family.
_Shrubs._--Six to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._--Three to nine
inches across. _Flowers._--Pink, veined with maroon.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft, with an involucel below, like a second
calyx. _Petals._--Twelve to eighteen lines long.
_Filaments._--Numerous; united in a column.
_Styles._--Numerous; filiform. _Carpels._--One-seeded, in a
ring around an axis; separating at maturity. _Hab._--The
islands off the Coast; cultivated on the mainland north to
Mendocino County.
The _Lavateras_ are Old-World plants, with the exception of a few species
which are natives of the islands of our southern coast. In the early days
the Padres planted the above species (_L. assurgentiflora_) plentifully
around the old Missions, and thence it has spread and become spontaneous in
many localities. It can be seen in San Francisco, planted as wind-break
hedges about the market-gardens, where it thrives luxuriantly as long as it
is protected from cattle.
The leaves and twigs abound in mucilage, and are very fattening and
nutritious food for sheep and cattle, who are very fond of it.
WILD HONEYSUCKLE.
_Lonicera hispidula_, Dougl. Honeysuckle Family.
Woody; climbing and twining. _Leaves._--Opposite;
short-petioled; oval; pale; one to three inches long; the upper
pairs uniting around the stem. _Flowers._--Pink; in spikes of
several whorls. _Calyx._--Minute; growing to the ovary; border
five-toothed. _Corolla._--Tubular; six lines to an inch long;
bilabiate; the lips strongly revolute; the upper four-lobed,
the lower entire. _Stamens._--Five; much exserted.
_Ovary._--Two-or three-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate.
_Berries._--Scarlet; translucent. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
In early summer the climbing honeysuckle with its pale foliage flings its
long arms over neighboring trees and shrubs, showing glimpses here and
there of small pinkish flowers. But it is far more noticeable in the fall,
when its long pendulous branches are laden with the fine clusters of
translucent, orange-red berries. It is quite variable and has many forms,
which are all considered varieties of the one species.
[Illustration TREE-MALLOW--_Lavatera assurgentiflora_.]
PINK PAINT-BRUSH. ESCOBITA.
_Orthocarpus purpurascens_, Benth. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Six to twelve inches high. _Leaves._--Variously
parted into filiform divisions. _Bracts._--About equaling the
flowers; tipped with crimson or pale pink. _Corolla._--About an
inch long; the lower lip only moderately inflated and
three-saccate; the upper long, hooked, bearded, crimson.
_Stigma._--Large. (See _Orthocarpus_.) _Hab._--Widely
distributed.
The bright-magenta tufts of the pink paint-brush are often so abundant that
they give the country a purplish hue for miles at a stretch. The
Spanish-Californians have a pretty name for these blossoms, calling them
"escobitas," meaning "little whisk-brooms."
_O. densiflorus_, Benth., is a very similar species; but its corolla has a
straight upper lip, without hairs.
CLARKIA.
_Clarkia elegans_, Dougl. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--One to six feet high; simple or branching.
_Leaves._--Alternate; broadly ovate to linear; dentate; an inch
or more long. _Petals._--About nine lines long; with long,
slender claws and rhomboidal blades; pink. _Stamens._--Eight;
all perfect. Filaments with a hairy scale at base.
_Stigma._--Four-lobed. _Capsule._--Six to nine lines long;
sessile. (Otherwise as _C. concinna_.) _Hab._--Widely
distributed.
This plant is a very common one along our dusty roadsides in early summer,
and it shows a facility in adapting itself to quite a range of climate and
condition. It grows from six inches to six feet high, is nearly smooth or
quite hairy, and has rather large flowers or quite small ones. Its scarlet
stamens, purple-pink petals, and often deeper purple sepals make an odd
combination of color. It often grows in showy masses, making patches of
glowing color under the shade of trees.
[Illustration PINK PAINT-BRUSH--_Orthocarpus purpurascens_.]
CHAPARRAL PEA.
_Pickeringia montana_, Nutt. Pea Family.
Evergreen, much branched, spiny shrubs, four to seven feet
high. _Leaves._--With from one to three leaflets.
_Leaflets._--Three to nine lines long.
_Flowers._--Magenta-colored; solitary; sessile; seven to nine
lines long; papilionaceous. _Stamens._--All ten distinct.
_Pod._--One-celled; two inches long. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges,
from Lake County to San Diego.
Upon wild mountain-slopes where are heard the fluting notes of a certain
shy bird that rarely comes near habitations, the chaparral pea often makes
dense, impenetrable thickets. It would be impossible to mistake it for any
other shrub, with its solitary magenta-colored pea-blossoms, which often
cover the bushes with a mass of color. Its green branchlets terminate in
long, rigid spines, which are often clothed with small leaves nearly to the
end.
Woe to him who tries to penetrate the chaparral when it is composed of this
formidable and uncompromising shrub! The result is quite likely to be a
humiliating progress upon hands and knees before he can extricate himself,
probably with torn garments and scratched visage.
HEDGE-NETTLE.
_Stachys bullata_, Benth. Mint Family.
Rough, pubescent herbs. _Stem._--Ten to eighteen inches high;
four-angled. _Leaves._--Opposite; ovate or ovate-oblong;
cordate; coarsely crenate; wrinkly veined; petioled; an inch or
two long. _Flowers._--Pinkish; in a narrow, interrupted spike.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Corolla._--Eight lines long; bilabiate.
Upper lip erect; lower deflexed, of three unequal lobes,
spotted with purple. _Stamens._--Four. Filaments hairy. Anthers
divergently two-celled. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets.
Style filiform. Stigma two-cleft. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
The hedge-nettles are common weeds, of which we have several species. _S.
bullata_, so called on account of its leaves, which look as though
blistered, is the most widespread. It is quite variable in aspect, and we
are constantly meeting it in new guises and being deceived into believing
it something finer than it really is, through some subtle change in its
usually homely little pink flowers.
[Illustration CHAPARRAL PEA--_Pickeringia montana_.]
TWINING HYACINTH.
_Brodiæa volubilis_, Baker. Lily Family.
Coated corm about one inch in diameter. _Leaves._--All radical;
broadly linear; a foot or more long. _Scape._--Twining; two to
even twelve feet long; naked. _Umbel._--Many-flowered.
_Perianth._--Five to eight lines long; rose-color without,
whitish within. _Stamens._--Three; alternating with three
notched staminodia. Filaments winged; very short.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style short. Stigma capitate.
_Syn._--_Stropholirion Californicum_, Torr. _Hab._--Sierra
foothills, from Mariposa County northward.
In this plant we see the _Brodiæa_ disporting itself in a very odd manner,
having vinelike aspirations. It produces several long leaves, which lie
prostrate upon the ground, and then the stem puts in its appearance and
commences a wonderful series of evolutions not to be outdone by any
contortionist. It twists and clambers and climbs, reaching a height of five
or six feet, often having expended twice that amount of stem in its
convolutions.
During this remarkable process, which consumes from two to four weeks, the
terminal bud has remained dormant. But it now commences to grow, and in a
couple of weeks the flower-cluster is complete in all its beauty. It is
sometimes six inches across.
It often happens that before the flower has blossomed, the stem is broken
off at the ground. Strangely enough, this seems not to matter at all, for
it grows on and perfects its flowers just as though nothing had occurred.
People often bring the stem indoors and allow it to climb up over the
curtains, where they can watch the interesting process of its growth.
[Illustration TWINING HYACINTH--_Brodiæa volubilis_.]
CALIFORNIAN ROSE-BAY.
_Rhododendron Californicum_, Hook. Heath Family.
Evergreen shrubs three to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._--Four to
six inches long; leathery. _Flowers._--Rose-pink; in large
clusters. _Calyx._--Small; with rounded lobes.
_Corolla._--Broadly campanulate; two inches or so across;
slightly irregular; with wavy, margined lobes; the upper
spotted within. _Stamens._--About equaling the corolla. Style
crimson. Stigma funnel-form. (Otherwise as _R. occidentale_.)
_Hab._--From British Columbia to Marin County.
In our northern counties the rugged mountain-sides are often densely
covered with the lovely rose-bay, which in early summer presents an
appearance it would be impossible to rival. When the foliage, which is very
rich in both quality and hue, is thickly massed with the great glowing
flower-clusters, the sight is worth a pilgrimage to see. It is a shrub so
beautiful, we marvel it is not generally cultivated in gardens.
The bees are very fond of the blossoms, but popular tradition ascribes a
poisonous quality to the honey made from them.
We have noticed no perfume in these flowers, but the leaves are often quite
pleasantly fragrant.
COMMON WILD ROSE.
_Rosa Californica_, Cham. and Schlecht. Rose Family.
Erect shrubs three to eight feet high. Prickles few; stout;
recurved; mostly in pairs beneath the entire stipules.
_Leaves._--Alternate; pinnate; with five to seven leaflets.
_Leaflets._--Ovate or oblong; serrate. _Flowers._--Few to many
in clusters; pale-pink. _Calyx._--With urn-shaped tube and
five-cleft border, whose lobes are foliaceously tipped.
_Petals._--Five; six to nine lines long. _Stamens._--Very
numerous. _Ovaries._--Several; bony; in, but free from, the
calyx-tube. _Hips._--Many; four or five lines through.
_Hab._--From San Diego to Oregon.
The wild rose is one of the few flowers that blooms cheerfully through the
long summer days, lavishing its beautiful clusters of deliciously fragrant
flowers as freely along the dusty roadside as in the more secluded thicket.
In autumn it often seems inspired to a special luxuriance of blossoming,
and it lingers to greet the asters and mingle its pink flowers and
brilliant scarlet hips with their delicate lilacs.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN ROSE-BAY--_Rhododendron Californicum_.]
_R. gymnocarpa_, Nutt., "the redwood-rose," is exquisitely dainty. This is
found in shady places under the trees. It blooms earlier than the common
species, and is neither so abundant nor so fragrant. Its flowers are barely
an inch across and of a bright pink. The prickles are straight, and the
calyx-lobes are without leafy tips, while the leaflets are small and
shapely.
BEAUTIFUL CLARKIA.
_Clarkia concinna_ (F. and M.), Greene. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--Several inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--One or
two inches long. _Flowers._--Axillary; sessile; parts in fours.
_Calyx._--Red-pink; tube an inch or more long.
_Petals._--Rose-pink; six lines to over an inch long.
_Ovary._--Four-celled. _Syn._--_Eucharidium concinnum_, Fisch.
and Mey. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Santa Barbara to
Mendocino County.
In June these charming blossoms may be found in the company of the
maidenhair fern fringing the banks of shady roads, or standing in glowing
masses under the buckeye-trees. In them nature has ventured upon one of
those rather daring color combinations of which we would have hardly
dreamed, and the result is delightful. The petals are bright rose-pink,
while the sepals are of a red pink.
SPREADING DOGBANE.
_Apocynum androsæmifolium_, L. Dogbane Family.
Erect; one to three feet high; spreading. _Leaves._--Opposite;
short-petioled; ovate or roundish; an inch or two long.
_Flowers._--Clustered; pink. _Calyx._--Five-cleft.
_Corolla._--Campanulate; three or four lines long; with five
revolute lobes; having a small scale at base, opposite each
lobe. _Stamens._--Five; on the corolla. Filaments short.
Anthers erect around the stigma. Style none. _Ovaries._--Two;
becoming a pair of long pods. Seeds silky-tufted.
_Hab._--Widely distributed in the United States.
[Illustration BEAUTIFUL CLARKIA--_Clarkia concinna_.]
The small pink flowers of the spreading dogbane may be found all through
the summer, often upon our driest hillsides. The shapely little blossoms
are of a flesh-tint without, richly veined with deeper pink within, and
quite fragrant. The plants have a milky juice and a tough fiber in the
stem, similar to that in the American-Indian hemp. The plant was formerly
supposed to be poisonous to dogs, from which fact it received its generic
name, which translated gives the common English name, "dogbane." It is used
in medicine as a remedy for rheumatic gout. The very long pods seem
absurdly out of proportion to the small flowers.
_A. cannabinum_, L., the American-Indian hemp, is also found within our
borders, but it grows along stream-banks and in marshy places. It has
oblong, pointed leaves, and small greenish-white flowers, only two lines
long, whose close cylindrical corollas hardly surpass the calyx. The
yellowish-brown bark of this plant is very tough and fibrous, and at the
same time soft and silky. Our Indians have always found it of the utmost
value in the making of ropes, lariats, nets, mats, baskets, etc., and
before the coming of the white man they even made certain articles of
clothing of it. A tincture made from the root is a recognized drug in the
pharmacopœia. Professor Thouin, of Paris, says that a permanent dye may be
obtained from a decoction of it, which is brown or black, according to the
mordant used.
FIRECRACKER FLOWER.
_Brodiæa coccinea_, Gray. Lily Family.
_Leaves._--Grasslike, a foot or two long. _Scape._--One to
three feet high; six- to fifteen-flowered. _Perianth._--An inch
or two long; rich crimson; the limb of six green or yellowish
oblong lobes. _Stamens._--Three; on the perianth. Filaments
adnate to its tube. Anther tips exserted. _Staminodia._--Three;
broad; short; white; on the throat of the perianth, alternating
with the stamens. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style exserted.
Stigma three-lobed. _Syn._--_Brevoortia coccinea_, Wats.
_Hab._--The mountains from Mendocino County to Shasta County.
[Illustration FIRECRACKER FLOWER--_Brodiæa coccinea_.]
When our northern valleys have become parched by the first heat of
summer, many beautiful flowers are still to be found in deep cañon
retreats, where the streams, overarched by great shadowing oaks, gush
downward through leafy copses of hazelwood and thimble-berry by beds of
moss and fern. Upon the walls of such charming gorges the firecracker
flower rears its slender stem and shakes out its bunch of brilliant
crimson blossoms. These are a prophetic symbol of our national holiday
rather than an aid to its celebration--for they have often passed away
before the Fourth of July.
GODETIA. FAREWELL TO SPRING.
_Godetia viminea_, Spach. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high; sometimes stout.
_Leaves._--Linear to linear-lanceolate; entire; an inch or two
long; distant. _Flowers._--Nodding in the bud.
_Calyx-tube._--Two to four lines long. _Petals._--Deep
rose-color, sometimes yellowish at base with a dark spot; nine
to fifteen lines long. _Capsules._--Smoothish; eight to
eighteen lines long; its sides two-ribbed; sessile or
short-pediceled. (See _Godetia_.) _Hab._--From the Columbia
River southward to Ventura.
In early summer the rosy flowers of this _Godetia_ make bright masses of
color along dry banks and hill-slopes. Its blossoms are very variable as to
marking. Sometimes the petals have a bright crimson blotch at the base and
sometimes they are without it, both forms often occurring upon the same
plant. In some seasons all the flowers are without the blotch.
_G. grandiflora_, Lindl., found in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, is
probably the most showy species we have. The plants are a foot or two high
and covered all over with the wonderful flowers, which are often four
inches across. These are delicate pink, blotched with rich crimson.
_G. Bottæ_, Spach., is an exquisite species found in the Coast Ranges, from
Monterey to San Diego. Its very slender stems lift the fragile, satiny cups
above the dried grasses in charming companies. These blossoms also vary
much. Among the prettiest forms is one which is pale rose or lilac,
blending to white at the center, delicately striate with purple-dotted
lines, and having a rich purple spot in the center. This often grows with
the lilac butterfly-tulip, _Calochortus splendens_, and at a little
distance is so similar, it is difficult to distinguish it from the lily.
But the lily rarely or never grows in throngs. The capsules of this species
have pedicels from three to nine lines long.
[Illustration FAREWELL TO SPRING--_Godetia viminea_.]
BLEEDING-HEART.
_Dicentra formosa_, DC. Bleeding-heart Family.
_Leaves._--Ternately dissected, with toothed leaflets.
_Scapes._--Six inches to two feet high.
_Flowers._--Rose-colored to pale pink, sometimes almost white
or yellowish; nodding. (Floral structure as in _D.
chrysantha_.) _Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Middle
California to British Columbia.
The bleeding-heart is a rather shy flower, and never makes itself common
enough to dull our enthusiasm for it. It fully merits its specific name,
for it is a plant of elegant form throughout, from its shapely divided
leaves to its graceful clusters of pendent hearts. It is found in the woods
of our Coast Ranges, but may be seen to best advantage when nestling amid
the lush grasses of Sierra meadows.
INDIAN RHUBARB. UMBRELLA-PLANT.
_Saxifraga peltata_, Torr. Saxifrage Family.
_Rootstock._--Thick; creeping. _Leaves._--Radical;
long-petioled; a foot or more across when mature; nine- to
fourteen-lobed; centrally depressed. _Scapes._--One to three
feet high. _Calyx._--Five-lobed. _Petals._--Five; roundish;
three lines or more long; purplish-pink. _Stamens._--Ten.
_Ovaries._--Two; distinct. Stigmas capitate or reniform.
_Hab._--The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Mt. Shasta; also
Mendocino County.
Upon the borders of our swift-flowing mountain streams, where the
water-ouzel flies up and down all day, sometimes filling the air with
melody as he passes, may be seen the large lotus-like leaves of this great
Saxifrage. They stand with their dark, warm stems in the water; or, poising
upon the brink, they lean gracefully over it, making myriad reflections in
the brown depths below, while every passing breeze awakens a quick response
among them.
Early in the season, before the coming of the leaves, these plants send up
tall stems with dense, branching clusters of handsome purplish-pink
flowers. The leaves, small at first, continue to grow until late summer,
when they have reached their perfection; after which they begin to deepen
into the richest of autumn hues.
[Illustration BLEEDING-HEART--_Dicentra formosa_.]
This plant is commonly called "Indian rhubarb," because the Indians are
extravagantly fond of the stalks of the leaves and flowers. It is now
cultivated in Eastern gardens.
GREAT WILLOW-HERB. FIREWEED.
_Epilobium spicatum_, Lam. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--Often four to seven feet high. _Leaves._--Scattered;
willow-like. _Flowers._--Purplish-pink; an inch or more across.
_Calyx-tube._--Linear; limb four-parted; often colored.
_Stamens._--Eight. Anthers purplish. _Ovary._--Four-celled.
Seeds silky-tufted. _Syn._--_E. angustifolium_, L. _Hab._--The
Sierras; eastward to the Atlantic; also in the North Coast
mountains. Found also in Europe and Asia.
This plant has received one of its English names, because its leaves are
like those of the willow and its seeds are furnished with silken down, like
the fluff on the willow.
It is our finest and most showy species of _Epilobium_, and is also found
in the Eastern States, where it is still known by a former name--_E.
angustifolium_, L. Owing to the fact that it grows with special luxuriance
in spots which have been recently burned over, it is commonly known as
"fireweed." It may be found in perfection in the Sierras in August, where
its great spikes of large pink flowers make showy masses of color along the
streams and through the meadows, commanding our warmest admiration.
In the fall the tall, pliant, widely branching stems of the "autumn
willow-herb"--_E. paniculatum_, Nutt.--stand everywhere by the roadside.
The small pink flowers, half an inch across, terminate the almost leafless
stems, and later are replaced by the dry, curled remains of the opened
capsules and the feathery down of the escaping seeds.
[Illustration GREAT WILLOW-HERB--_Epilobium spicatum_.]
ALPINE HEATHER.
_Bryanthus Breweri_, Gray. Heath Family.
Dwarf evergreens; six inches to a foot high; woody.
_Leaves._--Alternate; linear; three to seven lines long.
_Flowers._--Purplish-rose; on glandular pedicels.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed; small. _Corolla._--Saucer-shaped; six
lines or so across. _Stamens._--Seven to ten. Anthers
two-celled; opening terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style
slender. Stigma capitate. _Hab._--The High Sierras.
This little plant, to which Mr. Muir fondly alludes in his charming book,
"The Mountains of California," may be found blooming in July and August in
the Sierras. Sometimes it nestles in rocky crevices in the cool drip of the
snow-banks, and again it ventures boldly out into the openings, where it
spreads its rich carpet, covered with a wealth of rosy bloom. From the
abundance of this little heathling about its shores, one of our mountain
lakes has received the name of "Heather Lake."
* * * * *
_Silene Gallica_, L. Pink Family.
Hairy. _Stems._--Generally several. _Leaves._--Spatulate; six to eighteen
lines long. _Flowers._--In terminal, one-sided racemes; four or five lines
long; short-pediceled. _Petals._--Pale rose-color or almost white; barely
exceeding the calyx. (Flower-structure as in _S. Californica_.)
This little weed has come to us from Europe, and it is now so widely
distributed, both near the sea and inland, that it is hard to believe it is
not native. The slender racemes are from two to four inches long, and the
little flowers vary from white to pale pink. They can boast none of the
showy beauty of their relatives, the Indian pink and the Yerba del Indio.
[Illustration ALPINE HEATHER--_Bryanthus Breweri_.]
ALPINE PHLOX.
_Phlox Douglasii_, Hook. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
Plants forming cushion-like tufts; three or four inches high.
_Leaves._--Needle-like; six lines or less long; with shorter
ones crowded in the axils. _Flowers._--Pink, lilac, or white;
sessile; terminating the branchlets. _Calyx._--Five-cleft.
_Corolla._--Salver-form; with five-lobed border.
_Stamens._--Five; on the tube of the corolla.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style three-lobed. _Hab._--The Sierras,
from Mariposa County northward and eastward.
This delightful little flower may be found in the Sierras at an altitude of
from five to ten thousand feet. It loves the open sunshine of the cool
mountain heights, and with its cushiony tufts clothes many a bit of granite
soil with beauty. It seems undaunted by its stern surroundings, and lifts
its innocent eyes confidingly to the skies which bend gently over it--those
skies
"So fathomless and pure, as if
All loveliest azure things have gone
To heaven that way--the flowers, the sea,--
And left their color there alone."
PINK MONKEY-FLOWER.
_Mimulus Lewisii_, Pursh. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Slender; eighteen inches or so high.
_Leaves._--Sessile; oblong-ovate to lanceolate; denticulate;
somewhat viscid. _Peduncles._--Elongated. _Corolla._--Eighteen
lines to two inches long; with tube exceeding the calyx and
five ample spreading ciliate lobes; rose-color or paler, with
usually a darker stripe down the center of each lobe. Ridges of
lower lobe yellow and spotted; bearded. _Stamens._--Included.
(See _Mimulus_.) _Hab._--The Sierras, from Central California
northward and eastward to Montana.
One of the most beautiful of all our monkey-flowers is this charming
species, which is found along the cold streams of the Sierras. Its large
flowers have a fragile, delicate look, and the light stems and leaves are
of an exquisite green.
I remember coming upon a delightful company of these blossoms, in a little
emerald meadow upon the margin of one of those alpine lakelets which nestle
among the granite crags. They seemed the most fitting flowers for just such
a high, pure atmosphere.
[Illustration ALPINE PHLOX--_Phlox Douglasii_.]
SIERRA PRIMROSE.
_Primula suffrutescens_, Gray. Primrose Family.
_Leaves._--Wedge-shaped, an inch or so long; clustered at the
ends of the branches. _Flower-stems._--Several inches high.
Umbel several-flowered. _Calyx._--Five-cleft.
_Corolla._--Salver-shaped; an inch or less across; deep
rose-color, with a yellow eye. _Stamens._--High on the
corolla-throat opposite its lobes. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style
slender. _Hab._--The Sierras.
If one takes his alpenstock in hand and climbs to the snow line in late
summer, he is apt to be rewarded by the charming flowers of the Sierra
primrose. The little plants grow in the drip of the snow-banks, where the
melting ice gradually liberates the tufts of evergreen leaves. The glowing
flowers look as though they might have caught and held the last rosy
reflection of the sunset upon the snow above them.
PRIDE OF THE MOUNTAINS.
_Pentstemon Menziesii, var. Newberryi_, Gray. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Six inches to a foot high; woody at base.
_Leaves._--Ovate, obovate, or oblong; an inch or less long;
leathery. _Peduncles._--Usually one-flowered, forming a short,
glandular-pubescent raceme. _Corolla._--Bright rose-pink; an
inch long. _Anthers._--White-woolly; with divergent cells. (See
_Pentstemon_.) _Hab._--The High Sierras of Central California.
This charming _Pentstemon_ is one of the most gracious flowers to be found
in the Sierras in late summer. Upon banks overhanging the streams, or
growing at great heights under the open sky, it makes many a rock-shelf gay
with its brilliant pink blossoms.
We wonder how it can possibly subsist upon the hard, glittering granite;
but there the mystery of its life continues from day to day, and there it
cheerfully produces its masses of bright flowers, which gladden the weary
climber to these snowy heights.
This species of _Pentstemon_ is well marked by its white-woolly anthers,
which almost fill the throat. Northward it passes into the typical _P.
Menziesii_, which has flowers from violet-blue to pink-purple.
[Illustration SIERRA PRIMROSE--_Primula suffrutescens_.]
LESSINGIA.
_Lessingia leptoclada_, Gray. Composite Family.
Finely white-woolly. _Stems._--From a few inches to two feet
high, with numerous, almost filiform branchlets, bearing few or
solitary heads of pink or white flowers. _Lower
leaves._--Spatulate; sparingly toothed; withering early. _Upper
leaves._--Lanceolate, or linear and entire; sessile; uppermost
diminished into remote, subulate bracts. _Heads._--Five- to
twenty-flowered. Of tubular disk-flowers only. Outer flowers
much larger. _Involucre._--Silky hairy; broadly campanulate;
with imbricated, appressed bracts. _Hab._--Widespread.
In late summer the pink _Lessingia_ is apparent along dry roadsides or
embankments, where its blossoms make charming masses of soft color. It is
quite abundant in the Yosemite, especially in the lower end of the valley.
_L. Germanorum_, Cham., found plentifully from San Diego to San Francisco,
has yellow flowers.
ELEPHANTS' HEADS.
_Pedicularis Grœnlandica_, Retz. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Tall and slender; smooth. _Leaves._--Alternate;
lanceolate in outline; pinnately parted into linear-lanceolate,
serrate divisions; diminishing upward into the flower-bracts.
_Flowers._--Pink; in a dense spike several inches long.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--With short tube and
bilabiate limb. Upper lip with a long beak, like an elephant's
trunk; lower three-lobed, deflexed. _Stamens._--Four. Filaments
and style filiform; sheathed in the beak. _Ovary._--Two-celled.
_Hab._--The Sierras from King's River northward; and eastward
to Hudson's Bay.
No more curious flower could be found than this little denizen of our
alpine meadows. Its tall pink spikes attract one from a distance, and
astonish one upon nearer acquaintance by the wonderful resemblance of their
blossoms to many small elephants' heads. The forehead, the long ears
hanging at the sides of the head, and the long, slender, curving trunk are
all perfectly simulated.
These flowers have a pleasant perfume.
Another species--_P. attollens_, Gray--often found growing with the above,
is similar to it in general structure, but its leaves are more dissected,
its flower-spike is rather woolly, and its beak is only two or three lines
long. These blossoms bear no resemblance to the elephant.
[Illustration LESSINGIA--_Lessingia leptoclada_.]
ALPINE WILLOW-HERB. ROCK-FRINGE.
_Epilobium obcordatum_, Gray. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Stems._--Decumbent; three to five inches long.
_Leaves._--Opposite; ovate; sessile; four to ten lines long.
_Flowers._--One to five; bright rose-pink; over an inch across.
_Calyx._--With linear tube and four-cleft limb.
_Petals._--Four; erect and spreading; obcordate.
_Stamens._--Eight; four shorter. Filaments slender; exserted.
_Ovary._--Linear, four-celled. Style filiform; much exserted.
Stigma four-lobed. Seeds silky-tufted. _Hab._--The Sierras from
Tulare County northward.
Though low of stature, this little willow-herb is a charming plant, with
large rosy flowers. At an elevation of eight thousand feet or more in the
mountains, it nestles amid the rocks, fringing their crevices with a
profusion of brilliant bloom. Though it often costs a hard climb up rocky
crags to secure it, we feel well repaid by its bright beauty.
* * * * *
_Hosackia Purshiana_, Benth. Pea Family.
Soft-woolly throughout. _Stems._--Erect or loosely spreading
over the ground. _Leaves._--Sessile. _Leaflets._--One to three;
ovate to lanceolate; three to nine lines long.
_Flowers._--Yellowish-pink; solitary; two or three lines long.
Peduncles usually exceeding the leaves; with a single leaflet
below the flower. _Calyx-teeth._--Linear; much exceeding the
tube, about equaling the corolla. _Pod._--Narrow; twelve to
eighteen lines long; five- to seven-seeded. (See _Hosackia_.)
_Hab._--Throughout the State.
This little plant is very abundant and widespread. It makes its appearance
after the drouth sets in, and often spreads over the ground in considerable
patches. Its woolly or silky foliage has a pale cast, and its small,
solitary, pinkish flowers, which are quite numerous, are not unattractive.
IV. BLUE AND PURPLE
[_Blue or purple or occasionally or partially blue or purple flowers not
described in the Blue and Purple Section._
_Described in the White Section_:--
ANTIRRHINUM COULTERIANUM--Coulter's Snapdragon.
AUDIBERTIA POLYSTACHYA--White Sage.
CALOCHORTUS LUTEUS OCULATUS--Butterfly Tulip.
CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS--Mariposa Tulip.
CEANOTHUS INTEGERRIMUS--Mountain Birch; Tea-Tree; Soap-Bush.
ERIODICTYON GLUTINOSUM--Yerba Santa.
ERIODICTYON TOMENTOSUM--Yerba Santa.
LATHYRUS VESTITUS--Common Wild Pea.
MALACOTHRIX SAXATILIS.
MICROMERIA DOUGLASII--Yerba Buena.
SOLANUM DOUGLASII--Nightshade.
SPHACELE CALYCINA--Pitcher-Sage.
VIOLA BECKWITHII--Mountain Heart's-ease.
_Described in the Yellow Section_:--
ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS--Pimpernel.
CALOCHORTUS WEEDII--Mariposa Lily, or Tulip.
HOSACKIA CRASSIFOLIA.
_Described in the Pink Section_:--
CONVOLVULUS SOLDANELLA--Beach Morning-glory.
DODECATHEON MEADIA--Shooting-Stars.
ERIGERON PHILADELPHICUS--Common Fleabane.
GILIA ANDROSACEA.
GILIA CALIFORNICA--Prickly Phlox.
GILIA DIANTHOIDES--Ground Pink.
PENTSTEMON MENZIESII--Pride of the Mountains.
PHLOX DOUGLASII--Alpine Phlox.
_Described in the Red Section_:--
AQUILEGIA CŒRULEA.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section_:--
DARLINGTONIA CALIFORNICA--Californian Pitcher-Plant.
DIPSACUS FULLONUM--Teasel.]
FETID ADDER'S-TONGUE.
_Scoliopus Bigelovii_, Torr. Lily Family.
_Leaves._--Two; oval-elliptical to narrowly oblanceolate; four
to fifteen inches long; blotched with brown. _Flowers._--Three
to twelve; on lax pedicels three to nine inches long.
_Sepals._--Whitish, veined with purple; spreading.
_Petals._--Erect; narrowly linear; wine-color without.
_Stamens._--Three. _Ovary._--One-celled; three-angled. Stigma
three-lobed. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges from Marin to Humboldt
County.
When the first white blossoms of the toothwort are making their appearance
in moist woodlands, we may be sure that the fetid adder's-tongue is already
pushing its shining green leaves aboveground away up in the cold cañons of
north hill-slopes; and unless we hasten, we shall be too late to see its
curious flowers. I have often arrived only in time to find its fruit, which
resembles a beechnut in shape. When the flowers first open they stand
erect, held in the shining chalice formed by the two sheathing green
leaves. Later the leaves open out, showing their beautiful blotched
surfaces, and the three-angled flower-stems become limp and twisted. The
petals stand erect, and are so slender as to resemble three linear stigmas.
The little oval anthers are green before opening, but soon become golden
with the discharging pollen.
These flowers are elegant in appearance, and suggestive of orchids; but
unfortunately they have a very offensive odor, like that of the star-fishes
found upon our beaches, which makes us quite content to leave them
ungathered. But the large yellow slug has no such aversion to them, and we
have often seen him banqueting upon them. Indeed, he is so fond of them
that the flowers are often entirely gone from the stems.
[Illustration FETID ADDER'S-TONGUE--_Scoliopus Bigelovii_.]
HOUND'S-TONGUE.
_Cynoglossum grande_, Dougl. Borage Family.
_Stem._--Two feet or so high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
long-petioled; ovate-oblong; pointed; usually rounded at base;
often a foot long. _Flowers._--Bright blue; in a terminal
panicle. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft. _Corolla._--Rotate; with
short tube and five-lobed border; having five beadlike crests
in the throat. _Stamens._--Five; on the corolla, alternate with
its lobes. _Ovary._--Four-lobed. Style undivided.
_Fruit._--Four prickly nutlets. _Hab._--From Marin County to
Washington.
Among the first plants to respond to the quickening influence of the early
winter rains, is the hound's-tongue, whose large, pointed leaves begin to
push their way aboveground usually in January. At first these are often
quite velvety beneath and of a pinkish hue, and hold hidden within their
midst the well-formed buds which a few warm, sunny days will call forth.
The flowers, at first pink, become bright blue after fertilization has
taken place.
The favorite haunts of this welcome blossom are half-shaded woods, where it
rears its tall stalk in almost sole possession at this early season.
The common name is a translation of the generic name, which is derived from
two Greek words, signifying _dog_ and _tongue_, bestowed because of the
shape of the leaves. In the olden times a superstition was rife that if a
person laid the hound's-tongue beneath his feet it would prevent dogs from
barking at him.
The distribution of the seed is most cunningly provided for, as the upper
surfaces of the nutlets are covered with tiny barbs, which a
magnifying-glass reveals to be quite perfect little anchors, admirably
adapted for catching in the hair of animals.
CALIFORNIA LILAC. SOAP-BUSH.
_Ceanothus divaricatus_, Nutt. Buckthorn Family.
Tall, almost arborescent shrubs; with very divergent and rigid
branches. Twigs cylindrical; smooth; mostly very pale.
_Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; ovate; four to ten lines
long; three-nerved; somewhat leathery. _Flowers._--In a
narrowly oblong, dense cluster two or three inches long; pale
blue to white. _Capsule._--Two or three lines in diameter; not
lobed; scarcely crested. (See _Ceanothus_.)
_Hab._--Chiefly the southern Coast Range.
[Illustration HOUND'S-TONGUE--_Cynoglossum grande_.]
This species of California lilac is very abundant in the south, and is
specially characterized by its widely branching habit and its round,
pale-green twigs. The flowers are usually light blue; but in some
localities they are pure white. Near Santa Barbara, in January, the
mountain-slopes are often snowy with them.
Dr. Gregg, of San Diego, while hunting one day in Lower California, just
over the border, had his attention called to the wild lilac by his old
Mexican guide, who assured him that the blossoms in themselves were
excellent soap. Taking a handful of them down to the stream, he rubbed them
vigorously between his wet hands, and found to his astonishment that they
made an excellent lather, with a pleasant fragrance of wintergreen. I have
since proved the fact for myself. A more delightful way of performing one's
ablutions can hardly be imagined than at the brookside with so charming a
soap. It is very cleansing and leaves the skin pleasantly soft.
It was probably the blossoms of _C. integerrimus_ he used, as that shrub is
called "soap-bush" in that region; but I have since tried the experiment
upon _C. divaricatus_ and some other species with perfect success, from
which I suspect this may be a generic characteristic.
CALIFORNIAN TRILLIUM.
_Trillium sessile, var. Californicum_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Rootstock._--Like a small turnip. _Stems._--Usually several
from the same root; a foot or so high. _Leaves._--Three at the
top of the stem; three to eight inches long. _Flowers._--White
to deep wine-color. _Petals._--One to four inches long.
(Otherwise as _T. ovatum_.) _Hab._--From San Luis Obispo to
Oregon.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN TRILLIUM--_Trillium sessile, var. Californicum_.]
We begin to look for the Californian _Trillium_ early in the spring. Little
companies of the plants may be seen upon low flats under the trees, where
the soil is rich. The small, turnip-like tubers usually send up several
stems, which lean gracefully away from one another. The large leaves are
often like pieces of decorated china that have been several times through
the kiln. They have various superimposed blotchings, the latest of which
are dark, sharp, cuneiform characters, mysterious hieroglyphs of Nature,
which might reveal wondrous secrets, could we but decipher them. The
blossoms have a strong, heavy fragrance, and are exceedingly variable in
color, ranging from pure white to lilac, deep wine, and even black-purple.
These plants are much admired in the East and in Europe, where they are
cultivated in the garden.
BRODIÆA. CLUSTER-LILY. WILD HYACINTH.
_Brodiæa capitata_, Benth. Lily Family.
_Corm._--Small; scaly-coated. _Leaves._--Linear; a foot or more
long; passing away early. _Scapes._--Four inches to over two
feet high. _Flowers._--Deep violet to white; six to ten lines
long. _Bracts._--Sometimes deep, rich purple. _Perianth._--With
oblong tube and campanulate, six-parted limb. _Stamens._--Six;
on the corolla; the inner with an appendage on each side; the
outer naked. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style stout. Stigma
three-lobed. _Hab_.--Throughout California.
This beautiful _Brodiæa_ grows all over the hills in early spring, and
steals into cultivated fields, where it luxuriates in the freshly stirred
soil and lifts its fine violet-colored clusters above the waving grain. It
holds quite as warm a place in our affections as the more gorgeous poppy.
These blossoms will keep a long time after being gathered, and are used
every year in lavish profusion in the decorations of the flower carnivals.
The little bulbs, eaten raw, are quite palatable, and are eagerly sought by
the children, who call them "grass-nuts." The early Spanish-Californians
also appreciated them, and knew them as "saitas." They have a number of
other common names, such as "Spanish-lily," "cluster-lily," "wild
hyacinth," and "hog-onion"; but I must protest against the injustice of
this latter, and beg all flower-lovers to discountenance it.
[Illustration BRODIÆA--_Brodiæa capitata_.]
Closely resembling the above, is _B. multiflora_, Benth. It has, however,
but three stamens, the other three being represented by staminodia, which
are entire and of the same length as the stamens.
_B. congesta_, Smith, another similar species, is often four feet tall. It
also has three stamens and three staminodia; but the latter are deeply
cleft and exceed the anthers. This is called "ookow" by the Indians.
BROWN LILY. MISSION-BELLS. BRONZE-BELLS. RICE-ROOT.
_Fritillaria lanceolata_, Pursh. Lily Family.
_Stem._--A foot or two high. _Leaves._--In scattered whorls;
lanceolate; two to five inches long. _Flowers._--One to
several; open campanulate; greenish or black-purple; variously
checkered or mottled. _Perianth-segments._--Strongly arched,
with a large oblong nectary. _Stamens._--Six.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. _Hab_.--The Coast Ranges, from British
Columbia to Santa Cruz.
"'Neath cloistered boughs each floral bell that swingeth
* * * * *
Makes Sabbath in the fields, and ever ringeth
A call to prayer."
One of the oddest and most beautiful flowers of our rich woodlands is the
brown lily, or _Fritillaria_. It is unrivaled in elegance, for every line
of its contour is a study in grace. Nor do its charms cease with stem and
leaf and flower; for, hidden away in the rich leaf-mold, is one of its most
beautiful features, its bulb. This is pure, shining white, conical in form,
and surrounded by many tiny bulblets, like grains of rice, which crumble
away from it at a touch. If you go into the woods in early spring, you will
often see certain handsome, broad, shining, solitary leaves, close to the
ground, and you will wonder what they are. Often near them there are many
tiny leaves of the same sort pushing their way aboveground; and sometimes
among them all there is a solitary strong scape, with unfolding leaves and
a promise of flowers. This is a colony of the beautiful brown lilies. The
tiny leaves are the product of the little rice-grains, and are probably now
seeing the light for the first time. Between these and the large leaves
the breadth of the hand, are many sizes, in all stages. The broad leaves
may be from bulbs four or five years old, but they will send up no
blossom-stalk this year; for there is rarely or never a radical-leaf and a
blossom-stalk from the same bulb at once.
[Illustration BROWN LILY--_Fritillaria lanceolata_.]
When the plant is about to flower, the bulb sends up a tall stalk, with
here and there a whorl of shining leaves, hanging at the summit its string
of pendent bronze-bells. These are mottled and checkered, and are of
varying shades, from dull green to black-purple, and often have a beautiful
bloom upon them. Their modest colors blend so nicely into the shadowy scene
about, that it is difficult to see them unless the eye is somewhat
practiced.
Following the inflorescence comes a beautiful and unique seed-vessel,
curiously winged and angled, and of a delicate, papery texture when mature.
It contains the thin, flat seeds, neatly packed in six ranks.
The flowers are usually an inch long, though they are sometimes two inches
long. A plant was once found three and a half feet high, with a chime of
nineteen bells.
BLACK LILY. CHOCOLATE-LILY.
_Fritillaria biflora_, Lindl. Lily Family.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from San Diego to Mendocino County.
We have a number of species of _Fritillaria_, most of them with beautiful
flowers. They fall naturally into two groups, according to the character of
the bulb; _F. lanceolata_ and _F. biflora_ being types of the two groups.
_F. biflora_, the black, or chocolate, lily, is the species common in the
south, and blooms early. It closely resembles _F. lanceolata_, but can
always be distinguished by its bulb, which is composed of several erect,
short, easily separable scales. Its specific name is an unfortunate one;
for, far from being confined to two flowers, it often has as many as ten.
_F. pluriflora_, Torr., found upon the upper Sacramento, has flowers of a
uniform reddish-purple, without mottling or spots. It has a comparatively
large bulb, an inch or so long, formed of separate scales.
_F. pudica_, Spreng., found on the eastern slopes of the Sierras, has
solitary yellow flowers.
_F. liliacea_, Lindl., is our only white species. This is found upon the
hills of San Francisco and in the Sacramento Valley. It has a whorl of
leaves near the ground and two or three greenish-white, nodding flowers. It
is exceedingly local.
LARGE-FLOWERED PHACELIA.
_Phacelia grandiflora_, Gray. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Coarse, glandular-viscid plants; one to three feet high.
_Leaves._--Round-ovate; irregularly toothed; sometimes three or
four inches long. _Flowers._--Lavender to white; variously
streaked and veined with purple. _Corolla._--Rotate; two inches
across; without scalelike appendages in the throat.
_Filaments._--Long; purple. Anthers large; versatile. Style
two-cleft. (See _Phacelia_.) _Hab._--From Santa Barbara to San
Diego.
This is the largest-flowered of all our _Phacelias_. Its tall stems are
abundantly covered above with the fine-looking blossoms. These are very
attractive to the uninitiated, who usually rushes forward in breathless
haste to possess himself of these new-found treasures and is rarely
satisfied with less than a large bunch of them. But woe lies in wait for
him. The innumerable glands, covering the whole plant, readily yield up
their viscid fluid, which in a few moments turns everything with which it
comes in contact to a deep red-brown, like iron-rust. If he escape with
ruined clothing, and hands the color of a red Indian, he will have come off
well--for the plant poisons some people.
Another species--_P. viscida_, Torr.--found in about the same range as the
above, resembles it closely. It is a foot or so high, branching from the
base, and has blue flowers, with purple or white centers, and only half the
size of the above.
VIOLET NIGHTSHADE.
_Solanum Xanti_, Gray. Nightshade Family.
Herbaceous nearly to the base; viscid-pubescent, with jointed
hairs. _Stems._--Several feet high. _Leaves._--Two inches or
less long; sometimes with lobes at the base; thin.
_Flowers._--An inch or so across. _Calyx._--Five-parted.
_Corolla._--Violet, with green spots ringed with white at the
base. _Stamens._--Five. Filaments short. Anthers erect; opening
terminally. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style filiform; exserted.
_Berries._--Purple; six lines in diameter. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
These plants are especially abundant in the south, where one encounters
them upon every roadside. The clusters of violet flowers are very handsome,
and often have the perfume of the wild rose.
Another species--_S. umbelliferum_, Esch.--is so nearly like the above as
to be often confounded with it. But it has smaller, thicker leaves, the
hairs are branched, and it is more woody below, with shorter flowering
branches.
We once saw, in an ideal Japanese villa among the redwoods, a rustic arbor
over which had been trained the rough, woody stems of one of these
nightshades. The genius of these wise little people, who had adapted this
pretty woodland climber to sylvan cultivation, seemed to us worthy of
emulation.
GREEN-BANDED MARIPOSA. NOONA.
_Calochortus macrocarpus_, Dougl. Lily Family
Nature has sent this, one of the finest and most elegant of all our
_Mariposas_, to beautify the arid sagebrush deserts of our northeastern
boundary. In Europe it is admired beyond all our other species, and there
is a great demand for the bulbs. Its large flowers are of a beautiful
lilac, similar in tone to the Marie Louise violet, and each pointed petal
has a green band running down its center.
[Illustration VIOLET NIGHTSHADE--_Solanum Xanti_.]
Among the Indians of their native region the rather large bulbs of these
plants are known as "noonas," and regarded as a priceless delicacy. Even
those who have never experienced the bliss of tasting them know them by
reputation as the acme of all that is delicious. When Mr. Johnson, of
Astoria, wished to secure a number of the bulbs for the European market, he
hired the squaws to dig them, but found that they ate them as fast as they
dug them; and it was only by offering them most liberal stores of bacon and
flour he could induce them to restrain their appetites and part with the
treasure.
SKULLCAP.
_Scutellaria tuberosa_, Benth. Mint Family.
_Stems._--Several inches high, or at length trailing, and a
foot long; from small tubers. _Leaves._--One inch long and
less; not aromatic. _Flowers._--Axillary; blue-purple.
_Calyx._--Bilabiate. _Corolla._--Six lines or more long;
tubular; bilabiate. _Stamens._--Four; in pairs; ascending;
contained in the helmet. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets.
Style filiform. _Hab._--Hillsides, from San Diego northward;
probably throughout the State.
The bright-green herbage and the rich purple-blue flowers of the little
skullcap may be looked for early in February. In the north they grow upon
dry, stony hill-slopes under the chaparral, while southward they often
affect the walls of cañons, among moist, luxuriant vegetation.
Though borne in the axils of the opposite leaves, the pretty blossoms, by a
twist of their pedicels, stand side by side in pairs, in a very sociable
way. The curious little two-lipped calyx resembles an old-fashioned Quaker
bonnet.
Another species--_S. angustifolia_, Pursh.--has linear to oblong leaves, an
inch long; flowers an inch or more long, the lower lobe of whose corolla is
hairy within, and the root is not tuberous. It is otherwise like the above.
_S. Californica_, Gray, is very similar to the last species, but has
cream-white flowers. This is found in early summer upon dry banks.
[Illustration SKULLCAP--_Scutellaria tuberosa_.]
CORAL-ROOT.
_Corallorhiza Bigelovii_, Wats. Orchis Family.
Leafless plants, with coral-like roots.
_Scapes._--Flesh-colored; six to twenty-four inches high, with
two to four scarious, sheathing bracts. _Flowers._--Few to
many; sessile. _Perianth._--Of six segments. The five upper
yellowish, striped with purple. The lip yellowish, tipped with
deep red-purple. _Anther._--One; resting upon the column like a
lid; falling early. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Central and
northern Coast Ranges and Sierras.
The coral-root is very rare in some localities, and one may not meet it
more than a few times. But there are favored spots where its flesh-colored
stems rear themselves luxuriantly. One year I saw a magnificent bunch of
them in the hands of some friends who were taking them to San Francisco to
furnish a rare and costly decoration for some festive occasion. Some of the
stems were two feet tall and thickly covered above with the odd flowers,
making a cluster which it would be difficult to equal for quiet elegance of
coloring.
The plants are often found in redwood groves or upon wooded hill-slopes of
north exposure, where the dull stems and flowers blend so nicely into the
dead needles and leaves upon the ground that it is difficult to detect
their presence.
As its name indicates, the root is the counterpart of a spray of branching
coral.
Another species--_C. multiflora_, Nutt.--has stems of a colder purple; and
the lip of the flower is white, spotted with purple, somewhat fan-shaped
and three-lobed.
[Illustration CORAL-ROOT--_Corallorhiza Bigelovii_.]
CALIFORNIA LILAC. BLUE MYRTLE. BLUE-BLOSSOM.
_Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_, Esch. Buckthorn Family.
Varying from small, prostrate shrubs in exposed places, to
erect shrubs or small trees. _Branches._--Strongly angled; not
spiny. _Leaves._--Elliptical; twelve to eighteen lines long;
three-nerved; smooth and shining above. _Flowers._--Bright to
pale blue, rarely white; in dense clusters about three inches
long, terminating the usually elongated, somewhat leafy
peduncles. _Capsules._--Globose; two lines in diameter; smooth,
not crested; slightly lobed. (See _Ceanothus_.) _Hab._--Near
the coast, from Monterey northward into Oregon.
In the spring our chaparral-covered slopes begin to take on a bluish tinge,
like the misty smoke of distant camp-fires, for which the blossoms of the
California lilac are responsible. This is a graceful evergreen shrub, with
rich, shining leaves, among which the abundant feathery clusters of tiny
blue flowers find a charming setting. The blossoms are deliciously
fragrant, filling the cool air with perfume.
This shrub is never found far away from the coast, and it reaches its
greatest beauty in Mendocino County, where it becomes a tree, sometimes
thirty-five feet high. Its wood is exceedingly brittle. In early days it
used to be cultivated in San Francisco gardens before it was crowded out by
foreign shrubs, often far less worthy.
It is known in some localities as "blue myrtle," and in others as
"blue-blossom." The name "California lilac," by which it is most often
known, is more generally and more appropriately applied to this species of
_Ceanothus_ than to any of the others.
The dark seeds are a favorite food of the quail.
[Illustration CALIFORNIA LILAC--_Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_.]
BLUE LARKSPUR. ESPUELA DEL CABALLERO.
_Delphinium_, Tourn. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
California is rich in beautiful larkspurs, but the species are very
difficult of determination and not well defined as yet. We have two
well-marked scarlet species; but confusion still reigns among the blue and
the white. Some of the latter are poisonous to sheep and cattle, causing
great losses to the herds every year in some localities.
Among the blue larkspurs are some of our handsomest spring flowers. Their
slender wands, covered with magnificent large blossoms, rise abundantly on
every side upon some of the mesas of our seashore, making charming
flower-gardens upon the plains. They are so lavishly bestowed that every
comer may gather his fill and still none be missed. In color they are
matchless--of the richest of Mazarin blue and purple-blue.
Other species are to be found upon the slopes of interior valleys and
scattered all through the Coast Ranges and the Sierra foothills. In
midsummer, which is the vernal springtime of the mountains, many lovely
species deck the alpine meadows and brooksides.
The Spanish-Californians have a pretty title for these blossoms--"espuela
del caballero"--"the cavalier's spur."
[Illustration BLUE LARKSPUR.]
CAT'S-EARS. PUSSY'S-EARS.
_Calochortus Maweanus_, Leichtlein. Lily Family.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from San Francisco and
Butte County to the Willamette Valley.
This is an exceedingly pretty little _Calochortus_, much resembling _C.
Benthami_ in form, but having pure-white or purplish-blue flowers, which
are also covered with hairs and delicately fringed with hairs on the
margin. Its stems are low, slender, and graceful, without bulblets at the
base; and the gland upon the petals has a transverse scale covering its
upper portion.
This plant belongs to the section of _Calochortus_ whose species are known
as "star-tulips." In the Coast Ranges, in early spring, the blossoms are
found in moist meadows near the sea, where they nestle amid the grasses.
The children are specially fond of them, and know them as "cat's-ears" and
"pussy's-ears."
_C. uniflorus_, Hook. and Arn., found in wet meadows from San Francisco
northward, has lilac to rose-purple flowers. Its petals are hairy on the
lower third, and its stems bear small bulblets at the base underground.
_C. umbellatus_, Wood., is very similar to _C. Maweanus_; but its
pure-white petals are almost without hairs, and its stem is without
bulblets. This is found blooming in March and April on the low mountains of
Contra Costa and Marin Counties.
PURPLE NEMOPHILA.
_Nemophila aurita_, Lindl. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet long; square; angled; weak; very
brittle; with backward-pointing, hooked bristles.
_Leaves._--All with a dilated, clasping, eared base or winged
petiole; above deeply pinnatifid into five to nine oblong or
lanceolate, downward-pointing lobes. _Corolla._--Violet; an
inch or so across. (Otherwise as _Nemophila insignis_.)
_Hab._--From San Francisco to San Diego.
[Illustration _CAT'S-EARS--Calochortus Maweanus._]
The purple _Nemophila_ is most abundant in the south, growing everywhere in
early springtime upon hillsides partially shaded. Its long, coarse,
hispid stems run riot over small undershrubs or dead or unsightly
brushwood, often completely covering them with a mound of foliage thickly
sown with the dull-purple flowers.
At first it is difficult to realize that this plant of coarse habit belongs
to the sisterhood of baby-eyes, those delicate, ethereal favorites of the
springtime. In fact, one's first impression of it is that it is some new
species of nightshade. One learns, however, to have a fondness for these
blossoms and a growing desire to gather them; but their tangling,
quarrelsome habit forbids one, if any other flowers are in question.
It is said that the dark-eyed señoritas of early days decked their
ball-dresses with sprays of this flower, which clung gracefully to the thin
fabrics.
GROUND-IRIS.
_Iris macrosiphon_, Torr. Iris Family.
Almost stemless plants, often forming mats.
_Rhizome._--Slender. _Radical-leaves._--Grasslike; six to
fifteen inches long. _Buds._--One or two; borne in sheathing
bracts. _Flowers._--On short pedicels; deep purple-blue, marked
with white. _Perianth._--With slender tube one to three inches
long. _Stamens._--Three; borne under the petaloid divisions of
the style. _Ovary._--Three-celled. _Capsule._--Oblong-ovoid;
shortly acute at each end; one inch long. Seeds in two rows in
each cell; compressed and angled. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges,
from San Mateo to Trinity County.
When spring is at its height, this charming little _Iris_ may be found upon
sunny, open hillsides among the unrolling crosiers of the common brake.
There is something peculiarly captivating about these blossoms, with their
satisfying richness of hue and perfect symmetry of form, added to which is
a sweet, delicate perfume, an ideal exhalation of the springtime.
As the buds unfold beautifully in water, it is better to gather buds than
flowers, as the latter are too fragile to carry without breaking.
[Illustration GROUND-IRIS--_Iris macrosiphon_.]
_I. longipetala_, Herb., is the common bog-iris of our central coast. It
grows in large clumps in wet places, and while not a delicate flower, it
has a certain brave, hardy look as it stands out upon the wind-swept
downs of the Coast. Its stems are rather stout, a foot or two high, and
have from three to five large lilac flowers. The sepals are veined with
deeper lilac and blotched with orange.
WILD HELIOTROPE. VERVENIA.
_Phacelia tanacetifolia_, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high; rough and hairy.
_Leaves._--Much divided. _Flowers._--Bright violet to blue; in
clustered, scorpioid racemes. _Calyx-lobes._--Linear or
linear-spatulate. _Corolla._--Six lines long. Style two-cleft.
(See _Phacelia_.) _Hab._--Throughout the western part of the
State.
The wild heliotrope is one of the most abundant flowers of midspring,
especially in the south. It affects the gravelly banks of streams or the
sandy soil of mesas; or grows all along the railroad embankments, making
great mounds of foliage, thickly sown with the bright violet-blue blossoms;
or it may often be seen clambering up through small shrubs, seeming to seek
the support of their stiff branches. It is needless to say that this is not
a true heliotrope, but belongs to the closely allied genus, _Phacelia_.
The specific name, _tanacetifolia_, meaning with tansy-like leaves, is
more applicable to the _var. tenuifolia_, Thurber. Among the
Spanish-Californians it is known as "vervenía."
It is a very important honey-plant.
_P. Douglasii_, Torr., is a species with lavender corolla with much the
aspect of the baby-blue-eyes. This is common in the western part of the
State, south of Monterey, and is found sparingly north of that point.
[Illustration WILD HELIOTROPE--_Phacelia tanacetifolia_.]
BLUE-EYED GRASS. AZULEA. VILLELA.
_Sisyrinchium bellum_, Wats. Iris Family.
_Leaves._--Radical; grasslike; shorter than the stems. _Stems._--Flat;
clustered; six to eighteen inches high. _Flowers._--Four to seven;
contained in two nearly equal sheathing bracts. _Perianth._--Six-parted;
purplish-blue, with yellow center; six lines to an inch across.
_Stamens._--Three. Filaments united. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style
filiform. Stigma spindle-shaped; three-cleft after fertilization.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
The blue-eyed grass is such a modest flower, one would never suspect it to
be closely allied to the regal _Iris_. In late spring its quiet stars are
found in our meadows everywhere. In the south it grows so luxuriantly and
so determinedly that it has become a serious pest to the farmer, crowding
more useful plants from the pasture.
Owing to the quaint manner in which its petals kink up when they fade,
these blossoms are called "nigger-babies" by the children. Among the
Spanish-Californians the plant is known as "azulea" and "villela," and is
made into a tea, which is considered a valuable remedy in fevers. It is
thought that a patient can subsist for many days upon it alone.
_S. Californicum_, Ait., the "golden-eyed grass," with bright yellow
flowers, is found in wet places all up and down the Coast.
BABY-EYES. BLUE-VEINED NEMOPHILA.
_Nemophila intermedia_, Bioletti. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf
Family.
_Leaves._--With petioles somewhat widened at base and ciliate;
the upper all opposite. _Corolla._--Nine to twelve lines wide;
light blue to white; distinctly blue-veined or more or less
sown with purple dots. Scales of the corolla long, narrow,
hairy, with expanded tips extending nearly to the sinuses.
_Ovary._--Rounded; with twelve to twenty-four ovules.
(Otherwise as _N. insignis_.) _Syn._--_Nemophila Menziesii_,
Hook. and Arn. _Hab._--Rather widespread.
[Illustration BLUE-EYED GRASS--_Sisyrinchium bellum_.]
This beautiful _Nemophila_ is a more fragile flower than its sister, the
baby-blue-eyes. Its delicate corolla is usually white in the center,
blending to azure-blue upon the rim, and dotted and veined with the same.
At its best, it is an inch across. It affects the borders of moist
woodlands, rarely venturing far out into the openings. There it nestles
amid the tender herbage, often producing its ethereal flowers in such
profusion that it seems as though bits of the sky had fallen to earth. In
the south these blossoms do not seem so truly at home--for they are never
so large nor so fine.
CALIFORNIAN MILKWORT.
_Polygala Californica_, Nutt. Milkwort Family.
_Stems._--Two to eight inches high. _Leaves._--Six to twelve
lines long. _Flowers._--Rose-purple. _Sepals._--Five; two of
them large and spreading like wings; six lines or less long.
_Petals._--Three; united to each other and to the stamen-tube;
the middle one hooded above and beaked. _Stamens._--Eight.
Filaments united into a sheath, which is open above. Anthers
one-celled; opening terminally. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style
enlarging upward; curved like a button-hook. _Pod._--Rounded;
flat; three or four lines across. _Syn._--_P. cucullata_,
Benth. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges southward to Santa Barbara and
beyond.
In late spring the little flowers of the milkwort are common upon dry
hill-slopes in the shade of the trees. The small plants have a very
grown-up look, as though their age might be greater than indicated by their
stature. At first glance, one is quite certain to mistake these plants for
members of the pea family, as the blossoms have wings and a keel like the
papilionaceous flower. But a careful counting of sepals, petals, and
stamens will reveal their separate identity.
A curious feature of this plant is the fact that it bears another kind of
flower near the root. This is without petals, and is destined, for some
strange reason, to bear the seed. The upper flowers seem mostly for show,
though one does occasionally mature fruit.
_P. cornuta_, Kell., found in the Sierras, is a larger plant, with
greenish-white flowers.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN MILKWORT--_Polygala Californica_.]
WILD CANTERBURY-BELL.
_Phacelia Whitlavia_, Gray. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
A foot or so high; very hairy and glandular.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; ovate or deltoid; toothed;
twelve to eighteen lines long. _Flowers._--Purple.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--An inch or more long.
_Stamens._--Five; on the base of the corolla; appendaged at
base; long-exserted, with the two-cleft style.
_Ovary._--Two-celled. _Syn._--_Whitlavia grandiflora_, Harv.
_Hab._--From Los Angeles to San Bernardino.
The wild Canterbury-bell is one of the most charming flowers to be found
anywhere. It affects the rich soil of half-shaded hill-slopes in the
vicinity of streams, where it opens its beautiful fragile bells. Its stems
are very brittle, and the blossoms fall early, the lower ones usually
having passed away before the upper buds have emerged from the coil. The
exceedingly long stamens and style give these blossoms an elegant, airy
look.
_P. Parryi_, Torr., is another beautiful species, found from Los Angeles to
San Diego. It resembles the above in foliage, color of blossoms, and the
long stamens; but the form of the flowers is that of the _Nemophila_.
BIRD'S-EYES.
_Gilia tricolor_, Benth. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--Slender; branching; six inches to a foot or more
high. _Leaves._--Twice pinnately parted into narrow linear
lobes. _Corolla._--Six lines long; with yellow tube;
funnel-form throat, marked with deep violet-purple; and lilac
or white limb. (See _Gilia_.) _Hab._--Throughout Western
California.
Whole slopes are often carpeted with this dainty _Gilia_, producing an
effect which has been described as like light chinchilla. The little
blossoms have a peculiarly fresh and winsome look, and are called
"bird's-eyes" by the children. The corollas are delicate lilac, blending
into white toward the center, while the throat has five purple spots
within, which give way to bright gold below.
[Illustration WILD CANTERBURY-BELL--_Phacelia Whitlavia_.]
BABY-BLUE-EYES. CALIFORNIAN BLUEBELLS. MARIANAS.
_Nemophila insignis_, Dougl. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Tender, more or less hairy herbs. _Stems._--Branching; six to
twelve inches long. _Leaves._--Pinnately parted into five to
nine small, oblong, entire or two- to five-lobed divisions.
_Calyx._--Five-parted, with five extra, alternating, reflexed
lobes. _Corolla._--An inch or more across; from azure-blue,
with a large, well-defined white center, more or less dotted,
to deep blue. The throat furnished with ten short, wide, hairy
scales, or plates. _Stamens._--Five; on the corolla.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style two-cleft. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
When skies are smiling and the earth is already clothed with a luxuriant
and tender herbage, we find upon some balmy morning that the baby-eyes have
opened in gentle surprise upon the lovely world. The spring breezes blow
over no more beautiful and ethereal flowers than these. Companies of them
open together, dotting the sward and luring us on from one to another, the
one just beyond always seeming a little brighter blue or a little more
captivating than those near at hand, till we are beguiled into filling our
hands with them.
These delicate blossoms vary greatly in size and color. The largest and
finest I ever saw grew upon the flower-sprinkled slopes of Lake Merced,
near San Francisco. There the perfect azure corollas were an inch and a
half across, with the large white circle in the center well defined.
Under southern skies it becomes a deep Yale blue, with the texture of
tissue-paper, and with dark red-brown anthers.
From the campanulate, half-opened buds, it has been called "Californian
bluebell," and among the Spanish-Californians it is known as "Mariana."
[Illustration BABY-BLUE-EYES--_Nemophila insignis_.]
LILAC SAND-VERBENA. WILD LANTANA.
_Abronia villosa_, Wats. Four-o'clock Family.
Plants with more or less glandular-villous pubescence. _Stems._--Prostrate.
_Leaves._--Rarely an inch long. _Peduncles._--One to three inches long;
five- to fifteen-flowered. _Involucral bracts._--Lanceolate; three or four
lines long. _Perianth._--Lilac; four or five lines across; with obcordate
lobes. (Otherwise as _A. latifotia_.) _Hab._--San Diego and eastward; also
in southern deserts.
The charming flowers of the lilac sand-verbena are not found upon the
immediate sea-beach, but always a little withdrawn from it, where the soil
is more firmly established, yet within sight and sound of the waves. The
blossoms have a delicate beauty, not shared by our other species of
_Abronia_, and somewhat resemble our garden verbenas. They are sometimes
called "wild lantana."
_A. umbellata_, Lam., is common all up and down our coast, often making
masses of deep pink on the beach; while _A. maritima_, Nutt., is found from
Santa Barbara to San Diego. The latter is a very stout, coarse, viscid
plant, with small, very deep magenta flowers.
CAMASS. KAMASS. WILD HYACINTH.
_Camassia esculenta_, Lindl. Lily Family.
Bulbs coated. _Leaves._--Radical; six or eight; grasslike;
three to eight lines broad; usually shorter than the scape.
_Scape._--Twelve to twenty-four inches high; loosely ten- to
twenty-flowered. Pedicels three to twelve lines long.
_Flowers._--From dark blue to nearly white; seven to fifteen
lines long or more; an inch or so across. _Perianth._--Of six
distinct, oblanceolate, three- to seven-nerved segments.
_Stamens._--Six; shorter than the segments. Anthers yellow.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style filiform; about equaling the
perianth; slightly three-cleft at the summit. _Hab._--From
Central California to Washington.
In some localities these plants are found covering meadows and marshy
tracts in great profusion. They bear beautiful clusters of showy blue
flowers, somewhat like the hyacinth in habit, and have long been favorites
in European gardens. We are especially interested in them, however, on
account of the bulbs, which are about an inch in diameter and very
nutritious.
Grizzly bears, when more plentiful in the early days, were particularly
fond of them; and the northern Indians to-day value them very highly as an
article of diet, calling them "kamáss." Indeed, the Nez Percé Indian war in
Idaho was caused by encroachments upon the territory which was especially
rich in these bulbs. The plants are more abundant north of us than with us.
Mr. Macoun gives a most interesting account in "Garden and Forest" of the
preparation of kamáss among the Indians, which is a very important and
elaborate performance. He says, in substance: For some days beforehand the
squaws were busily engaged in carrying into camp branches of alder and
maple, bundles of skunk-cabbage (_Lysichiton_), and a quantity of a black,
hairlike lichen, which grows in profusion upon the western larch. A hole
ten feet square and two feet deep was then dug, and a large fire was made
in this, in which they heated a great many small boulders to the glowing
point. They then piled maple and alder boughs over these to the depth of a
foot or more, tramped them down, and laid over them the leaves of the
skunk-cabbage. Thin sheets of tamarack bark were spread over the steaming
green mass, and upon these were placed the bulbs in large baskets. The
black lichen was laid over the uncovered bark, and the remaining bulbs were
spread on this. The whole was then covered with boughs and leaves as
before, and sand was sprinkled on to the depth of four or five inches, and
on the top of the whole a larger fire than before was built. The sun was
just setting when this was lighted, and it burned all night. The oven was
left for a day to cool. When opened, the bulbs in the baskets were
dissolved to a flour, from which bread could be made; while those on the
lichen had become amalgamated with it, forming a substance resembling
plug-tobacco, which could be broken up and kept sweet a long time.
When boiled in water, the bulbs yield a very good molasses, much prized by
the Indians, and used by them upon important festival occasions.
There is a white-flowered form of this same species, whose bulb is said to
be poisonous.
INNOCENCE. COLLINSIA.
_Collinsia bicolor_, Benth. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--A foot or so high. _Leaves._--The lower oblong; the upper
ovate-lanceolate. _Calyx._--Unequally five-cleft. _Corolla._--Nine lines
long. Upper lip lilac or white; lower of three lobes; the middle folded
into a keeled sac containing the stamens and style; the two lateral
rose-purple. _Stamens._--Four; in two pairs on the corolla. Upper filaments
bearded. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style filiform. _Hab._--Throughout Western
California.
Where spreading trees cast a dense shade and the moisture still lingers,
companies of lovely _Collinsias_ stand amid the fresh green grasses, their
delicate, many-storied blossoms swaying upon the idle breezes. In the north
these are in the rear guard of spring flowers, and make their appearance
just before the _Godetias_ bid farewell to spring; but in the south they
come earlier. They vary much in color, from the typical rose-purple and
white or lilac to all white.
We have a number of species; but _C. bicolor_ is the most showy and
widespread.
BLACK SAGE. BALL-SAGE.
_Audibertia stachyoides_, Benth. Mint Family.
Shrubby; three to eight feet high; with herbaceous flowering
branches. _Leaves._--Opposite; oblong-lanceolate; tapering into
a petiole; crenate. _Flowers._--In interrupted spikes, having
from three to nine dense, rather remote, headlike, bracteate
whorls. _Calyx._--Bilabiate; each lip with two or three awned
teeth. _Corolla._--Lavender; six lines long; bilabiate. Upper
lip erect; emarginate; lower deflexed; three-lobed.
_Stamens._--Two sterile; two perfect on jointed filaments.
_Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style slender. Stigma
two-cleft. _Hab._--From San Francisco Bay to San Diego.
We have but two or three true sages, or _Salvias_, in California; but the
plants of the closely allied genus _Audibertia_ are with perfect propriety
called sages, as they manifest all the characteristics of that genus,
differing only in the structure of the stamens. There are a number of
species of _Audibertia_, all of them important honey-plants. They are
particularly abundant in the south, where they form a characteristic
feature in the landscape, often covering whole hill-slopes.
[Illustration COLLINSIA--_Collinsia bicolor_.]
_A. stachyoides_ frequently forms dense thickets over vast reaches of
mountain-side, and when in full bloom is very noticeable. Its specific name
is a happy one, denoting its resemblance to the _Stachys_, or hedge-nettle.
But its pointed leaves, shrubby habit, and rank odor, together with its
more numerous flower-whorls, proclaim its separate identity.
_A. nivea_, Benth., found from Santa Barbara to San Diego, has larger
spikes of rich, warm lilac flowers. Nothing could be more charming than the
soft lavender billows of it undulating over slope after slope of wild
mountain-side.
BLUE GILIA.
_Cilia Chamissonis_, Greene. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--About a foot high. _Leaves._--Alternate; dissected into linear
segments. _Flowers._--In capitate clusters an inch and a half across; deep
blue. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--Four lines long; with five obtuse
lobes. _Stamens._--Exserted. Anthers nearly white. (See _Gilia_.)
_Hab._--The Coast of Central California.
This pretty _Gilia_ is quite common about San Francisco in springtime, and
often makes masses of bright deep blue over the fields.
_G. capitata_, Dougl., is a closely allied species, found in the Coast
Ranges from Central California northward. This is in every way a more
delicate plant. Its stems are taller and more slender; its flower-heads are
less than an inch across, and composed of very small light-blue flowers,
with feathery, exserted stamens.
_G. achilleæfolia_, Benth., is a beautiful form, closely related to both
the above, but quite variable in habit. Its flowers are light
lavender-blue, six lines or so long, and are borne in larger clusters,
often two inches across, on long, naked peduncles. At a little distance
these blossoms somewhat resemble the clusters of _Brodiæa capitata_.
[Illustration BLUE GILIA--_Gilia Chamissonis_.]
CHIA. SAGE.
_Salvia Columbariæ_, Benth. Mint Family.
_Stems._--Six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Wrinkly; one
to several inches long. _Flowers._--Blue; in interrupted
whorls. _Whorls._--Twelve to eighteen lines in diameter;
subtended by numerous, ovate-acuminate bracts.
_Calyx._--Bilabiate; upper lip arching, and tipped with two
short bristles; lower, of two awn-like teeth. _Corolla._--Three
or four lines long; bilabiate. Upper lip erect; notched or
two-lobed. Lower deflexed; with three lobes, the central much
larger. _Stamens._--Two. Filaments two; short; apparently
forked--_i.e._ bearing on their summit a cross-bar having on
one end a perfect anther-cell and on the other a dwarfed or
rudimentary one. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style
slender. _Hab._--Throughout the State, specially southward.
This rough-leaved sage is quite common, especially southward, and grows
upon dry hillsides or in sandy washes, where it blossoms in early spring.
Its small bright-blue flowers are borne in an interrupted spike, consisting
of from one to four button-like heads. Each of these heads has below it a
number of leafy bracts, which are often of a bright wine-color, and form a
rather striking combination with the blue flowers.
After the blossoms have passed away, the dried stems and heads remain
standing all over the hills, shaking out the little gray seed in abundance.
These seeds have been for centuries an article of economic importance to
the aborigines and their descendants. Dr. Rothrock writes that among the
Nahua races of ancient Mexico the plant was cultivated as regularly as
corn, and was one of their most important cereals. Quantities of the seed
have been found buried beneath groves which must be at least several
hundred years old. It was in use among the Indians of California before the
occupation of the country by the whites, being known among them as "chia."
Dr. Bard writes of these seeds: "They were roasted, ground, and used as
food by being mixed with water. Thus prepared, it soon develops into a
mucilaginous mass, larger than its original bulk. Its taste is somewhat
like that of linseed meal. It is exceedingly nutritious, and was readily
borne by the stomach when that organ refused to tolerate other aliment. An
atole, or gruel, of this was one of the peace offerings to the first
visiting sailors. One tablespoonful of these seeds was sufficient to
sustain for twenty-four hours an Indian on a forced march. Chia was no less
prized by the native Californian, and at this late date it frequently
commands six or eight dollars a pound."
[Illustration CHIA--_Salvia Columbariæ_.]
When added to water, the seeds make a cooling drink, which has the effect
of assuaging burning thirst--a very valuable quality on the desert.
BLUE-AND-WHITE LUPINE.
_Lupinus bicolor_, Lindl. Pea Family.
_Stems._--Stoutish; six to ten inches high; silky.
_Leaves._--Alternate; with small stipules. _Leaflets._--Five to
seven; linear-spatulate; one inch long. _Flowers._--Four or
five lines long; blue and white; the white changing to
red-purple after fertilization. Upper calyx-lip bifid; lower
twice as long; entire. _Keel._--Falcate; acute; ciliate toward
the apex. _Pod._--Small; about five-seeded. (See _Lupinus_.)
_Hab._--Western Central California.
In late spring the open fields about San Francisco take on a delicate,
amethystine tinge, due to the blossoms of the blue-and-white lupine. After
fertilization has taken place, the white in these blossoms turns to deep
red, and this admixture gives the general lilac tone to the mass.
DOUGLAS IRIS.
_Iris Douglasiana_, Herb. Iris Family.
_Rhizomes._--Stoutish; clumps not dense.
_Radical-leaves._--Strongly ribbed underneath; dark, shining
green above; one to three feet long; three to eight lines
broad; flexile; rosy pink at base. _Stems._--Simple; two- or
three-flowered. Flowers.--On pedicels six to eighteen lines
long; deep reddish-purple, lilac, or cream.
_Perianth-tube._--Six to twelve lines long.
_Capsule._--Narrowly oblong; acutely triangular; twenty lines
long. Seeds nearly globular. (Otherwise as _I. macrosiphon_.)
_Hab._--The Coast, from Santa Cruz to Marin County.
On account of the bright and varied hues of its flowers, the genus _Iris_
was named for the rainbow-winged messenger of the gods. In France it is
known as "fleur-de-lis," a name whose origin has caused endless discussion
and has been accounted for in many ways. There are many species, all of
them beautiful. Orris-root is the product of the lovely white Florentine
_Iris_.
[Illustration BLUE-AND-WHITE LUPINE--_Lupinus bicolor_.]
In California we have several comparatively well-known species, and a
number of others which are without names as yet; but the Douglas _Iris_ is
probably our most beautiful. It thrives well upon open mesas or upon
well-drained hill-slope in the shelter of the chaparral. But it is found at
its best in the rich soil of moist woodlands, whose seclusion seems the
most fitting abode for so aristocratic a flower. There, surrounded by the
delicate greenery of fern-fronds and a hundred other tender, springing
things, it seems to hold a sylvan court, receiving homage from all the
other denizens of the wood. There is a certain marked and personal
individuality about these flowers which makes encountering them seem like
meeting certain distinguished personages.
ITHURIEL'S SPEAR. BLUE MILLA.
_Brodiæa laxa_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Corm._--Small; fiber-coated. _Leaves._--Usually two; radical;
linear channeled. _Scapes._--Six inches to two feet high.
_Umbels._--Of ten to thirty or more purple or violet, or even
white, flowers. _Pedicels._--One to three inches long.
_Perianth._--Twelve to twenty lines long. _Stamens._--Six; in
two rows; the upper opposite the inner lobes of the perianth.
_Ovary._--Three-celled; on a stalk six lines long. _Hab._--From
Kern County to Northern Oregon.
After the delicate _Collinsias_ have stolen away, the beautiful flowers of
Ithuriel's spear begin to claim our attention in open grassy spots on the
borders of rich woodlands. The common name is a happy one; for there is
something commanding about this tall blossom-crowned shaft. It will perhaps
be remembered that the angel Ithuriel possessed a truth compelling spear.
When Satan, disguised, went to the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve, Ithuriel
and Zephon were sent to expel him.
[Illustration ITHURIEL'S SPEAR--_Brodiæa laxa_.]
... "him there they found,
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
Illusions as he list, phantasms, and dreams;
* * * * *
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness: up he starts
Discovered and surprised."
BEACH-ASTER.
_Erigeron glaucus_, Ker. Composite Family.
Six to twelve inches high, having a tuft of radical leaves and
some ascending stems. _Leaves._--Obovate or spatulate-oblong;
one to four inches long; pale; somewhat succulent; slightly
viscid. _Flower-heads._--Composed of dull-yellow disk-flowers
and bright-violet ray-flowers. _Disk._--Eight lines or so
across. _Rays._--Six or eight lines long; narrow; numerous; in
several rows. _Hab._--The Coast, from Oregon to Southern
California.
Almost anywhere upon our Coast, "within the roar of a surf-tormented
shore," we can find the beautiful blossoms of the beach-aster. We may know
them by their resemblance to the China asters of our gardens, though they
are not so large. They present a most delightful combination of color in
their old-gold centers, violet rays, and rather pale foliage.
TOAD-FLAX.
_Linaria Canadensis_, Dumont. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Slender; six inches to two feet high.
_Leaves._--Mostly alternate on the flowering stems, but smaller
and broader ones often opposite or whorled on the procumbent
shoots; linear; smooth. _Flowers._--Blue; in terminal racemes;
like those of _Antirrhinum_, but the tube furnished with a
long, downward-pointing spur at base. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
The delicate blue flowers of the toad-flax are not uncommon in spring, and
the plants are usually found in sandy soil. The little blossoms are very
ethereal and have a sweet perfume. I once saw a deep blue band upon a mesa
near San Diego, which vied in richness with the ultramarine of the sea just
beyond. It stretched for some distance, and at last curved around and
crossed the road over which I was passing, when it proved to be made up of
millions of these delicate flowers. The color effect seemed cumulative, for
the mass was so much richer and deeper than the individual flowers.
[Illustration BEACH-ASTER--_Erigeron glaucus_.]
CATALINA MARIPOSA TULIP.
_Calochortus Catalinæ_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Stems._--Two feet high; loosely branching; bulbiferous. Leaves
and bracts linear-lanceolate. _Flowers._--Erect; eighteen lines
or so long. _Sepals._--Green without; scarious-margined;
whitish within; with purple spot at base; one inch long; acute.
_Petals._--White; with garnet base; bearing a round gland
covered with hairs. Filaments garnet. _Capsule._--Narrowly
oblong; three-sided; obtuse; an inch or two long. Seeds flat;
horizontal. (See _Calochortus_.) _Hab._--From San Luis Obispo
County to San Bernardino; and the islands off the Coast.
This is one of the earliest _Mariposas_ to bloom in the south. Its
beautiful, stately white cups have a garnet base within, and this, with its
oblong, obtuse capsule and horizontal seeds, clearly identifies it. These
blossoms are favorite resting-places for the bees, who are often beguiled
in them from their labors and lulled to a gentle slumber. We have
frequently startled the little truants from these siestas, and with
amusement watched them struggling for a moment before regaining
consciousness and whizzing away once more upon their round of duties.
This may be designated our maritime _Calochortus_, as it is found mostly
near the Coast or upon its islands.
_C. splendens_, Dougl., found in the Coast Ranges from Lake County to San
Diego, is sometimes confused with the above. It is a beautiful flower,
whose petals are a clear rose-lilac without spots or marks, with long,
whitish, cobwebby hairs on their middle third. Its anthers are purple or
lilac, three to six lines long.
DOG-VIOLET.
_Viola canina, var. adunca_, Gray. Violet Family.
_Stems._--Leafy; several from the rootstocks. _Leaves._--Ovate;
often somewhat cordate at base; acute or obtuse; six to
eighteen lines long; obscurely crenate. Stipules foliaceous;
narrowly lanceolate; lacerately toothed. _Flowers._--Violet or
purple; rather large. Lateral petals bearded. Spur as long as
the sepals; rather slender; obtuse; hooked or curved.
(Otherwise as _V. pedunculata_.) _Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from
San Francisco to Washington.
... "violets
Which yet join not scent to hue
Crown the pale year weak and new."
Nestling amid the grasses on many a moist mesa by the sea, the modest
flowers of the dog-violet may be found at almost any time of year. They
vary greatly in the length of their stems, according to the season and the
locality of growth.
THISTLE-SAGE.
_Salvia carduacea_, Benth. Mint Family.
_Leaves._--All radical; thistle-like; with cobwebby wool.
_Stems._--Stout; a foot or two high. _Flower-whorls._--An inch
or two through. _Calyx._--Bilabiate; with five spiny teeth.
_Corolla._--Lavender; an inch long. Upper lip erect; two-cleft.
Lower fan-shaped; white-fringed. _Stamens._--On the lower lip.
Proper filaments very short, with one short and one long fork,
each bearing an anther-cell. (Otherwise like _S. Columbariæ_.)
_Hab._--Western and Southern California.
Upon the dry, open plains of the south, the charming flowers of the
thistle-sage make their appearance by May. Upon the train we pass myriads
of them standing along the embankments, and seeming to beckon mockingly at
us, well knowing the train almost never stops where we can get them.
These plants present the most remarkable blending of the rigid,
uncompromising, touch-me-not aspect and the ethereal and fragile. In each
of the several stories of the flower-cluster there are usually a number of
the exquisitely delicate flowers in bloom at once, standing above the
hemisphere of densely crowded, spiny calyx-tips. Nothing more airy or
fantastic could well be imagined than these diaphanous blossoms. The upper
lip of the corolla stands erect, its two lobes side by side, or crossed
like two delicate little hands. The lower lip has two small and
inconspicuous lateral lobes and one large central one, which is like the
ruff of a fantail pigeon and daintily fringed with white. The color
combination in these blossoms is charming. To the sage green of the foliage
and the lilac of the blossoms is added the dash of orange in the anthers
that puts the finishing touch. The whole plant has a heavy, dull odor of
sage.
This species is also sometimes called "chia," and its seeds are used in the
same manner as those of our other _Salvia_, but to no such extent.
VIOLET BEARD-TONGUE.
_Pentstemon heterophyllus_, Lindl. Figwort Family.
Woody at base; many-stemmed. _Stems._--Two to five feet tall.
_Leaves._--Lanceolate or linear; or the lowest
oblong-lanceolate; diminishing into narrow floral bracts.
_Panicle._--Narrow. Pedicels one- to three-flowered; short and
erect. _Corolla._--Rose-purple, or violet suffused with pink;
an inch or more long; ventricose-funnel-form above the narrow,
slender tube. (See _Pentstemon_.) _Hab._--Western California,
specially southward.
The beautiful flowers of the violet beard-tongue are often seen among the
soft browns of our dusty roadsides in early summer. They are truly charming
flowers, and we marvel how any one can pass them by unnoticed. I have seen
them especially showy in the southern part of the State, in Santa Barbara
and Ventura Counties, where the plants often spread over two or three feet,
sending up innumerable slender flower-covered wands. The undeveloped buds
are of a characteristic greenish-yellow tone, making an unusual contrast to
the expanded flowers and the rather pale foliage. The structure of the
anthers is quite interesting, each cell consisting of a little bag with
bristly margins, the two together being heart-shaped in outline.
_P. azureus_, Benth., or the "azure beard-tongue," is very similar to the
above, growing from one to three feet high; but it is smooth and glaucous;
its leaves are inclined to have a broader base, and its flowers are usually
larger, azure blue, approaching violet, sometimes having a red-purple
tube, while its border is often an inch across. This is found throughout
the State, but is more common in the interior and in the Sierras. Its buds
are not yellow.
[Illustration AZURE BEARD-TONGUE--_Pentstemon heterophyllus_.]
WILD GINGER.
_Asarum caudatum_, Lindl. Birthwort Family.
_Rootstocks._--Creeping; aboveground. _Leaves._--Alternate; two
to four inches long; heart-shaped; not mottled; shining green.
_Flowers._--Raisin-colored. _Perianth._--With spherical tube
and three long-pointed lobes, thirty lines long.
_Stamens._--Twelve. Filaments more or less coherent in groups,
adherent to the styles, and produced beaklike beyond the
anthers. _Ovary._--Six-celled. Styles united; equaling the
stamens. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges from Santa Cruz to British
Columbia.
The beautiful long-stemmed leaves of the wild ginger stand upon the borders
of many a shaded cañon stream, seeming to enjoy the gossiping of the brook
as it gurgles by. The leaves and roots of these plants are aromatic, and
the former when crushed emit a pleasant fragrance, similar to that of the
camphor-laurel. The branching rootstocks, creeping along the surface of the
ground, grow from their tips; which are swathed in the undeveloped silky
leaves.
In the spring a warm hue comes among these closely-folded leaves, and
presently a curious dull-colored bud begins to protrude its long tip from
their midst. This bud looks as though some worm had eaten off its end; but
we soon see that its blunt appearance is due to the fact that the long
prongs of the sepals are neatly folded in upon themselves, like the jointed
leg of an insect. It must require considerable force in the flower to
unfurl them. When at length expanded, these blossoms have the look of some
rapacious, hobgoblin spider, lurking for its prey.
Another species--_A. Hartwegi_, Wats.--the "Sierra wild ginger," is easily
distinguished from the above by its white-mottled leaves, which grow in
clusters, and by its smaller flowers. It blooms later than the other, its
flowers lasting into July. These plants are closely related to the
"Dutchman's pipe."
[Illustration WILD GINGER--_Asarum caudatum_.]
COMMON MILKWEED. SILKWEED.
_Asclepias Mexicana_, Cav. Milkweed Family.
_Stems._--Three to five feet high; slender. _Leaves._--Mostly
whorled and fascicled; linear-lanceolate; short-petioled; two
to six inches long. _Peduncles._--Erect; slender; often in
whorls. _Flowers._--Very small and numerous; in umbels; white
and lavender. _Corolla-lobes._--Two lines long.
_Anthers._--Twice the filament column. _Horns._--Awl-shaped;
arising from below the middle of the ovate hoods, and
conspicuously curved over the stigma. _Pods._--Slender;
spindle-shaped. (Structure otherwise as in _Gomphocarpus_.)
_Hab._--Throughout the State, and beyond its borders.
This is one of our most widely distributed milkweeds, and may be found
blossoming along our dusty roadsides and through the fields in early
summer. Its stems are tall and wandlike with long, narrow leaves, and its
little blossoms are very trim. Its distaff-shaped pods, with their
beautiful silken down, are familiar objects, much beloved by the children,
and are sought by older people who utilize them in many dainty ways.
CHICORY. SUCCORY. WILD BACHELOR'S-BUTTON.
_Cichorium Intybus_, L. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Two to five feet high; much branched.
_Leaves._--Alternate; the lower oblong or lanceolate, partly
clasping, sometimes sharply incised; the upper reduced to
bracts. _Flower-heads._--Bright blue; sessile; two or three
together in the axils of the leaves or terminal; of ray-flowers
only. _Rays._--Ten lines long; about two wide; notched at the
tip. Bracts of the involucre in two series; green.
_Hab._--Escaped from cultivation in many places.
The most careless observer will some day have his attention startled into
activity by a certain tall, fine plant growing along the roadside, bearing
beautiful, ragged blue flowers closely set to its stem. This is a stranger
from over the seas, whose native home is England; and, like all English, it
is an excellent colonist, having pushed its way into most parts of the
civilized world. It has become quite plentiful among us in the last few
years, and whole fields may often be seen covered with its lovely
bright-blue blossoms, which are known as "ragged sailors," and "wild
bachelor's-buttons." They open in the early morning, closing by midday.
In Europe a popular belief is rife that they open at eight o'clock in the
morning and close at four in the afternoon.
[Illustration COMMON MILKWEED--_Asclepias Mexicana_.]
"On upland slopes the shepherds mark
The hour when, to the dial true,
Cichorium to the towering lark
Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue."
The plant is useful in several ways. Its root is boiled and eaten as a
vegetable; the leaves, when blanched, make an excellent salad; and the
whole plant was formerly employed in medicine, and is still considered a
valuable remedy for jaundice. But the most common use of it is as a
substitute for coffee, or as an adulterant of it. The fleshy, milky root is
dried, ground, and roasted, and though it has neither the essential oil nor
the delicious aroma of coffee, it is not an unpleasant beverage, and its
cheapness brings it within the reach of the very poor.
The chicory industry has grown to be of considerable importance in
California of late. The plants are grown in reclaimed tule land near
Stockton, where there is a factory for the conversion of the root into the
commercial article.
CALIFORNIAN LOBELIA.
_Downingia pulchella_, Torr. Lobelia Family.
_Stems._--Three to six inches high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
sessile; linear; obtuse; passing into flower-bracts above.
_Flowers._--Racemose; blue. _Calyx-tube._--Very long and
slender; adnate to the ovary; its limb of five slender
divisions. _Corolla._--With short tube and bilabiate border.
The smaller lip of two narrow spreading or recurved divisions;
the larger three-lobed; broader than long; nine or ten lines by
five or six lines. All the lobes intense blue; the large
centers mostly white. _Stamens._--Five; united into a curved
tube. _Capsule._--Splitting at the sides. _Hab._--Nearly
throughout the State.
These little lobeliaceous plants are very common, especially upon the
plains of the interior, and may be found growing in wet places, where they
often make the ground blue. The showy, white-centered flowers are familiar
along the roadsides upon the borders of puddles. The blossoms, which are
really stemless, appear to have stems of considerable length, owing to the
very long, slender ovary and calyx-tube. They are cultivated for ornament
under the name of _Clintonia pulchella_.
We have one other species in the northern part of the State. It is a larger
plant, sometimes a foot tall, with ovate to lanceolate leaves. This is _D.
elegans_, Torr.
FALSE INDIGO. LEAD-PLANT.
_Amorpha Californica_, Nutt. Pea Family.
Shrubs three to over eight feet high. _Leaves._--Mostly
alternate; with stipules; pinnate. _Leaflets._--One inch long;
five to nine or more pairs. _Flower-spikes._--Two to six inches
long. _Flowers._--Black-purple; two and a half lines long.
_Calyx._--Half as long. _Corolla._--With only one petal! (the
standard); this erect and folded. _Stamens._--Slightly united
at base; exserted. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Pod._--Three lines
long. (See _Leguminosæ_.) _Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Marin
County to San Diego.
This shrub or small tree is remarkable for its sickeningly fragrant
foliage. The small blossoms, taken individually, are inconspicuous, but
when seen in masses, sprinkling the foliage with black and gold, they are
quite effective.
BLUE-CURLS.
_Trichostema lanceolatum_, Benth. Mint Family.
One or two feet high; branching from the base.
_Leaves._--Opposite; sessile; crowded; lanceolate or
ovate-lanceolate; gradually acuminate; densely pubescent;
several-nerved; an inch or more long. _Flowers._--Blue; in
axillary, short-peduncled, dense clusters.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Corolla._--Six lines long; with filiform
tube; and border with five almost similar lobes.
_Stamens._--Four; of two lengths. Filaments filiform;
long-exserted and curled. _Ovary._--Of four seed like nutlets.
Style long; filiform; two-cleft at the tip. _Hab._--Throughout
Western California.
Of all the plants of our acquaintance, the common blue-curls is the most
aggressive and ill-smelling. Its odor is positively sickening. Some years
ago, when it was first new to me, I brought some of it down from Sonoma
County upon the train, and, even though it had been carefully wrapped, I
was obliged to deposit it in the wood-box, as far as possible from the
passengers.
The generic name comes from two Greek words, signifying _hair_ and
_stamen_, and was bestowed on account of the capillary filaments. The
common name also refers to the long, curling blue stamens.
This species blossoms late in summer, and grows upon very dry ground, where
it seems almost a miracle for any plant to thrive.
ROMERO. WOOLLY BLUE-CURLS.
_Trichostema lanatum_, Benth. Mint Family.
Shrubby; two to five feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite and
fascicled in the axils; an inch or so long; green above;
white-woolly beneath. _Flowers._--Blue; in terminal clusters
sometimes a foot long; covered with dense violet wool.
_Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--Nearly an inch long; with
tube half its length and border violet-shaped. _Stamens and
Style._--Two inches long. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets.
_Hab._--From San Diego to Santa Barbara.
When the first scorching winds of the desert have withered and laid low the
lovely flowers of the southern plains, the Romero is just coming into bloom
upon dry hillsides. Its shrubby form, with densely crowded leaves, becomes
conspicuous by reason of its long spikes of purple-woolly buds and
blossoms. This inflorescence is an exquisite thing, more like the
production of a Paris milliner than a guileless creation of nature. The
individual blossoms have much the look of alert little blue violets wearing
long, elegant lilac aigrets. Both leaf and flower have a pleasant aromatic
fragrance, entirely unlike the dreadful odor of the common blue-curls.
Among the Spanish-Californians it is known altogether by the musical name
of "Romero," and is one of their most highly valued medicinal herbs, being
considered a panacea for many troubles. Fried in olive oil, it becomes an
ointment which alleviates pain and cures ulcers; dried and reduced to
powder, it is a snuff very efficacious for catarrh; and made into a
tincture, it is used as a liniment. This plant is also sometimes called
"black sage."
[Illustration ROMERO--_Trichostema lanatum_.]
HARVEST BRODIÆA. LARGE-FLOWERED BRODIÆA.
_Brodiæa grandiflora_, Smith. Lily Family.
_Corm._--Fibrous-coated. _Leaves._--Narrowly linear; somewhat
cylindrical. _Scape._--Four to twelve inches high.
_Pedicels._--Three to ten, rarely one; unequal.
_Perianth._--Violet; waxen; ten to twenty lines long; broadly
funnel-form; six-cleft; lobes recurving. _Stamens._--Three;
opposite the inner segments. _Staminodia._--Three;
strap-shaped; entire; white; erect; about equaling the stamens.
_Ovary._--Sessile; three-celled. Style stout. Stigma
three-lobed. _Hab._--From Ventura to the British boundary in
the Coast Ranges and Sierras.
In the latter part of May and early in June, just as the grain is mellowing
in the fields, the dry grasses of our hill-slopes and roadsides begin to
reveal the beautiful blossoms of the "harvest Brodiæa." Seen at its best,
this is one of our finest species. It sends up a scape a foot high, bearing
from five to ten of the large, lily-like, violet flowers. They are
somewhere described as varying to rose. I have never seen them of this
color, though a flash of them caught when riding by a field is often
suggestive of a pink flower.
These plants vary considerably in size, in some localities blooming when
but an inch or two high, and in others having their tall scape crowned with
as many as ten of the fine blossoms. These have their segments nerved with
brown upon the outside. The clear-white stamens stand opposite the outer
segments, alternating with the white staminodia. The leaves have dried away
before the coming of the blossoms.
_B. terrestris_, Kell., common throughout Central California, is always
found in sandy soil. Its perianth is less than an inch long, and its
staminodia are yellow, with inrolled edges. This is clearly distinguished
by these characteristics, added to the fact that its flower-cluster has no
common stalk or scape, but seems to sit upon the ground, giving the
separate flowers the appearance of coming from the ground.
[Illustration HARVEST BRODIÆA--_Brodiæa grandiflora_.]
VIOLET SNAPDRAGON.
_Antirrhinum vagans_, Gray. Figwort Family.
Herbs with prehensile branchlets. _Leaves._--Alternate;
short-petioled; lanceolate to oblong-ovate; entire; an inch
long. _Flowers._--Six lines long; lavender. _Sepals._--Five;
upper one large; oblong; the others small, linear.
_Stamens._--Four; in pairs; on the corolla. Filaments slender.
Anthers with two diverging cells. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style
awl-shaped. _Hab._--Throughout the western part of the State.
When the first dryness of summer is beginning to make itself felt, the tall
wandlike sprays of the little lilac snapdragon begin to appear along our
dusty roadsides. A curious feature of this plant is to be found in the long
threadlike branchlets produced in the axils of the leaves. These are like
so many little arms, apparently waving about in aimless abandon, but in
reality vigilant of any opportunity to grasp some convenient object of
support.
Another species--_A. glandulosum_, Lindl.--is common from Santa Cruz
southward. This may be known by its pink and yellow flowers, its very
viscid, leafy stems, three to five feet tall, and its lack of prehensile
branchlets. This has somewhat more the look of the familiar garden species.
Its anthers are arranged like teeth in the roof of its mouth, and the
children, by slightly pinching the sides of its funny little countenance,
can make it open its mouth in quite a formidable manner.
Sir John Lubbock, writing of the fertilization of flowers, says: "Thus the
_Antirrhinum_, or snapdragon, is completely closed, and only a somewhat
powerful insect can force its way in. The flower is in fact a strong-box,
of which the humble-bee only has the key."
[Illustration VIOLET SNAPDRAGON--_Antirrhinum vagans_.]
CALIFORNIAN HAREBELL. BELLFLOWER.
_Campanula prenanthoides_, Durand. Harebell or Campanula Family.
_Stems._--Several inches to two feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; ovate-oblong to lanceolate; one inch or
less long. _Flowers._--Blue; on recurved pedicels.
_Calyx._--Growing to the ovary below; with five awl-shaped
teeth. _Corolla._--Five to eight lines long; with short tube
and slender, spreading, recurved lobes. _Stamens._--Five.
_Ovary._--Three- to five-celled. Style club-shaped; much
exserted. Stigma becoming three-lobed. _Hab._--Coast woods from
Monterey to Mendocino County, and through the northern Sierras.
The fragile blossoms of the harebell lurk in the seclusion of our cool
cañons or peer down at us from the banks of shaded mountain roads toward
the end of July. We almost wonder that this ethereal flower dares delay its
coming so long when outside its cool retreat all is parched and dry. It
forms a delicate contrast to its more robust English sister, the harebell
so often celebrated by the poets.
SELF-HEAL. HEAL-ALL.
_Brunella vulgaris_, L. Mint Family.
_Stems._--Six to fifteen inches high. _Leaves._--Opposite;
petioled; ovate or oblong. _Flowers._--In a dense, short spike,
with broad, leafy bracts; purple, violet, or rarely white.
_Calyx._--Bilabiate; upper lip with three short teeth; the
lower two-cleft. _Corolla._--Bilabiate; upper lip arched,
entire; lower three-lobed; deflexed. _Stamens._--Four; in
pairs. Filaments two-forked; one fork naked, the other bearing
the two-celled anther. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets.
Style filiform; two-cleft above. _Hab._--Widely distributed
over the Northern Hemisphere.
From April to July the purple blossoms of the self-heal, or heal-all, may
be found in the borders of woods or in open grounds.
The generic name is thought to come from the old German word, _braune_, a
disease of the throat, for which this plant was believed to be a cure.
According to the old doctrine of signatures, plants by their appearance
were supposed to indicate the diseases for which nature intended them as
remedies, and in England the _Brunella_ was considered particularly
efficacious in the disorders of carpenters and common laborers, because
its corolla resembled a bill-hook. Hence it was commonly called
"carpenter's herb," "hook-heal," and "sicklewort."
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN HAREBELL--_Campanula prenanthoides_.]
PENNYROYAL. POLÉO.
_Monardella villosa_, Benth. Mint Family.
_Stems._--Woody; branching from below; a foot or two high.
_Leaves._--An inch or less long; toothed or entire; veins
conspicuous. _Flowers._--White to deep lilac; in a dense head
subtended by a number of ovate, green bracts.
_Calyx._--Tubular; five-toothed; four lines long.
_Corolla._--Nine lines long; with filiform tube and bilabiate
border. Upper lip two-cleft; lower cleft into three linear
divisions. _Stamens._--Four; in pairs; exserted. Anther cells
divergent. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets.
_Hab._--Throughout the State; common.
Owing to their resemblance to the _Monarda_, or horsemint of the East,
these Western plants have been given the diminutive of its
name--_Monardella_.
In early summer the blossoms, which are generally purple, are conspicuous
in our drying woods. The herbage is pleasantly fragrant. The more hairy
form, which suggested the specific name, is found in the south.
Another species--_M. lanceolata_, Gray--common in the Sierras and south to
San Diego, is a very handsome plant with lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate,
entire leaves, an inch or two long, and having its bright rose-colored or
purple corollas sometimes dark-spotted. This is known among the
Spanish-Californians as "poléo" (pennyroyal), and is valued as a remedy for
various ailments.
_M. odoratissima_, Benth., found abundantly in the Sierras, and known as
"wild pennyroyal," is a bushy, many-stemmed plant, whose flowers usually
have a faded lavender hue. But the plant is exceedingly fragrant, perfuming
the air all about.
[Illustration PENNYROYAL--_Monardella villosa_.]
LUCERN. ALFALFA. CHILEAN CLOVER.
_Medicago sativa_, L. Pea Family.
Perennials, with roots sometimes reaching down eight or ten
feet. _Stems._--Two to four feet high. _Leaflets._--Three;
toothed above. _Flowers._--Violet. _Calyx._--Five-toothed.
_Corolla._--Papilionaceous; six lines long. _Stamens._--Nine
united; one free. _Pod._--Spirally coiled; without spines.
_Hab._--Usually escaped from cultivation.
The value of this little plant has been known for many centuries. It was
introduced into Greece from Media, whence it received the name _Medicago_,
and was cultivated several centuries before Christ. It has reached us
through Mexico and Chile, where it is called "alfalfa" and "Chilean
clover."
It is but sparingly naturalized among us, but on account of its very
nutritious herbage it is largely cultivated for feed. Its very deep root
enables it to seek moisture from perennial sources, and to thus withstand
the dryness of our summers. It requires considerable care to start the
plants; but once established, the roots will continue under favorable
circumstances to produce crops of herbage almost indefinitely. When grown
upon good soil and irrigated, it will yield several crops a year. When
cured for hay, it is cut just before flowering. But it is of greatest value
for feeding green to dairy cows and other animals. An alfalfa field is a
beautiful and grateful sight amid the drouth of our late summer. In Chile
sprays of this plant are laid about in the houses to drive away fleas.
SQUAW'S CARPET. MAHALA MATS.
_Ceanothus prostratus_, Benth. Buckthorn Family.
Hardy, evergreen, trailing shrubs, carpeting the ground.
_Leaves._--Opposite; short-petioled; obovate or spatulate;
cuneate; leathery; several-toothed above; three to twelve lines
long. _Flowers._--Bright blue; in loose clusters on stout
peduncles. _Fruit._--With thick, often red, flesh; with three
large wrinkled, somewhat spreading horns from near the apex,
and low intermediate crests. (See _Ceanothus_.) _Hab._--The
Sierras and northern Coast Ranges.
[Illustration ALFALFA--_Medicago sativa_.]
Upon half-shaded slopes in the Sierras, where great firs rear their
noble shafts, forming an open forest, this little trailing shrub makes a
clean, delightfully springy carpet underfoot. Early in the season it is
an exquisite thing, when covered with its delicate clusters of
bright-blue flowers, and it is no less attractive in late summer, when
its odd scarlet fruit studs the rich green foliage.
The children of our mountain districts know it as "squaw's carpet" and
"mahala mats." Among the Digger Indians the word "Mahala" is applied as a
title of respect to all the women of the tribe indiscriminately, and they
always refer to one another as "Mahala Sally," "Mahala Nancy," etc.
ACONITE. MONK'S-HOOD. FRIAR'S-CAP. BLUEWEED.
_Aconitum Columbianum_, Nutt. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Stems._--Two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate; palmately
three- to five-cleft, three to five inches across.
_Flowers._--From blue to almost white; in a terminal cluster.
_Sepals._--Five; petaloid; very irregular; the upper one
helmet-shaped. _Petals._--Two to five; the upper two
stamen-like, concealed within the helmet; the lower three
minute or obsolete. _Stamens._--Numerous. Filaments short.
_Pistils._--Usually three; becoming divergent follicles.
_Syn._--_A. Fischeri_, Reichb. _Hab._--The Sierras and the
northern Coast Ranges.
The blossoms of the monk's-hood, or aconite, may be found with those of the
tall blue larkspur and the little alpine lily along our mountain streams in
late summer. Owing to the shape of the upper sepal, these flowers have
received several of their common names, such as "helmet-flower,"
"friar's-cap," and "monk's-hood."
The genus _Aconitum_ has been known from remote times and noted for the
poisonous qualities of its species. From the roots and leaves of _A.
napellus_, the officinal species, supposed to be native of Britain, is made
the powerful drug, aconite. Our own species is also poisonous, and among
the mountaineers it is called "blueweed," and remembered only for its
disastrous effect upon their sheep, who are sometimes driven to eat it when
other feed is scare. The helmet varies greatly in breadth and length.
[Illustration MONK'S-HOOD--_Aconitum Columbianum_.]
BLUE GENTIAN.
_Gentiana calycosa_, Griseb. Gentian Family.
_Stems._--Six to twelve inches high. _Leaves._--Eighteen lines
to less than an inch long. _Flowers._--Deep, rich blue.
_Corolla._--An inch or two long; plaited into folds between the
lobes; the sinuses with two long, toothlike appendages; the
lobes green-dotted. _Stamens._--Five; alternate with the
corolla-lobes. Filaments flattened and adnate to the corolla
below. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style awl-shaped. Stigma
two-lobed. _Hab._--The Sierras.
This genus was named for Gentius, an ancient king of Illyria, who is said
to have discovered the medicinal virtues of these plants. The drug called
"gentian," a bitter tonic, is made from the root of a German species--_G.
lutea_--with yellow flowers.
All the Gentians are natives of the cooler portions of the world,
inhabiting northern latitudes and mountain heights. We have several fine
species, which are found in the Sierras and the northern Coast Ranges.
_G. calycosa_ is a truly beautiful flower, rivaling the sky with its deep
blue blossoms, which are to be found in the fall in many an alpine meadow,
called by Mr. Muir "gentian-meadows."
TALL MOUNTAIN LARKSPUR.
_Delphinium scopulorum, var. glaucum_, Gray.
Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
Mostly smooth; more or less glaucous. _Stems._--Two to six feet
high. _Leaves._--Palmately five- to seven-parted; the divisions
slashed into sharp-pointed lobes. _Flowers._--Blue; in narrow,
slender racemes; on rather short, slender pedicels.
_Sepals._--Rather narrow; six lines long or less; minutely
tomentose. Spur crapy; rather slender. _Ovaries._--Smooth.
(Flower-structure as in _D. nudicaule_.) _Syn._--_D.
scopulorum_, Gray. _Hab._--The Sierras, at about six thousand
feet; from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Yukon River.
[Illustration BLUE GENTIAN--_Gentiana calycosa_.]
By July and August the slender spires of the tall mountain larkspur are
conspicuous along the watercourses of the Sierras, where they are usually
found in the company of their near relatives, the monk's-hoods and the gay
scarlet columbines. A ramble down one of these mountain streams affords a
succession of most delightful surprises. Willow copses, alternating with
tangles of larkspur, great willow-herb, and monk's-hood, are followed by
open, velvety meadows, starred by white and blue daisies, or diversified by
the pure spikes of the milk-white rein-orchis, or the lovely blossoms of
the pink mimulus; while further down, the stream perchance suddenly narrows
and deepens, flowing by some jutting rock-wall, resplendent with crimson
pentstemons or brilliant sulphur-flowers.
COMMON ASTER.
_Aster Chamissonis_, Gray. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Two to five feet high; loosely branching. _Leaves._--Alternate;
sessile; lanceolate; three to six inches long; the upper becoming small or
minute. _Flower-heads._--Five or six lines long; composed of yellow
disk-flowers and violet or purple rays. _Rays._--Twenty to twenty-five;
half an inch long. _Involucre._--Campanulate; of many small imbricated
scales. _Hab._--Throughout California.
We have not as many species of _Aster_ as are found in the Eastern States,
but we have some very beautiful ones. _A. Chamissonis_ is one of our
commonest and most widespread species. Its blossoms begin to appear in late
summer and linger along through the fall. Many species of _Erigeron_ (very
closely allied to _Aster_) are called "asters" among us, and comprise some
of our most charming flowers. These are found chiefly in the mountains,
though _E. glaucus_ is found upon the sea-beach and ocean cliffs.
LAVENDER MOUNTAIN DAISY.
_Erigeron salsuginosus_, Gray. Composite Family.
_Stems._--A foot or two high. _Radical and lower
leaves._--Spatulate to nearly obovate; tapering into a margined
petiole. _Upper leaves._--Ovate-oblong to lanceolate; sessile.
_Uppermost leaves._--Small and bract-like.
_Flower-heads._--Solitary; large; of yellow disk-flowers and
lavender rays. _Disk._--Over half an inch across.
_Rays._--Fifty to seventy; six lines or more long; rather wide.
_Bracts_ of the involucre numerous; loosely spreading.
_Syn._--_Aster salsuginosus_, Richardson. _Hab._--Sierra
meadows, at an altitude of from six to ten thousand feet.
[Illustration COMMON ASTER--_Aster Chamissonis_.]
Of all the beautiful flowers of the Sierras, not one lingers so fondly in
the memory, after our return to the lowlands, as this exquisite lavender
daisy. Late in the summer it stars the alpine meadows with its charming
flowers, or stands in sociable companies on those natural velvet lawns of
the mountains. It resembles the feathery, white mountain daisy, and grows
in the same region; but its rays are wider and give the blossoms a somewhat
more substantial look.
BLUE FORGET-ME-NOT. STICKSEED.
_Echinospermum floribundum_, Lehm. Borage Family.
_Stems._--Two feet or so high. _Leaves._--Oblong to
linear-lanceolate; two to five inches long. _Flowers._--In
numerous, slender-panicled racemes; on short, slender pedicels.
Racemes often in pairs. _Calyx._--Five-parted; minute.
_Corolla._--Sky-blue (rarely white); salver-form, with short
tube and spreading, five-lobed border; two to five lines
across, with conspicuous arching crests in the throat.
_Stamens._--Five; included; on the corolla. _Ovary._--Of four
nutlets; each having a deltoid, keeled disk and margined by
long, flat prickles. _Hab._--From California to British
Columbia and eastward.
The beautiful blossoms of the wild blue forget-me-not will be readily
recognized by all lovers of flowers. They may be found in the Sierras in
midsummer. The tall stems rise amid the lush grasses upon the sides of
steep cañons, where the air is humid and vegetation is rank. The flowers
are unfortunately followed by very troublesome burs, which are much dreaded
by sheep-herders.
V. RED
[_Red or occasionally or partially red flowers not described in the Red
Section._
_Described in the Yellow Section_:--
ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS--Pimpernel.
MECONOPSIS HETEROPHYLLA--Wind-Poppy.
MIMULUS GLUTINOSUS--Sticky Monkey-Flower.
OPUNTIA ENGELMANNI--Prickly Pear.]
COTYLEDON PULVERULENTA.
INDIAN WARRIOR.
_Pedicularis densiflora_, Benth. Figwort Family.
Root woody. _Stems._--Six to twenty inches high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; oblong-lanceolate; pinnate; leaflets
lobed and toothed; diminishing into the flower-bracts.
_Calyx._--Campanulate; five-toothed. _Corolla._--Club-shaped,
bent downward above the calyx and oblique to it; one inch long;
the two upper lobes united and containing the stamens; the
three lower mere teeth. _Stamens._--Four. Style filiform;
exserted. _Ovary._--Two-celled. _Hab._--Throughout Western
California.
These blossoms, which come early in the season, seem "warmed with the new
wine of the year." They often stand in little companies in openings among
the trees, and the rays of the afternoon sun slanting in upon them brighten
and vivify them into a rich, warm claret-color. The leaves, finely
dissected, like certain fern-fronds, are often of a bronze tone, which
harmonizes finely with the flowers.
To the casual observer, this flower resembles the Indian paint-brush. In
reality, it belongs to a closely allied genus. But in this blossom the
bracts do not constitute the brilliant part of the inflorescence, and the
calyx, instead of being the showy, sheathing envelop it is in the
paint-brush, is quite small and inconspicuous.
Mrs. Blochman has quaintly and aptly alluded to the corolla of this flower
as a long and slender mitten, just fit for some high-born fairy's hand.
Among the children of our mountain districts this flower is known as
"Indian warrior."
[Illustration INDIAN WARRIOR--_Pedicularis densiflora_.]
WILD GOOSEBERRY.
_Ribes Menziesii_, Pursh. Saxifrage Family.
Shrubs two to six feet high, with naked glandular-bristly or
prickly branches and stout triple thorns under the fascicled
leaves. _Peduncles._--With one or two drooping, Fuchsia-like
flowers. _Calyx._--Half an inch long; garnet; the five oblong
lobes somewhat longer than the tube, but hardly longer than the
stamens, which surpass the five white petals with inrolled
edges. Styles exserted. Anthers sagittate. _Berry._--Four to
six lines in diameter; thickly covered with long prickles.
(Otherwise as _Ribes glutinosum_.) _Hab._--From San Diego to
Humboldt County; also in the Sierras.
The wild gooseberry, considered as a fruit, is very disappointing, as its
large, prickly berries are composed mostly of skin and seeds. But as an
ornamental shrub it is very pleasing. In February its long, thorny branches
are densely clothed with small but rich green leaves, under which hang the
perfect little miniature red and white Fuchsias.
A closely allied species--_R. subvestitum_, Hook. and Arn.,--has long
exserted filaments and glandular-prickly berries.
FUCHSIA-FLOWERED GOOSEBERRY.
_Ribes speciosum_, Pursh. Saxifrage Family.
Shrubs six to ten feet high, with spreading branches, armed
with large triple thorns. _Leaves._--Evergreen; three- to
five-lobed; an inch or so long. _Flowers._--Bright cardinal; an
inch long. _Calyx._--Petaloid; its tube adnate to the ovary;
the limb is usually five-cleft (sometimes four). _Petals._--On
the sinuses of the calyx. _Stamens._--As many as the petals;
twice the length of the calyx. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style
two-cleft. _Fruit._--A dry, densely glandular berry.
_Hab._--From Monterey to San Diego.
One of the most charming shrubs to be found in the southern part of the
State is the Fuchsia-flowered gooseberry. Early in the season the long
sprays of its spreading branches are thickly hung with the beautiful
drooping cardinal flowers, which gleam against the rich green of the glossy
leaves. The stems often rival the flowers in brilliance of coloring, but
they harbor a multitude of formidable thorns which serve to cool our
impetuous desire to possess ourselves of the blossoms. Though far more
brilliant than the flowers of _R. subvestitum_, these are not so truly
counterparts in miniature of the garden Fuchsia as they.
[Illustration FUCHSIA-FLOWERED GOOSEBERRY--_Ribes speciosum_.]
WILD PEONY.
_Pæonia Brownii_, Dougl. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
Coarse, leathery herbs, with woody roots. _Stems._--Stout;
branched; ten to eighteen inches high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
once- or twice- ternately compound; the leaflets ternately lobed.
_Flowers._--Solitary; _Sepals._--Green; often with leaflike
appendages. _Petals._--Five to ten; dark red.
_Stamens._--Numerous. _Pistils._--Two to five; becoming
leathery follicles. _Hab._--Almost throughout California.
Our wild peony, which is the only species of North America, grows through a
wide range of territory, from the hot plains of the south to the region of
perpetual snow in the mountains of the north. As might be expected, it
manifests considerable variation in form and character. Indeed, some
authors have thought these variations sufficiently marked to warrant the
division of the species into two.
After the first rains in the south, the plant pushes up its broad,
scarlet-tipped leaves, and by January, or earlier, produces its flowers,
which are deep red, shading almost into black, an inch or so across, and
quite fragrant. These blossoms are at first erect; but as the seed-vessels
mature, the stems begin to droop, till the fruit rests upon the ground.
The Spanish-Californians consider the thick root an excellent remedy for
dyspepsia, when eaten raw; while the Indians of the south use it, powdered
or made into a decoction, for colds, sore throat, etc. In the north its
leaves are reputed to be poisonous to the touch.
In some localities it is known as "Christmas-rose," and in others the
children call its dark, round flowers "nigger-heads." In the mountains it
blossoms in June and July near snow-banks.
[Illustration WILD PEONY--_Pæonia Brownii_.]
CALIFORNIAN FIGWORT. CALIFORNIAN BEE-PLANT.
_Scrophularia Californica_, Cham. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Two to five feet high; angled.
_Leaves._--Oblong-ovate or oblong-triangular; two or more
inches long. _Flowers._--Small; dull red; three to five lines
long; in loose terminal panicles. _Calyx._--Five-lobed.
_Corolla._--Bilabiate; upper lip four-lobed; lower of one lobe.
_Stamens._--Four perfect; in pairs; and a fifth scalelike,
rudimentary one. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style exserted.
_Hab._--Almost throughout the State.
The tall stems of the Californian figwort are common along roadsides, and
become especially rank and luxuriant where the soil has been freshly
stirred. The plants are so plentiful and so plebeian in appearance, that we
are apt to class them in the category of weeds; but the fact that their
little corollas are almost always stored abundantly with honey for the
bees, saves them from this reproachful title.
They are cultivated by the keepers of bees. The odd, little dull-red or
greenish flowers have a knowing look, which is enhanced by two of the
stamens, which project just over the lower rim of the corolla, like the
front teeth of some tiny rodent.
FALSE ALUM-ROOT.
_Tellima grandiflora_, R. Br. Saxifrage Family.
_Radical-leaves._--Long-petioled. _Stem-leaves._--With shorter
petioles, round-cordate; variously lobed and toothed; very
hairy, with coarse, bristle-like hairs; two to four inches
across. _Stems._--One to three feet high. _Flowers._--In long
racemes; on short pedicels; green or rose-color.
_Calyx._--Campanulate; five-toothed; ribbed; three to six lines
long; adnate to the ovary below. _Petals._--Five; short-clawed;
slashed above; two or three lines long; on the calyx.
_Stamens._--Ten; very short. _Ovary._--One-celled; with a
disklike summit, tapering into two stout styles with large
capitate stigmas. _Hab._--From Santa Cruz to Alaska.
This robust plant bears no resemblance to its delicate relative, _T.
affinis_. It is far more like the alum-root in habit and appearance, and
its leaves are prettily blotched in the same manner. It grows along rich
banks by shaded roads, and blooms from early spring onward. Its tall
racemes of either rose-colored or greenish, obscure flowers look rather
like the promise of something to come than a present fulfillment. The
petals are small and inconspicuous at a distance; but when closely
examined, reveal a delicacy and beauty of form entirely unsuspected.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN BEE PLANT--_ScrophulariaCalifornica_.]
INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH. SCARLET PAINT-BRUSH.
_Castilleia parviflora_, Bong. Figwort Family.
Hairy, at least above; six inches to two feet high.
_Leaves._--Laciniate-cleft or incised; sometimes entire; two
inches or so long; mostly alternate. _Flowers._--With
conspicuous colored bracts. _Calyx._--Tubular; about equally
cleft before and behind; tinged with scarlet or yellow.
_Corolla._--Tubular; six lines to over an inch long; the upper
lip equaling the tube; the lower very short; three-toothed; the
whole tinged with red or yellow. _Stamens._--Four; inclosed in
the upper lip. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style long; exserted.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
Scarlet flowers are so rare, and nature is so chary of that beautiful hue,
that these blossoms are especially welcome. Their dense tufts make
brilliant dashes of color, which are very noticeable amid the vivid greens
of springtime. Strange to say, most of their brilliancy is due not to the
corollas, but to the large petal-like bracts under the flowers and to the
calyxes. In the vicinity of the seashore these blossoms may be found at
almost any time of the year, while inland they have their season of bloom
in the spring, resting for the most part during the summer.
They are known in some localities as "Indian plume." The specific name is a
very misleading one--for these flowers, far from being small, are in
reality comparatively large and fine. The species was probably first named
from poor or depauperate specimens. It is in every way a larger, more showy
flower than the closely allied species--_C. coccinea_, Spreng.--of the
East, commonly known as the "painted cup."
We have a number of species closely resembling one another. _C. foliolosa_,
Hook. and Arn., may be easily recognized by its white-woolly stems and
foliage.
[Illustration INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH--_Castilleia parviflora_.]
NORTHERN SCARLET LARKSPUR. CHRISTMAS-HORNS.
_Delphinium nudicaule_, Torr. and Gray. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Stems._--A foot or two high; naked or very few-leaved.
_Leaves._--One to three inches in diameter; deeply three- to
five-cleft, or barely parted into obovate or cuneate divisions.
_Flowers._--Scarlet; in loose, open racemes; on pedicels two to
four inches long. _Sepals._--Five; petaloid; the upper
prolonged upward into a spur containing the smaller spurs of
the two upper petals. Spur six to nine lines long.
_Petals._--Usually four; the two lateral small, not spurred.
_Stamens._--Many. _Pistils._--Mostly three; becoming divergent
follicles. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges from San Luis Obispo to
Oregon.
Though not so intensely brilliant and striking as the southern scarlet
larkspur, this is a delightful flower, the sight of which gracing some
rocky cañon-wall or making flecks of flame amid the grass, gives us a
thrill of pleasure. It would require no great stretch of the imagination to
fancy these blossoms a company of pert little red-coated elves clambering
over the loose, slender stems. In our childhood we used to hear them called
"Christmas-horns."
SCARLET FRITILLARY.
_Fritillaria recurva_, Benth. Lily Family.
Bulb as in _F. lanceolata_. _Stems._--Eight to eighteen inches
high; one- to nine-flowered. _Flowers._--Scarlet outside;
yellow, spotted with scarlet, within. _Perianth._--Campanulate;
urn-shaped. _Segments._--Twelve to eighteen lines long; with
recurved tips. _Stamens_ and style not quite equaling the
segments. _Capsule._--Rather obtusely angled. (Otherwise as _F.
lanceolata_.) _Hab._--The Sierras, from Placer County northward
into Oregon.
The scarlet fritillary is without doubt the most beautiful of all our
species. It is a wonderful blossom, which seems as much of a marvel to us
every time we behold it as it did at first. Usually there are from one to
nine of the brilliant bells; but the effect can be imagined when as many as
thirty-five have been seen upon a single stem!
_F. coccinea_, Greene, is another beautiful scarlet-and-yellow species,
found in the mountains of Sonoma and Napa Counties. This has from one to
four flowers, which are an inch long, with simple campanulate outline,
without recurving tips.
[Illustration NORTHERN SCARLET LARKSPUR--_Delphinium nudicaule_.]
COLUMBINE.
_Aquilegia truncata_, Fisch. and Mey. Buttercup or Crowfoot
Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high; very slender.
_Leaves._--Mostly radical; divided into thin, distant leaflets.
_Flowers._--Scarlet; tinged with yellow; eighteen to
twenty-four lines across. Parts in fives. _Sepals._--Petaloid;
rotately spreading. _Petals._--Tubular; produced into long
spurs or horns. _Stamens._--Numerous on the receptacle; much
exserted. _Pistils._--Five; simple. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
Sprung in a cleft of the wayside steep,
And saucily nodding, flushing deep,
With her airy tropic bells aglow,--
Bold and careless, yet wondrous light,
And swung into poise on the stony height,
Like a challenge flung to the world below!
Skirting the rocks at the forest edge
With a running flame from ledge to ledge,
Or swaying deeper in shadowy glooms,
A smoldering fire in her dusky blooms;
Bronzed and molded by wind and sun,
Maddening, gladdening every one
With a gypsy beauty full and fine,--
A health to the crimson columbine!
--ELAINE GOODALE
To enjoy the exquisite airy beauty of this lovely flower, we must seek it
in its own haunts--for there is a touch of wildness in its nature that will
not be subdued; nor will it submit to being handled or ruthlessly
transported from its own sylvan retreat.
Fringing the stream, peering over the bank, as if to see its own loveliness
reflected there, or hiding in the greenest recesses of the woodland, it is
always a welcome blossom, and the eye brightens and the pulse quickens upon
beholding it.
This species is at home throughout our borders; but there is another
form which is said to be found occasionally in our very high
mountains--_A. cœrulea_, James. This is plentiful in the Rocky
Mountains, and is the State flower of Colorado. Its blossoms, which are
blue or white, are large and magnificent, with slender spurs an inch and
a half or two inches long.
[Illustration COLUMBINE--_Aquilegia truncata_.]
CLIMBING PENTSTEMON. SCARLET HONEYSUCKLE.
_Pentstemon cordifolius_, Benth. Figwort Family.
Woody at base, with long, slender branches, which climb over
other shrubs. _Leaves._--Cordate or ovate; an inch or less
long. _Calyx._--Campanulate; five-parted. _Corolla._--Bright
scarlet; eighteen lines long. Sterile stamen bearded down one
side. (See _Pentstemon_.) _Hab._--From Santa Barbara to San
Diego.
In spring we notice in the borders of southern woodlands and along the
roadsides certain long, wandlike branches with beautiful heart-shaped
leaves, which are suggestive of those of the garden Fuchsia. Our curiosity
is naturally aroused and we wonder what blossom is destined to grace this
elegant foliage. Early summer solves the mystery by hanging the tips of
these wands with brilliant scarlet blossoms, in every way satisfying the
earlier promise.
These flowers often look down at us in a sort of mocking, Mephistophelian
manner, as they hang amid the rich greens of other shrubs and trees. Seen
with a glass, they are quite glandular. The fifth stamen looks like a very
cunning little golden hearth-brush.
HUMMING-BIRD'S SAGE.
_Audibertia grandiflora_, Benth. Mint Family.
Coarse plants, with woolly stems; one to three feet high.
_Leaves._--Opposite; wrinkly; white-woolly beneath; crenate;
the lower three to eight inches long; hastate-lanceolate; on
margined petioles; upper sessile; pointed.
_Inflorescence._--Over a foot long, with many large, widely
separated whorls of crimson flowers. _Corollas._--Eighteen
lines long. Stamens and style much exserted.
_Flower-bracts._--Ovate; sharp-pointed; often crimson-tinged.
(Otherwise as _A. stachyoides._) _Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from
San Mateo southward.
[Illustration CLIMBING PENTSTEMOM--_Pentstemon cordifolius_.]
This, the largest-flowered of all our _Audibertias_, becomes especially
conspicuous by April and May in southern woodlands, where its large, dark
flower-clusters may be seen in little companies amid the shadows. The
leaves and bracts are quite viscid, and have a rather rank, unpleasant
odor; but the flowers are not without a certain comeliness. The long,
crimson trumpets are arranged in whorls about the stems, projecting from
many densely crowded bracts. Tier after tier of these interrupted whorls,
sometimes as many as nine, mount the stems. The bracts and stems are
usually of a rich bronze, which harmonizes finely with the color of the
flowers. The joint in the filament is quite conspicuous in this species.
"Humming-birds that dart in the sun like green and golden arrows"
seem to be the sole beneficiaries of the abundant nectar in these deep
tubes.
CALIFORNIAN SWEET-SCENTED SHRUB.
WESTERN SPICE-BUSH.
_Calycanthus occidentalis_, Hook. and Arn. Sweet Shrub Family.
_Shrubs._--Six to twelve feet high. _Leaves._--Ovate to
oblong-lanceolate; three to six inches long; dark green;
roughish. _Flowers._--Wine-colored (sometimes white); solitary;
two inches or so across. _Sepals_, petals, and stamens
indefinite, passing into each other; all coalescent below into
the cuplike calyx-tube, on whose inner surface are borne the
numerous carpels. _Petals._--Linear-spatulate, usually
tawny-tipped. Carpels becoming akenes. _Hab._--From the lower
Sacramento River northward.
This is one of our most beautiful shrubs. Upon the banks of streams, or
often upon a shaded hillside where some little rill trickles out from a
hidden source, it spreads its branches and lifts its canopy of ample
leaves. There is a pleasant fragrance about the whole shrub, and the
leaves, when crushed, are agreeably bitter. From April to November the
charming flowers, like small wine-colored chrysanthemums, are produced; and
these are followed by the prettily veined, urn-shaped seed-vessels, which
remain upon the bushes until after the next season's flowers appear, by
which time they are almost black. It is from these cuplike seed-vessels
that the genus takes its name, which is derived from two Greek words,
meaning _flower_ and _cup._
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN SWEET-SCENTED SHRUB--_Calycanthus
occidentalis_.]
INDIAN PINK.
_Silene Californica_, Durand. Pink Family.
_Root._--Deep. _Stems._--Several; procumbent or sub-erect;
leafy. _Leaves._--Ovate-elliptic or lanceolate; eighteen lines
to four inches long. _Flowers._--Brilliant scarlet; over an
inch across. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Petals._--Five;
long-clawed; the blades variously cleft, and with two erect
toothlike appendages at the throat. _Stamens._--Ten; exserted
with the three filiform styles. _Ovary._--One-celled.
_Hab._--Widely distributed.
The Indian pink is one of the most beautiful of our flowers, and it appeals
to the æsthetic sense in a way few flowers do. Its brilliant scarlet
blossoms brighten the soft browns of our roadsides in early summer, and
gleam amid the green of thickets like bits of fire. Its corolla is
elegantly slashed, and it is altogether a much finer flower than the
southern form, _S. laciniata_. Its rather broad leaves are often quite
viscid to the touch, in which respect it shares in the character from which
the genus was named in allusion to Silenus, the companion of Bacchus, who
is described as covered with foam.
_S. laciniata_, Cav., is a similar species found from Central California
southward. It is usually a taller plant, with many stems and narrow leaves.
It is also quite viscid, and many small insects, mostly ants, are almost
always to be seen ensnared upon its stems. We are at a loss to account for
this until we remember what Sir John Lubbock says in this connection. He
suggests that ants are not very desirable visitors for promoting
cross-fertilization among plants, as their progress is slow, and they
cannot visit many plants far apart. On the other hand, winged insects, such
as bees, butterflies, and moths, making long excursions through the air,
are admirably adapted for bringing pollen from distant plants. Hence plants
spread their attractions for such insects, while they often contrive all
sorts of ingenious devices for keeping undesirable ones, like ants, away
from their flowers.
The Spanish-Californians call this plant "Yerba del Indio," and make it
into a tea which they esteem as a remedy for all sorts of aches and
pains, and use as a healing application to ulcers.
[Illustration INDIAN PINK--_Silene Californica_.]
Another species--_S. Hookeri_, Nutt.--is easily known by its large pink
flowers, often two and a half inches across, and delicately slashed. This
is found in our western counties, growing upon wooded hillsides, where its
charming flowers show to excellent advantage.
COAST LILY.
_Lilium maritimum_, Kell. Lily Family.
_Bulb_.--Conical; twelve to eighteen lines thick, with closely
appressed scales. _Stem._--One to three feet high; slender.
_Leaves._--Seldom, if at all, whorled; linear or narrowly
oblanceolate; obtuse; one to five inches long. _Flowers._--One
to five; deep blood-red; spotted with purple; long-pediceled;
horizontal. _Perianth-segments._--Six; lanceolate; eighteen
lines long; the upper third somewhat recurved. _Hab._--Near the
Coast, from San Mateo to Mendocino County.
The little Coast lily is found most abundantly in the black peat bogs of
Mendocino County, though it ranges southward to San Mateo County and
northward to Humboldt County.
Mr. Purdy says of it: "It is seldom seen farther than two miles from the
ocean. On the edges of the bogs the lily is often a dwarf, blossoming at
three or four inches. In the bogs it roots itself in the tufts, and becomes
a lovely plant five feet high with ten or fifteen fine blossoms."
The leaves are dark, glossy green and the blossoms are more cylindrical
than funnel-form, the three inner segments spreading more than the outer,
which remain almost erect. The little oval anthers, with cinnamon-colored
pollen, almost fill the narrow tube and conceal the fact that the segments
are yellow below and more decidedly spotted.
CHOLLA-CACTUS.
_Opuntia prolifera_, Engelm. Cactus Family.
Leafless, spiny, arborescent shrubs, three to ten feet high,
with elongated, cylindrical joints, covered with oblong
tubercles which bear from three to eight spines. Longest spines
twelve to eighteen lines long. _Stems._--Two to seven inches
thick. _Flowers._--Purplish-red; densely clustered at the ends
of the branches. _Sepals_, petals, and stamens, many.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style one. Stigmas several. _Fruit._--Green;
obovate; concave on the top; having no spines, only bristles;
usually sterile; often producing other flowers. _Hab._--From
Ventura to San Diego and southward.
Upon dry hills, even as far north as Ventura, the cholla cactus is a
familiar feature of the landscape. In many places it forms extensive and
impassable thickets, which afford an asylum to many delicate and tender
plants that retire to it as a last refuge from sheep and cattle.
The young joints, which are clustered at the ends of the branches, are from
three to nine inches long. By means of their barbed spines, these adhere to
any passing object, and as they break off very readily, they are thus often
transported to a distance. As they root easily, this seems to afford a
means of propagation, in the absence of seed--for the fruit is usually
seedless.
The spines are quite variable in length, the longest being sometimes an
inch and a half. Each one is covered by a papery sheath, which slips off
easily.
Upon the ground about these shrubs may usually be found the skeletons of
old branches. These are hollow cylinders of woody basket-work, which are
quite symmetrical and pretty.
_O. serpentina_, Engelm., found at San Diego, and often growing with the
above, resembles it somewhat, but may be known by its much longer spines,
which are from three to nine inches long, and by its greenish-yellow
flowers. The plants are usually found near the seashore and
scattered--_i.e._ never forming thickets.
Upon the sea-coast at San Diego is found another plant similar to the
above--_Cereus Emoryi_, Engelm.--the "velvet cactus." Instead of being
covered with tubercles, these plants have from sixteen to twenty vertical
ribs, upon which are borne the bunches of slender spines. These spines are
from a quarter of an inch to one and three quarters inches long, and
without barbs. The flowers are greenish-yellow, and not particularly pretty
or attractive.
SCARLET BUGLER.
_Pentstemon centranthifolius_, Benth. Figwort Family.
Very glaucous and smooth. _Stem._--One to three feet high.
_Leaves._--Ovate-lanceolate; mostly sessile; the upper
cordate-clasping; thick. _Panicles._--Narrow; a foot or two
long. _Corolla._--Bright scarlet; an inch or more long; hardly
bilabiate. (See _Pentstemon_.) _Hab._--From Monterey to Los
Angeles.
The tall spires of the scarlet bugler are such familiar sights along
southern roadsides and sandy washes that people almost forget the
enthusiastic admiration their bright beauty first elicited. It is said that
acres of mountain lands are sometimes a solid mass of vermilion during the
blooming season of this lovely plant.
The panicle is often two feet long, with its string of scarlet horns. The
individual flowers bear quite a likeness to those of the honeysuckle,
common in Eastern gardens, and by those who encounter the plant for the
first time, it is usually spoken of as "honeysuckle." The blossoms are
sometimes yellow near San Bernardino.
_P. Bridgesii_, Gray, met more frequently in the Yosemite than elsewhere,
though it occurs in the Sierras from the Yosemite southward, is a very
similar plant to the above. But it differs in having its corolla quite
distinctly bilabiate, though of the same general tubular, funnel-form
shape.
LARGE VETCH.
_Vicia gigantea_, Hook. Pea Family.
Climbing. Stems.--Five to fifteen feet long.
_Leaves._--Alternate; pinnate; terminated by a tendril.
_Leaflets._--Ten to thirteen pairs; linear-oblong; obtuse;
mucronulate; one or two inches long. _Stipules._--An inch long;
semi-sagittate. _Racemes._--Dense; one-sided; five to
eighteen-flowered. _Flowers._--Dull red.
_Corolla._--Papilionaceous. Petals not spreading.
_Stamens._--Nine united; one free. _Style._--Hairy all around
under the stigma. _Pod._--An inch or so long. (See
_Leguminosæ_.) _Hab._--From San Francisco Bay northward to
Sitka.
This vine is usually found in moist places. Its blossoms are never
attractive for they have a faded, worn-out look, even when they are fresh.
The pods are black when ripe, and the seeds are said to be edible.
[Illustration SCARLET BUGLER--_Pentstemon centranthifolius_.]
SCARLET GILIA.
_Gilia aggregata_, Spreng. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high. _Leaves._--Pinnately parted
into seven to thirteen linear, pointed divisions. Upper leaves
more simple. _Flowers._--In a loose panicle. _Calyx._--Deeply
five-cleft; glandular. _Corolla._--Scarlet, pink, or rarely
even white; with funnel-form tube, one inch long; and rotately
spreading five-lobed border. Lobes three to six lines long.
(See _Gilia_.) _Hab._--Throughout the Sierras.
The scarlet _Gilia_ is a familiar flower in the Sierras in late summer,
growing everywhere in dry places. It may be easily recognized by its rich,
glossy, flat, green leaves, pinnately divided into linear divisions, its
tall, loosely branching habit, and its bright, delicate scarlet flowers,
standing out horizontally from the stem. The corolla-lobes are often
flesh-pink or yellowish within, splashed or streaked with scarlet. The
whole plant is quite viscid.
SCARLET MONKEY-FLOWER.
_Mimulus cardinalis_, Dougl. Figwort Family.
Stout; viscid; hairy. _Stems._--One to five feet high.
_Leaves._--Sessile; ovate to ovate-lanceolate; ragged-margined;
several-nerved; two or three inches long. _Peduncles._--Three
inches long. _Corolla._--Scarlet; two inches or more long.
Upper lip erect; its two lobes turned back. Lower lip
three-lobed; reflexed. _Stamens._--Exserted. (See _Mimulus_.)
_Hab._--Throughout Oregon and California along watercourses.
One day in June, when riding upon the shores of Bolinas Bay, I came upon a
spot where a cañon stream flowed out upon a little flat at tide-level,
making a small fresh-water marsh, in which mint, bulrushes, and scarlet
_Mimulus_ were striving for the mastery. But the _Mimulus_ was the most
wonderful I ever saw. It stood four or five feet high--a patch of
it--strong and vigorous, and covered with its handsome, large scarlet
flowers, a sight to be remembered. This species is often cultivated in
gardens.
[Illustration SCARLET GILIA--_Gilia Aggregata_.]
SNOW-PLANT.
_Sarcodes sanguinea_, Torr. Heath Family.
Fleshy, glandular-pubescent plants; six inches to over a foot
high; bright red; without green foliage; having, in place of
leaves, fleshy scales, with glandular-ciliate margins.
_Flowers._--Short-pediceled. _Sepals._--Five. _Corolla._--Six
lines long; campanulate; with five-lobed limb. _Stamens._--Ten.
Anthers two-celled; opening terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled;
globose. Style stout. Stigma capitate. _Hab._--Throughout the
Sierras, from four to nine thousand feet elevation.
I shall never forget finding my first snow-plant. It was upon a perfect
August day in the Sierras. Following the course of a little rill which
wound among mosses and ferns through the open forest where noble fir shafts
rose on every hand, I came unexpectedly upon this scarlet miracle, standing
in the rich, black mold in a sheltered nook in the wood. A single ray of
strong sunlight shone upon it, leaving the wood around it dark, so that it
stood out like a single figure in a _tableau vivant_. There was something
so personal, so glowing, and so lifelike about it, that I almost fancied I
could see the warm life-blood pulsing and quivering through it. I knelt to
examine it. In lieu of leaves, the plant was supplied with many overlapping
scalelike bracts of a flesh-tint. These were quite rigid below and closely
appressed to the stem, but above they became looser and curled gracefully
about among the vivid red bells.
I had heard that the plant was a root parasite; so it was with much
interest and great care I dug about it with my trowel. But I failed to find
its root connected with any other. I have since learned that it is now
considered one of those plants akin to the fungi, which in some mysterious
way draw their nourishment from decaying or decomposing matter.
I carried my prize home, where it retained its beauty for a number of days.
I afterward found many of them. They gradually follow the receding snows up
the heights; so that late in the season one must climb for them.
[Illustration SNOW-PLANT--_Sarcodes sanguinea_.]
The name "snow-plant" is very misleading, because from it one naturally
expects to find the plant growing upon the snow. But this is rarely or
never the case, for it is _after_ the melting of the snow that it pushes
its way aboveground.
Late in the season the plant usually has one or more well-formed young
plants underground at its base. These are all ready to come forth the next
season at the first intimation that the snow has gone, which easily
accounts for its marvelously rapid growth. By the end of August, the
seed-vessels are well developed, and as large as a small marble, but
flattened; and by that time the plants have lost their brilliant coloring,
and become dull and faded.
It is said that the stems have been boiled and eaten, and found quite
palatable; but this would seem to the lover of the beautiful like eating
the showbread from the ark of Nature's tabernacle.
SOUTHERN SCARLET LARKSPUR.
_Delphinium cardinale_, Hook. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Stems._--Three to ten feet tall. Leaves.--Large; five- to
seven-lobed nearly to the base, the lobes three- to five-cleft,
with long-pointed segments. _Flowers._--Large.
_Sepals._--Lanceolate; eight lines or more long; rotately
spreading; the spur an inch or more long; pointed. _Upper
petals._--Orange, tipped with red; pointed; standing
prominently forward. (Otherwise as _D. nudicaule_.) _Hab._--The
mountains, from Ventura County to San Diego.
During all the long springtime, Nature has been quietly making her
preparations for a grand floral _denouement_ to take place about mid-June.
If we go out into the mountains of the south at that season, we shall be
confronted with a blaze of glory, the like of which we have probably never
witnessed before. This is due to the brilliant spires of the scarlet
larkspur, which sometimes rise to a height of ten feet!
One writer likens the appearance of these blossoms, as they grow in dense
masses, to a hill on fire; and Mr. Sturtevant writes: "To come upon a large
group of these plants in full bloom for the first time, is an event never
to be forgotten. I first saw a mass of them in the distance from the top of
a hill. Descending, I came upon them in such a position that the rays of
the setting sun intensified the brilliancy of their fiery orange-scarlet
color. I gathered a large armful of stalks, from three to seven feet high,
and placed them in water. They continued to expand for several weeks in
water."
There is a general resemblance between this and the northern scarlet
larkspur, but the clusters of this are far larger and denser, and the
individual flowers are finer. The half-opened buds more resemble the open
flowers of _D. nudicaule_; but the fully expanded flowers have the form of
some of the finest of the blue larkspurs.
The plants affect a sandy soil or one of decomposed granite.
WESTERN CARDINAL-FLOWER.
_Lobelia splendens_, Willd. Lobelia Family.
_Stems._--Two to four feet tall; slender, smooth or nearly so.
_Leaves._--Alternate; mostly sessile; lanceolate or almost
linear; glandular-denticulate. _Flowers._--In an elongated,
wandlike raceme; cardinal red. _Calyx._--Five-cleft.
_Corolla._--With straight tube, over an inch long and split
down the upper side; border two-lipped; upper lip with two
rather erect lobes; lower spreading and three-cleft, with lobes
three to six lines long. _Stamens._--Five; united into a tube
above. Anthers somewhat hairy. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style
simple. Stigma two-lobed. _Hab._--San Diego, San Bernardino,
and Los Angeles Counties, and eastward to Texas.
The Western cardinal-flower quite closely resembles _L. cardinalis_ of the
East, differing from it in a few minor points only. I have never been
fortunate enough to see it; but I am told that it is a magnificent plant,
and that from July to September many a wet spot in our southern mountain
cañons is made gay with its brilliant blossoms.
Of the Eastern plant Mr. Burroughs writes: "But when vivid color is wanted,
what can surpass or equal our cardinal-flower? There is a glow about this
flower, as if color emanated from it as from a live coal. The eye is
baffled and does not seem to reach the surface of the petal; it does not
see the texture or material part as it does in other flowers, but rests in
a steady, still radiance. It is not so much something colored as it is
color itself. And then the moist, cool, shady places it affects usually,
where it has no rivals, and where the large, dark shadows need just such a
dab of fire! Often, too, we see it double, its reflected image in some dark
pool heightening its effect."
HUMMING-BIRD'S TRUMPET. CALIFORNIA FUCHSIA.
_Zauschneria Californica_, Presl. Evening-Primrose Family.
Woody plants, more or less villous. _Stems._--Much branched; ascending or
decumbent; one to three feet long. _Leaves._--Mostly alternate; sessile;
narrowly lanceolate to ovate; six to eighteen lines long.
_Flowers._--Bright scarlet; in a loose spike; funnel-form; twenty lines
long. _Calyx._--Scarlet; four-cleft. _Petals._--Four; obcordate; borne on
the calyx-tube. _Stamens._--Eight. Filaments and style more or less
exserted. _Ovary._--Four-celled; inferior. Stigma four-lobed. _Hab._--From
Plumas County to Mexico; and the Rocky Mountains east of the Great Basin.
In late summer and through the autumn, the brilliant blossoms of the
California Fuchsia brighten the sombre tones of our dry, open hill-slopes.
Its aspect is one of gay insouciance, which would drive away melancholy
despite oneself, and though other plants have been put to rout, one by one,
by the sun's fierce glare, nothing daunted, it puts on its brightest hues,
like a true apostle of cheerfulness. It has been cultivated for some time,
and is highly prized in Eastern gardens, where it has earned for itself the
pretty title of "humming-bird's trumpet." It is not confined to our limits,
but extends southward into Mexico, and eastward to Wyoming. We have seen it
flourishing in the Sierras, where it is particularly beautiful.
It is called "balsamea" by the Spanish-Californians, who use a wash of it
as a remedy for cuts and bruises.
It varies greatly in the size and hairiness of its leaves, in the form of
its flowers, which are broadly or narrowly funnel-form, and in the
exsertion of the stamens and style. The _var. microphylla_ has a woolly
pubescence, linear leaves often very small, three or four lines long, and
other small leaves crowded in their axils. This is found in the south.
[Illustration CALIFORNIA FUCHSIA--_Zauschneria Californica_.]
There is no glory in star or blossom
Till looked upon by a loving eye;
There is no fragrance in April breezes
Till breathed with joy as they wander by.
--WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
VI. MISCELLANEOUS
MUILLA.
_Muilla maritima_, Benth. Lily Family.
_Root._--A small membranous-coated corm. _Leaves._--Radical;
linear; equaling the slender scape. _Scapes._--Three to twelve
inches high, bearing an umbel of small greenish-white flowers,
subtended by several small lanceolate to linear bracts.
_Pedicels._--Five to fifteen; two to twelve lines long.
_Perianth._--Almost rotate; of six segments; two or three lines
long. _Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Globose; three-celled.
_Hab._--The Coast, from Marin County to Monterey; also inland.
The generic name of this little plant is _Allium_ reversed.
Though it has a coated bulb like the onion, it has none of its garlic
flavor. It differs from the other umbellate-flowered genera of the Lily
family in not having its flowers jointed upon their pedicels. It thus seems
to be a link between the onion, on the one hand, and the beautiful
_Brodiæas_ and _Bloomerias_, on the other. It is not at all an attractive
plant, though its blossoms are pleasantly fragrant.
It is found on the borders of salt marshes and in subsaline soils in the
interior, as well as upon high hills in stony soils.
Another species--_M. serotina_, Greene--common upon inland hills in the
south, is quite a delicate, pretty flower. Its greenish-white blossoms,
with dainty Nile-green anthers, are nearly an inch across, and each segment
has a pale-green mid-nerve. The plant has a number of very long, slender
leaves, and its flower-stems are sometimes two feet tall and very slender.
SILK-TASSEL TREE. QUININE-BUSH.
_Garrya elliptica_, Dougl. Dogwood Family.
Shrubs five to eight feet high. _Leaves._--Leathery;
white-woolly beneath; wavy-margined. _Flowers._--Of two kinds
on separate shrubs; in solitary or clustered catkins; and
without petals. _Staminate catkins._--Two to ten inches long,
consisting of a flexile chain of funnel-form bracts, depending
one from another; each having six flowers like clappers. These
flowers with four hairy sepals and four stamens with distinct
filaments. _Pistillate catkins._--Of similar structure but
stouter, more rigid. Their flowers without floral envelopes;
pistils two; fleshy and hairy; stigmas filiform; dark.
_Hab._--Near the Coast from Monterey County to Washington.
This shrub might easily be mistaken for one of our young live-oaks, with
its leathery leaves and gray bark; but the leaves are opposite, and not
alternate, as with the oaks. The bark and leaves have an intensely bitter
principle, similar to quinine and equally efficacious.
Early in February, after the first spell of balmy weather, the bushes put
forth their flowers, and then they are exceedingly beautiful. The long
pale-green chains at the ends of all the branches hang limp and flexile,
shaken with every breath of wind, or, falling over other branches, drape
and festoon the whole shrub exquisitely. The catkins of the female shrub
are stouter and more rigid than those of the male; but when the fruit is
mature, they lengthen out into beautifully tinted clusters of little
papery-coated grapes, which are quite attractive in themselves. This is
cultivated as an ornamental shrub in England.
_G. Fremonti_, Torr., another species, is distinguished by having its
leaves pointed at both ends, not wavy-margined, and not permanently woolly;
and also by its solitary catkins. This is the shrub usually spoken of as
"quinine-bush," "fever-bush," etc., and whose leaves were used as a
substitute for quinine in the early days among the miners. It is said that
its roots, left in the ground after the cutting of the shrub, become
marbled with green, and are then very beautiful for inlaying in ornamental
woodwork.
[Illustration SILK-TASSEL TREE--_Garrya elliptica_.]
CALIFORNIA LAUREL.
_Umbellularia Californica_, Nutt. Laurel Family.
Shrubs or trees, ten to one hundred feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; lanceolate-oblong; two to
four inches long; smooth, shining green; very aromatic.
_Flowers._--In clusters. _Sepals._--Six; greenish-white; two
and a half lines long. _Petals._--None. _Stamens._--Nine; in
three rows; the filaments of the inner row having on either
side, at base, a stalked orange-colored gland.
_Anthers._--Four-celled; the cells opening by uplifting lids.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style stout. Stigma lobed.
_Fruit._--Olive-like; an inch long; becoming purple.
_Hab._--From Oregon to San Diego.
Early in February we usually have some of our loveliest days. Life is then
pulsing and throbbing everywhere at full tide. The clear sunshine, the
murmur of streams, the odor of the freshly turned sod, the caroling of
larks all are eloquent of the springtime. The whole air is filled with a
strange, spicy fragrance which makes it a delight to breathe. The
California laurel is shaking out a delicious, penetrating odor from its
countless blossoms.
Mr. Sargent refers to this tree as one of the stateliest and most beautiful
inhabitants of the North American forests, and one of the most striking
features of the California landscape.
In France it is now much appreciated and cultivated in parks and gardens.
In Southern California it is only a shrub; but in the central and northern
counties it becomes a magnificent tree, a hundred feet in height and from
four to six feet in diameter. It thrives best in the rich soil along
stream-banks, though it grows also upon hillsides. It would be impossible
to mistake this tree for any other; for its leaves, when crushed, give out
a peculiar pungent odor which, if inhaled too much, will cause headache.
The odor is something like that of bay-rum. The Indians, as well as our own
people, acting upon the homeopathic principle, use them as a remedy for
headache. The oil is also used effectively in toothache, earache, etc., and
enters into the composition of certain patent medicines.
The wood of the laurel is one of the most beautiful employed by the
cabinet-maker, and it is largely used in the manufacture of choice
furniture. The olive-like fruit is ripe by July, and would remain upon the
tree until the next year were not the squirrels so fond of it.
This tree is known in different localities by a variety of names, such as
"spice-bush," "balm of heaven," "sassafras laurel," "cajeput," "California
bay-tree," "California olive," "mountain laurel," and "California laurel."
But the last of these is the one prevalent where its finest forms are
found.
MOUNTAIN MAHOGANY.
_Cercocarpus parvifolius_, Nutt. Rose Family.
Shrubs two to twenty feet high; branching from a thick base.
_Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; cuneate; serrate across
the summit; more or less silky above; densely hoary-tomentose
beneath; six to eighteen lines long. _Flowers._--Mostly
solitary; axillary. _Calyx._--Narrowly tubular, with a
deciduous campanulate five-lobed limb. _Petals._--None.
_Stamens._--Fifteen to twenty-five; on the calyx.
_Ovary._--One-(rarely two-) celled. Style simple. _Fruit._--An
akene with a silky tail, at length becoming three or four
inches long. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges from Lake County to
Southern California.
The mountain mahogany is a common shrub upon the interior hills of the
Coast Ranges; and when one has once made its acquaintance, it is always
easily recognized by its wedge-shaped, dark-green leaves, prominently
veined and notched at the summit. Its flowers, having no petals, are green
and inconspicuous; but the long, solitary plumes of its little fruit are
very noticeable and pretty. Its wood is the heaviest and hardest we have.
Mr. Greene says that its leafy twigs have a sweet, birchy flavor, rendering
them excellent food for cattle in late summer.
DUTCHMAN'S PIPE. PIPE-VINE.
_Aristolochia Californica_, Torr. Birthwort Family.
_Stem._--Woody; climbing. _Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled;
large; ovate-cordate, two to four inches long.
_Flowers._--Greenish, veined with purple.
_Perianth._--Pipe-shaped; the lobes of the lip leather-colored
within. _Anthers._--Six; sessile; adnate in pairs to the thick
style under the broad lobes of the stigma; vertical.
_Stigma._--Three-lobed. _Ovary._--Inferior; six-angled;
six-celled. _Fruit._--A large, leathery pod two inches long.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Monterey to Marin County.
This odd flower is found rather sparingly in our middle Coast Ranges from
February to April, and in some parts of the Sierra foothills, reaching even
to the Yosemite. As it flowers before the large leaves come out, and the
blossoms are much like dead leaves in color, it requires keen eyes to find
it. It usually grows on low ground, in a tangle of shrubs under the trees,
often festooning gracefully from branch to branch. Before the flowers are
fully open, the buds resemble ugly little brown ducks hanging from the
vine.
The common blue-black butterfly is often seen hovering over this vine, and
it is said that its caterpillar is so fond of the fruit that it rarely
permits one to ripen.
Later in the season, the large cordate leaves are quite conspicuous, and
cause people to wonder what may have been the flower of so fine a vine.
TURK'S-HEAD CACTUS. TURBAN CACTUS.
_Echinocactus viridescens_, Nutt. Cactus Family.
Depressed, hemispherical, fleshy, leafless plants, with from
thirteen to twenty-one prominent, vertical ribs, bearing groups
of rigid spines; usually less than a foot in diameter.
_Spines._--Straight or recurved; stout; reddish; transversely
ribbed or ringed. _Flowers._--Sessile; borne about the
depressed woolly center; yellowish-green; about eighteen lines
long. _Sepals._--Many; closely imbricated; merging into the
numerous, oblong, scarious petals; sometimes nerved with red.
_Stamens._--Very many. _Ovary._--One-celled. Stigmas twelve to
fifteen; linear. _Berry._--Pulpy; green; scaly. _Hab._--From
San Diego inland.
The Turk's-head cactus looks very much like the end of a watermelon
protruding from the ground, if one could imagine a watermelon deeply
furrowed and furnished with very formidable spines.
[Illustration DUTCHMAN'S PIPE--_Aristolochia Californica_.]
This plant is abundant near San Diego, growing all over the mesas; and it
is marvelous that horses and cattle are not more often injured by stepping
upon these disagreeable, horrent globes; but long experience has doubtless
taught them the instinct of caution.
The plant is really beautiful when crowned with its circle of gauzy,
yellow-green flowers, which are more like some exquisite artificial
fabrication than real flowers. The fruit of this cactus is slightly acid
and rather pleasant.
The plant is cultivated in Europe under the name of _Echinocactus
Californicus_.
FAIRY BELLS. DROPS OF GOLD.
_Prosartes Hookeri_, Torr. Lily Family.
_Rootstock._--Creeping; spreading. _Stem._--A foot or two high;
branching horizontally. _Leaves._--Alternate; ovate; cordate;
acute; several-nerved; two or three inches long.
_Flowers._--Greenish; one to six; six lines long; pendulous
under the ends of the branches.
_Perianth._--Spreading-campanulate. _Segments._--Six;
lanceolate; arched at the base. _Stamens._--Six; equaling or
exceeding the perianth. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style slender;
entire. _Fruit._--An obovate, somewhat pubescent berry; golden,
ripening to scarlet. _Syn._--_Disporum Hookeri_, Britt.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges from Marin County to Santa Cruz; in
shady woods, but not by the water.
In our walks through the April woods, we often notice a fine plant with
branching stems, whose handsomely veined leaves are set obliquely to the
stem and all lie in nearly the same horizontal plane. In our subsequent
meetings with the plant it seems to change but little, and we begin to grow
impatient for the coming of the flower, which, however, seems to show no
disposition to appear. Some day, when bending over a bit of moss or a
fern-frond, or peering into the silk-lined hole of a ground-spider, we
suddenly catch a glimmer of something under the broad leaves of our
hitherto disappointing plant, and hastening to examine it, we find to our
amazement one or more exquisitely formed little green bells hanging from
the tip of each branch. Later these are often succeeded by small berries,
at first golden, and afterward scarlet.
The generic name, _Prosartes_, comes from a Greek word signifying _to hang
from_, and is in allusion to the pendulous flowers. By some authorities
this plant is called _Disporum Hookeri_. The common name, "drops of gold,"
applies to the berry.
Another species _P. Menziesii_, Don.--is found growing along stream-banks
in the Coast Ranges from Marin County northward. This differs from the
above in its longer, more cylindrical, _milk-white_ flowers, and its
salmon-colored berries. It usually blossoms a little later than the other
species, lasting till June.
COMMON MUGWORT.
_Artemisia vulgaris, var. Californica_, Bess. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Rather simple; a foot or two high. _Leaves._--Ample;
slashed downward into long acute lobes; green above;
cottony-woolly beneath; bitter; strong-scented; the upper often
entire, linear or lanceolate. _Flower-heads._--Minute; two
lines high, one broad; composed of tubular disk-flowers only;
greenish, in long, slender, crowded panicles. _Hab._--Near the
Coast, from San Francisco northward.
This is a common weed along our roadsides, and is easily known by its
slashed leaves with silvery under surfaces. These leaves are very bitter.
This is closely allied to the wormwood, and by many people is called
"wormwood."
ARTEMISIA. SAGEBRUSH.
_Artemisia Californica_, Less. Composite Family.
_Stems._--Shrubby; four or five feet high; with many slender
branches. _Leaves._--Alternate; pinnately parted into three- to
seven-filiform divisions; or entire and filiform; an inch or so
long; strong-scented. _Flower-heads._--Very small; two lines or
less across; numerous, in narrow panicles; greenish; composed
of tubular disk-flowers only. _Hab._--Marin County to San
Bernardino.
The _Artemisia_, or, as it is more commonly called, "sagebrush," is an old
friend that we always expect to meet in our walks on rocky hill-slopes. Its
leaves have a clean, bitter fragrance, similar to that of the mugwort, but
sweeter, and when crushed in the hand they emit a strong odor of
turpentine.
Dr. Behr tells me that in the early days the miners laid sprays of it in
their beds to drive away the fleas.
The Spanish-Californians regard it as a panacea for all ills, and use it in
the form of a strong wash to bathe wounds and swellings, with excellent
results.
Another species--_A. tridentata_, Nutt.--is the shrubby form, growing so
abundantly all over the alkali plains of the Great Basin, where it holds
undisputed possession with the prairie-dog and the coyote. It has narrow,
wedge-shaped leaves, which are three-toothed at the apex; and the whole
plant has a strong odor of turpentine.
This is highly esteemed by the Indians as a medicinal plant.
WILD PIE-PLANT. CANAIGRE.
_Rumex hymenosepalus_, Torr. Buckwheat Family.
_Root._--A cluster of Dahlia-like tubers. _Stems._--About two
feet high. _Leaves._--Narrowly oblong or lanceolate; a foot
long or less; acute; undulate; narrowed into a short, very
thick petiole. _Flowers._--Light raisin-color; in a large
panicle a foot or so long. _Perianth._--Of six sepals; the
outer minute; the inner about five lines long, appressed to the
ovary. _Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Three-angled; one-celled.
Styles three; short. Stigmas tufted. _Hab._--Dry, sandy plains
of Southern California.
The wild pie-plant is closely related to the garden rhubarb, and also to
the dock and the sorrel. In early days in both Utah and Southern California
housewives used its stems as a substitute for the cultivated pie-plant,
finding them quite acceptable. The Indians have long used the root in the
tanning of buckskins, and they have also found in it a bright
mahogany-brown dye, with which to paint their bodies.
Of late this plant has been attracting much notice under the name
"canaigre," and it is hoped that it will prove a valuable substitute for
tanbark. If it does, we shall hail it with delight as the savior of our
beautiful oak forests. Tannin exists in large quantities in the thick
roots; but it is yet a question whether it will prove remunerative to the
farmer as a crop. At Rialto a company has been formed, which employs many
men to gather and prepare the roots, and there will soon be thousands of
acres of it under cultivation. The tops of the plants, with the small upper
portions of the roots, which have all the eyes upon them, are cut off and
replanted for the next year's crop, while the remainder of the root is
sliced, dried, pulverized, and leached to extract the tannin, which is then
ready for use.
[Illustration CANAIGRE--_Rumex hymenosepalus_.]
The plant is a very noticeable one, with its red leaf-stems and veins and
its large, dense cluster of small raisin-colored flowers, and it is often
seen upon our southern plains. But I am told that over the border in Lower
California it grows in great abundance, covering the ground for miles. It
would seem as though its cultivation might be carried on with best results
where nature produces it so freely.
HORNLESS WOOLLY MILKWEED.
_Gomphocarpus tomentosus_, Gray. Milkweed Family.
Densely white-woolly plants, with milky juice. _Stems._--One to
three feet high. _Leaves._--Two to four inches long.
_Flowers._--Several, in a pendulous cluster on yarnlike
pedicels; lateral upon the stem between the leaves.
_Calyx._--Five-parted; inconspicuous. _Corolla._--Deeply
five-parted; greenish without, pinkish within.
_Stamens._--Five; sunk in the column and alternating with the
five hoods. _Hoods._--Two lines across; saccate; open down the
outer face. _Ovaries._--Two; pointed; capped by a flat stigma.
_Fruit._--A pair of follicles; with many silken-tufted seeds.
_Hab._--Dry hills from San Diego to Monte Diablo.
In the south by late spring the very woolly stems and foliage of this
milkweed become quite noticeable before any hint of blossoms appears. The
thick, gray leaves look as though they might have been cut out of heavy
flannel. By May the flower-clusters begin to take definite form, and at
last the buds open and reveal a most interesting flower, whose structure is
quite complicated. The center of the blossom is occupied by a fleshy
column, in which are sunk the anthers, and upon which are borne certain
round, dark wine-colored bodies called the "hoods," which are in reality
nectaries, holding honey for insect visitors. All the pollen in each
anther-cell consists of a waxy mass, and the adjacent masses of different
anthers are bound together by a gummy, elastic band, suspended upon the rim
of the stigma. The stigma occupies the top of the fleshy column, and forms
a cap, hiding from view the two tubes, or styles, leading down into the
ovaries.
[Illustration HORNLESS WOOLLY MILKWEED--_Gomphocarpus tomentosus_.]
The milkweeds of California are divided between two genera--_Asclepias_ and
_Gomphocarpus_,--the difference between them lying in the presence of a
horn or crest rising out of the hoods in _Asclepias_.
Bees visiting the blossoms of the milkweeds are said to be frequently
disabled by the pollen-masses, which adhere to them in such numbers and
weigh them down so heavily that they cannot climb upon their combs, but
fall down and perish.
MOUNTAIN LADY'S SLIPPER.
_Cypripedium montanum_, Dougl. Orchis Family.
_Stems._--Stout; a foot or two high; leafy. _Leaves._--Four to
six inches long; pointed. _Flowers._--One to three; short
pediceled. _Sepals and petals._--Brownish; eighteen to thirty
lines long; the two lower sepals united nearly to the apex.
_Sac._--An inch long; dull white, veined with purple.
_Anthers._--Two fertile (one on either side of the column); one
sterile, four or five lines long, yellow, with purple spots
longer than the stigma. _Hab._--The mountains from Central
California to the Columbia River.
The mountain lady's slipper is a rare plant with us, which affects cool,
secluded spots in our mountain forests. The plants, of which two or three
usually grow from a creeping rootstock, generally stand where some moisture
seeps out. The leaves are ample and shapely, and the quaint flowers quiet
and elegant in coloring.
The long, twisted sepals and petals and the oval sac give these blossoms
the aspect of some floral daddy-long-legs or some weird brownie of the
wood. We feel that we have fallen upon a rare day when we are fortunate
enough to find these flowers, and we are reminded of Mr. Burroughs' lines:
"How fastidious and exclusive is the _Cypripedium_!... It does not go in
herds, like the commoner plants, but affects privacy and solitude. When I
come upon it in my walks, I seem to be intruding upon some very private and
exclusive company."
[Illustration MOUNTAIN LADY'S SLIPPER.--_Cypripedium montanum_.]
In our Coast Ranges we may look for these blossoms in May.
We have but two or three species of _Cypripedium_. _C. Californicum_, Gray,
is similar to _C. montanum_, but its blossoms have comparatively short
greenish-yellow sepals and petals, and the sac is from white to pale
rose-color. They have a more compact look, and lack the careless grace of
those of the mountain lady's slipper. Their haunts are swamps in open
woodlands in the northern part of the State, where they bloom in August and
September, and are often found in the company of the California
pitcher-plant.
REIN-ORCHIS.
_Habenaria elegans_, Bolander. Orchis Family.
_Root._--An oblong tuber. _Stem._--Rather slender; a foot or
two high. _Leaves._--Two; radical; oblong; three to six inches
long; eighteen lines to two inches wide. _Flowers._--Small;
light green; in a dense but slender spike. Sepals and petals
about equal; two lines long; obtuse. _Lip._--Similar, with a
filiform spur three to five lines long. (Otherwise like _H.
leucostachys_.) _Hab._--Near the coast, from Monterey to
Vancouver Island.
In early summer the fragrant spikes of the rein-orchis stand half-concealed
under the trees and along the banks bordering wooded mountain roads. The
little greenish flowers are inconspicuous, and reveal themselves only to
those who have the habit of observation. Early in the spring the rather
large lily-like leaves were far more noticeable and handsome; but they
seemed to weary of waiting for the tardy arrival of the blossoms, and faded
away long since. The little flowers are very deliberate about unfolding
themselves; and I have sometimes watched them when they seemed for weeks at
a standstill before yielding to the summer's invitation to come forth.
They are arranged in a three-sided spike, on two sides of which the long
spurs interlace and cross one another in quite a warlike manner.
[Illustration REIN-ORCHIS--_Habenaria elegans_.]
TEASEL. FULLER'S THISTLE.
_Dipsacus Fullonum_, L. Teasel Family.
The teasel is not an uncommon sight along our roadsides, having spread
considerably since its introduction from Europe, some years ago. The strong
stems are tall and slender, and bear at summit the large bristly cones,
surrounded by rigid, erect bracts. These cones are the inflorescence of the
plant, and each downward-pointing little hook is a bract beneath a flower.
Before the flowers come out, the buds show their round, green heads, packed
away down among the bristles. Then for a time the cones are ringed or
covered by the delicate flesh-colored flowers; which stand out from the
bristles, giving the cone a soft, fluffy look. After these have passed
away, the cavities in which they were stored give the cone a pitted
appearance. These burs are exquisitely symmetrical, and have long been in
use by the fuller to "tease," or raise a nap upon cloth, whence the name,
"teasel." They are cut in halves or quarters, and these are set in frames
which are worked by machinery. Many vain attempts have been made to
manufacture an instrument to take the place of the teasel; but it is
difficult to find anything that is strong enough to do the work that at the
same time will not injure the cloth.
This is enumerated among the plants which are supposed to foretell the
weather. Mr. Dyer quotes the following:--
... "tezils, or fuller's thistle, being gathered and hanged up in the
house where the air may come freely to it, upon the alteration of cold
and windy weather will grow smoother, and against rain will close up
its prickles."
SAMPHIRE. GLASSWORT.
_Salicornia ambigua_, Michx. Goosefoot Family.
_Hab._--The Coast, from San Francisco to Oregon.
Ye marshes, how candid and simple, and nothing withholding and free,
Ye publish yourselves to the sky, and offer yourselves to the sea;
Tolerant plains that suffer the sea and the rains and the sun,
Ye spread and span, like the catholic man who hath mightily won
God out of knowledge, and good out of infinite pain,
And sight out of blindness, and purity out of a stain.
--SIDNEY LANIER.
Though a humble enough plant in itself, the samphire, or glasswort, is the
source of a wonderful glory in our marshes in the autumn. Great stretches
of tide-land not already pre-empted by the tule are covered by it, showing
the most gorgeous blendings of crimson, purple, olives, and bronzes, which,
seen with all the added charm of shifting and changing atmospheric effects,
far outrival any Oriental rug that could be conceived of.
This plant is easily known by its succulent branching, leafless stems and
from the fact that it does not grow outside of the salt marshes. Its
flowering is obscure, and all that can be seen is a few small stamens just
protruding from the surface of the fleshy spike, which appears much like
any of the other branches, the flowers being sunk in it.
The generic name is derived from two Latin words--_sal_, salt, and _cornu_,
a horn--and conveys the idea of saline plants with hornlike branches. The
English name, "samphire," is of French derivation, and comes originally
from the old "l'herbe de Saint Pierre," formerly having been written
"sampêtra" and "sampire." In Great Britain this plant is usually designated
as "_marsh_ samphire," to distinguish it from the ordinary samphire, which
is a plant of the genus _Crithmum_.
This plant is much relished by cattle, and in England it is made into a
pickle, while on the continent it is used as a pot-herb. Formerly, in
Europe, it was burned in large quantities for the soda contained in its
ashes.
MOTTLED SWAMP-ORCHIS. FALSE LADY'S SLIPPER.
_Epipactis gigantea_, Dougl. Orchis Family.
_Rootstock._--Creeping. _Stems._--Leafy; one to four feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; clasping; ovate below;
lanceolate above; three to eight inches long. _Flowers._--Three
to ten; in terminal racemes; greenish, veined with purple.
_Sepals._--Three; petaloid; lanceolate; an inch or less long.
_Petals._--The two upper about equaling the sepals. The lip
concave; saccate; eared at base; with a jointed, pendulous tip.
_Anther._--One; sessile upon the top of the column.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Throughout California.
The casual observer usually alludes to this plant as a "lady's slipper,"
and he is not so very far wrong, for it is closely related to the
_Cypripedium_, and resembles it much in habit, in the aspect of its leafy
stems, and in the general form of its blossom. But instead of having its
lip in the form of a sac, it is open and curiously jointed, the lower
portion swinging freely, as upon a hinge. When this lid is raised, one can
fancy some winged seraph or angel enshrined within, but when lowered the
semblance is more to a monk bowed in meditation.
These beautiful plants will be found abundantly fringing our streams in
June and July, and the disciples of dear old Isaac Walton who then pass
down the stream with rod and line are usually attracted by their quietly
elegant colors. Dull purples and greens predominate, though the lip is
tinged with orange or yellow.
In Northern California and Oregon is occasionally found a rare and curious
plant--the "phantom orchis," _Cephalanthera Oregana_, Richenb.f. This plant
is white and ghostlike throughout, has stems a foot or two high, but no
leaves--only three to five scarious sheathing bracts. Its blossoms are very
similar in size and shape to those of _Epipactis gigantea_.
I have never had the pleasure of finding this floral oddity myself; but one
season a friend sent me the only plant which was found in a thicket near a
pretty camp upon the Sacramento River, in the Shasta region.
[Illustration FALSE LADY'S SLIPPER--_Epipactis gigantea_.]
CALIFORNIAN PITCHER-PLANT. CALF'S-HEAD.
_Darlingtonia Californica_, Torr. Pitcher-plant Family.
Bog plants, with long horizontal rootstocks.
_Leaves._--Tubular; hooded and appendaged above; eighteen to
thirty-four inches high. _Scape._--Eighteen inches or more
high, with green bracts crowded near the solitary nodding
flower. Flower parts in fives. _Sepals._--Green; twenty lines
long. _Petals._--Purplish; shorter than the sepals; constricted
above into a terminal lobe. _Stamens._--Twelve to fifteen in a
circle around the ovary. _Ovary._--Top-shaped; truncate;
five-lobed; five-celled. Style five-lobed. Stigmas thickish.
_Hab._--The Sierras, from Truckee Pass into Oregon.
Our pitcher-plant is one of the most wonderful and interesting of all the
forms that grow, linking, as it were, the vegetable world with the animal,
by its unnatural carnivorous habits. If you would like to visit it, this
warm July day, we will take a mountain trail, leading around under lofty
yellow pines, Douglas spruces, and incense-cedars, making our way through
the undergrowth until we come to a swamp lying upon a hillside yonder.
While still some distance away, we can discern the yellowish-green of the
myriad hoods as they lift themselves in the sunlight like spotted snakes.
If you have never seen the plant before, you will be in a fever of
excitement till you can reach the spot and actually take one of the strange
pitchers in your hand to examine it. Nothing could be cleverer than the
nicely arranged wiles of this uncanny plant for the capturing of the
innocent--yes, and of the more knowing ones--of the insect world who come
within its enchantment. No ogre in his castle has ever gone to work more
deliberately or fiendishly to entrap his victims while offering them
hospitality, than does this plant-ogre. Attracted by the bizarre yellowish
hoods or the tall nodding flowers, the foolish insect alights upon the
former and commences his exploration of the fascinating region. He soon
comes upon the wing, which often being smeared with a trail of sweets, acts
as a guide to lure him on to the dangerous entrance to the hoodlike dome.
Once within this hall of pleasure, he roams about, enjoying the hospitality
spread for him. But at last, when he has partaken to satiety and would
fain depart, he turns to retrace his steps. In the dazzlement of the
translucent windows of the dome above, he loses sight of the darkened door
in the floor by which he entered and flies forcibly upward, bumping his
head in his eagerness to escape. He is stunned by the blow and plunged
downward into the tube below. Here he struggles to rise, but countless
downward-pointing, bristly hairs urge him to his fate. He sinks lower and
lower in this "well of death" until he reaches the fatal waters in the
bottom, where he is at length ingulfed, adding one more to the already
numerous victims of this diabolical plant.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN PITCHER-PLANT--_Darlingtonia Californica_.]
The fluid at the bottom of the well is secreted by the plant, and seems to
have somewhat the action of a gastric juice in disintegrating the insects
submerged in it. Many species of ants, flies, bees, hornets, grasshoppers,
butterflies, moths, dragon-flies, beetles, etc., are to be found in the
tube, sometimes filling it to a depth of two or three inches.
The disagreeableness of the vicinity of these plants can be imagined upon a
hot day when the sun is shining "upon this sad abode of death" and all the
air is tainted with their sickening odor.
The mountaineers call the plant "calf's-head," because of the large
yellowish domes of the pitchers.
INDEX TO LATIN NAMES
[To assist in the pronunciation of the Latin names, the accented syllable
in each word is indicated by an accent mark. If this syllable ends in a
vowel, the vowel has the long sound; but if it ends in a consonant, the
vowel has a short sound. Either the English or the Continental sounds may
be given the vowels, though the former are more generally authorized.]
PAGE
Abro´nia latifo´lia, 146
marit´ima, 292
umbella´ta, 292
villo´sa, 292
Achille´a Millefo´lium, 97
Aconi´tum Columbia´num, 328
Fisch´eri, 328
Adenos´toma fascicula´tum, 60
sparsifo´lium, 60
Æs´culus Califor´nica, 69
Amelan´chier alnifo´lia, 88
Amor´pha Califor´nica, 315
Amsinck´ia, 128
Anagal´lis arven´sis, 126
Anaph´alis Margarita´cea, 102
Anemo´ne nemoro´sa, 18
quinquefo´lia, 18
Anemop´sis Califor´nica, 76
Antenna´ria, 102
Antirrhi´num Coulteria´num, 46
glandulo´sum, 320
Orcuttia´num, 46
va´gans, 320
Apoc´ynum androsæmifo´lium, 236
cannab´inum, 238
Aquile´gia cœru´lea, 348
trunca´ta, 348
Ar´abis blepharophyl´la, 196
Ara´lia Califor´nica, 76
Ar´butus Menzie´sii, 37
Arctostaph´ylos bi´color, 14
glau´ca, 14
manzani´ta, 12
pun´gens, 12
Argemo´ne platy´ceras, 74
Aristolo´chia Califor´nica, 374
Artemis´ia Califor´nica, 377
tridenta´ta, 378
vulga´ris, 377
As´arum cauda´tum, 310
Hartwe´gi, 310
Ascle´pias Mexica´na, 312
As´ter Chamisso´nis, 332
salsugino´sus, 32
Astragalus, xxxv
leucop´sis, 40
Audiber´tia grandiflo´ra, 350
stachyoi´des, 294
niv´ea, 296
Bac´charis Douglas´ii, 106
pilula´ris, 104
Bae´ria gra´cilis, 124
Ber´beris Aquifo´lium, 122
nervo´sa, 118
re´pens, 118
Bloome´ria au´rea, 154
Clevelan´di, 156
Boykin´ia occidenta´lis, 81
Bras´sica ni´gra, 140
Brevoor´tia coccin´ea, 238
Brodiæ´a capita´ta, 262
coccin´ea, 238
conges´ta, 264
grandiflo´ra, 318
ixioi´des, 156
lac´tea, 156
lax´a, 302
multiflo´ra, 262
terres´tris, 318
Brodiæ´a volu´bilis, 232
Brunel´la vulga´ris, 322
Bryan´thus Brew´eri, 246
Calandrin´ia caules´cens, 212
Calochor´tus, xl
al´bus, 54
Ben´thami, 130
Catali´næ, 306
clava´tus, 150
lu´teus, 174
lu´teus ocula´tus, 81
macrocar´pus, 268
Mawea´nus, 278
pulchel´lus, 144
splen´dens, 306
umbella´tus, 278
uniflo´rus, 278
venus´tus, 78
Weed´ii, 150
Calycan´thus occidenta´lis, 352
Calyp´so boreal´is, 210
Camas´sia esculen´ta, 292
Campan´ula prenanthoi´des, 322
Cardam´ine paucisec´ta, 4
Castille´ia foliolo´sa, 344
parviflo´ra, 344
Ceano´thus, xxxiv
divarica´tus, 258
integer´rimus, 84
prostra´tus, 326
thyrsiflo´rus, 274
velu´tinus, 39
Cephalan´thera Orega´na, 388
Cephalan´thus occidenta´lis, 98
Cer´cis occidenta´lis, 198
Cercocar´pus parvifo´lius, 373
Chamæba´tia foliolo´sa, 92
(Pronounced _K_ameba´tia.)
Cheiran´thus as´per, 132
Chimaph´ila Menzie´sii, 104
umbella´ta, 104
Chlorog´alum pomeridia´num, 82
Chorizan´the staticoi´des, 218
Cicho´rium In´tybus, 312
Clar´kia concin´na, 236
el´egans, 228
Clayto´nia perfolia´ta, 16
Clem´atis lasian´tha, 91
ligusticifo´lia, 91
Clinto´nia Andrewsia´na, 202
Collin´sia bi´color, 294
Collo´mia grandiflo´ra, 178
Convol´vulus arven´sis, 42
lute´olus, 40
occidenta´lis, 40
Soldanel´la, 210
villo´sus, 42
Corallorhi´za Bigelo´vii, 272
multiflo´ra, 272
Cor´nus Nuttal´lii, 94
Cot´ula coronopifo´lia, 151
Cotyle´don Califor´inicum, 142
ed´ulis, 142
lanceola´ta, 141
pulverulen´ta, 142
Cucur´bita fœtidis´sima, 117
peren´nis, 117
Cus´cuta, 160
sali´na, 161
Cynoglos´sum gran´de, 258
Cypripe´dium Califor´nicum, 384
monta´num, 382
Darlingto´nia Califor´nica, 390
Datu´ra meteloi´des, 54
Stramo´nium, 96
suaveo´lens, 96
Delphin´ium, 276
cardina´le, 364
nudicau´le, 346
scopulo´rum, 330
Dendrome´con rig´idum, 118
Denta´ria Califor´nica, 4
Dicen´tra chrysan´tha, 162
formo´sa, 242
Dip´sacus Fullon´um, 386
Dis´porum Hook´eri, 376
Dodeca´theon Clevelan´di, 206
Henderso´ni, 204
Mea´dia, 204
Downin´gia el´egans, 315
pulchel´la, 314
Echinocac´tus virides´cens, 374
Echinocys´tis faba´cea, 26
macrocar´pa, 26
Echinosperm´um floribun´dum, 334
Ellis´ia chrysanthemifo´lia, 36
Emmenan´the penduliflo´ra, 130
Ence´lia Califor´nica, 128
Epilo´bium angustifo´lium, 244
obcorda´tum, 254
panicula´tum, 244
spica´tum, 244
Epipac´tis gigante´a, 388
Erig´eron Coul´teri, 106
Erig´eron glau´cus, 304
Philadel´phicus, 216
salsugino´sus, 332
Eriodic´tyon glutino´sum, 56
tomento´sum, 58
Eriog´onum fascicula´tum, 34
nu´dum, 34
umbella´tum, 178
ursi´num, 178
Eriophyl´lum cæspito´sum, 182
confertiflo´rum, 180
Eritrich´ium, 30
Ero´dium Bo´trys, 194
cicuta´rium, 194
moscha´tum, 194
Erys´imum as´perum, 132
grandiflo´rum, 132
Erythræ´a venus´ta, 218
Erythro´nium gigante´um, 136
grandiflo´rum, 138
Eschschol´tzia Califor´nica, 114
Eucharid´ium concin´num, 236
Flœr´kia Douglas´ii, 126
Fraga´ria Califor´nica, 10
Chilen´sis, 10
Fremon´tia Califor´nica, 158
Fritilla´ria biflo´ra, 266
coccin´ea, 346
lanceola´ta, 264
lilia´cea, 267
pluriflo´ra, 266
pu´dica, 267
recur´va, 346
Ga´lium Apari´ne, 28
angustifo´lium, 29
Gar´rya ellip´tica, 370
Fremon´ti, 370
Gaulthe´ria Shal´lon, 75
Gentia´na calyco´sa, 330
Gil´ia, xxxvii
achilleæfo´lia, 296
aggrega´ta, 360
androsa´cea, 222
Califor´nica, 206
capita´ta, 296
Chamisso´nis, 296
dianthoi´des, 216
dicho´toma, 50
grandiflo´ra, 178
tri´color, 288
Gnapha´lium decur´rens, 68
Sprenge´lii, 68
Gode´tia, xxxvi
Bot´tæ, 240
grandiflo´ra, 240
vimine´a, 240
Gomphocar´pus tomento´sus, 380
Goodye´ra Menzie´sii, 98
Grinde´lia cuneifo´lia, 176
hirsu´tula, 178
robus´ta, 176
Habena´ria el´egans, 384
leucosta´chys, 94
Helian´thus an´nuus, 185
Califor´nicus, 186
Heliotro´pium Curassa´vicum, 47
Hemizo´nia luzulæfo´lia, 188
Heterome´les arbutifo´lia, 90
Heu´chera micran´tha, 58
Hosack´ia bi´color, 165
crassifo´lia, 166
gla´bra, 152
gra´cilis, 166
Purshia´na, 252
Tor´reyi, 165
Hyper´icum anagalloi´des, 172
concin´num, 162
I´ris longipet´ala, 280
macrosi´phon, 280
Iso´meris arbo´rea, 144
Krynitz´kia, 30
Lar´rea Mexica´na, 191
Lath´yrus splen´dens, 212
Tor´reyi, 25
vesti´tus, 25
Lava´tera assurgentiflo´ra, 226
Lay´ia glandulo´sa, 28
platyglos´sa, 148
Le´dum glandulo´sum, 103
Lepto´syne Douglas´ii, 148
marit´ima, 146
Lessin´gia Germano´rum, 252
lepto´clada, 252
Lewis´ia redivi´va, 224
Lil´ium Humbold´tii, 185
marit´imum, 356
pardali´num, 182
par´vum, 180
rubes´cens, 72
Limnan´thes Douglas´ii, 126
Lina´ria Canaden´sis, 304
Lobe´lia splen´dens, 365
Lonic´era hispid´ula, 226
involucra´ta, 122
Lupi´nus, xxxiv
al´bifrons, 161
arbo´reus, 161
bi´color, 300
densiflo´rus, 85
Sti´veri, 161
Lysichi´ton Camtschatcen´sis, 166
Ma´dia el´egans, 182
sati´va, 182
Maho´nia Aquifo´lium, 122
Malaco´thrix Califor´nica, 151
saxat´ilis, 75
tenuifo´lia, 75
Malvas´trum Thur´beri, 220
Mamilla´ria Goodridg´ii, 24
Marru´bium vulga´re, 47
Meconop´sis heterophyl´la, 129
Medica´go denticula´ta, 132
sati´va, 326
Megarrhi´za Califor´nica, 26
Melilo´tus al´ba, 156
parviflo´ra, 156
Mentze´lia lævicau´lis, 168
Lind´leyi, 168
Mesembryan´themum æquilatera´le, 220
crystalli´num, 51
Micram´pelis, 26
Microme´ria Douglas´ii, 62
Mim´ulus, xxxviii
brev´ipes, 134
cardina´lis, 360
Douglas´ii, 222
glutino´sus, 138
Lewis´ii, 248
lu´teus, 134
moscha´tus, 134
Mirab´ilis Califor´nica, 208
Monardel´la lanceola´ta, 324
odoratis´sima, 324
villo´sa, 324
Mon´tia perfolia´ta, 16
Muil´la marit´ima, 369
seroti´na, 369
Neil´lia opulifo´lia, 85
Nemoph´ila atoma´ria, 39
auri´ta, 278
insig´nis, 290
interme´dia, 284
macula´ta, 39
Menzie´sii, 284
parviflo´ra, 39
Nicotia´na glau´ca, 129
Nu´phar polysep´alum, 184
Nuttal´lia cerasifor´mis, 18
Œnothe´ra, xxxv
bien´nis, 175
bistor´ta, 136
Califor´nica, 48
cheiranthifo´lia, 136
ova´ta, 110
Opun´tia basila´ris, 225
Engelman´ni, 170
prolif´era, 356
serpenti´na, 357
Orthocar´pus, xxxviii
densiflo´rus, 228
erian´thus, 151
purpuras´cens, 228
versic´olor, 52
Ox´alis cornicula´ta, 196
Orega´na, 195
Pæo´nia Brown´ii, 340
Papa´ver Califor´nicum, 116
Pedicula´ris attol´lens, 253
densiflo´ra, 336
Grœnlan´dica, 253
Pentachæ´ta au´rea, 126
Penste´mon, xxxix
azu´reus, 308
Bridge´sii, 358
centranthifo´lius, 358
cordifo´lius, 350
heterophyl´lus, 308
Menzie´sii, 250
Phace´lia, xxxvii
Douglas´ii, 282
grandiflo´ra, 267
Par´ryi, 288
tanacetifo´lia, 282
vis´cida, 267
Whitla´via, 288
Phlox Douglas´ii, 248
Pickerin´gia monta´na, 230
Pipto´calyx, 30
Plagioboth´rys, 30
Platyste´mon Califor´nicus, 112
Polyg´ala Califor´nica, 286
Polyg´ala cornu´ta, 286
cuculla´ta, 286
Potentil´la Anseri´na, 175
glandulo´sa, 175
Primu´la suffrutes´cens, 250
Prosar´tes Hook´eri, 376
Menzie´sii, 377
Pru´nus demis´sa, 36
ilicifo´lia, 61
subcorda´ta, 34
Pteros´pora andromede´a, 186
Pyr´ola aphyl´la, 100
denta´ta, 100
pic´ta, 100
rotundifo´lia, 100
Ranun´culus Califor´nicus, 110
Rham´nus Califor´nica, 67
Purshia´na, 68
Rhododen´dron Califor´nicum, 234
occidenta´le, 86
Rhus aromat´ica, 154
Canaden´sis, 152
diversilo´ba, 8
integrifo´lia, 203
lauri´na, 203
ova´ta, 204
Ri´bes glutino´sum, 214
Menzie´sii, 338
sanguin´eum, 214
specio´sum, 338
subves´titum, 338
Romanzof´fia Sitchen´sis, 22
Romne´ya Coul´teri, 64
Ro´sa Califor´nica, 234
gymnocar´pa, 236
Ru´bus Nutka´nus, 24
spectab´ilis, 25
Ru´mex hymenosep´alus, 378
Salicor´nia ambig´ua, 387
Sal´via cardua´cea, 307
Columba´riæ, 298
Sambu´cus glau´ca, 45
Sarco´des sanguin´ea, 362
Saxif´raga Califor´nica, 14
pelta´ta, 242
Virginien´sis, 14
Scoli´opus Bigelo´vii, 256
Scrophula´ria Califor´nica, 342
Scutella´ria angustifo´lia, 270
Califor´nica, 270
tubero´sa, 270
Se´dum spathulifo´lium, 170
Sidal´cea malvæflo´ra, 198
Sile´ne Califor´nica, 354
Gal´lica, 246
lacinia´ta, 354
Sisyrin´chium bel´lum, 284
Califor´nicum, 284
Smilaci´na amplexicau´lis, 22
sessilifo´lia, 22
Sola´num Douglas´ii, 80
ni´grum, 80
umbellif´erum, 268
Xan´ti, 268
Solida´go Califor´nica, 190
occidenta´lis, 191
Spha´cele calyci´na, 42
Spiræ´a betulifo´lia, 85
dis´color, 85
Douglas´ii, 85
Spiran´thes Romanzoffia´num, 92
Spra´guea umbella´ta, 70
Sta´chys bulla´ta, 230
Stropholi´rion Califor´nicum, 232
Symphoricar´pos racemo´sus, 225
Telli´ma af´finis, 32
grandiflo´ra, 342
Thermop´sis Califor´nica, 148
Trichoste´ma lanatum, 316
lanceola´tum, 315
Trienta´lis Europæ´a, 202
Tril´lium ova´tum, 10
ses´sile, 260
Umbellula´ria Califor´nica, 372
Vaccin´ium ova´tum, 200
Vancouve´ria parviflo´ra, 88
Venegas´ia carpesioi´des, 171
Vera´trum Califor´nicum, 108
fimbria´tum, 108
Verbas´cum Blatta´ria, 190
Thap´sus, 190
Vic´ia gigante´a, 358
Vi´ola Beckwith´ii, 29
cani´na, 307
ocella´ta, 50
sarmento´sa, 140
Whip´plea modes´ta, 32
Whitla´via grandiflo´ra, 288
Wye´thia angustifo´lia, 157
gla´bra, 157
Wye´thia helenioi´des, 157
mol´lis, 157
Xerophyl´lum te´nax, 51
Yuc´ca arbores´cens, 44
bacca´ta, 20
Yuc´ca Mohaven´sis, 20
Whip´plei, 70
Zauschne´ria Califor´nica, 366
Zygade´nus Fremon´ti, 6
veneno´sus, 6
INDEX TO ENGLISH NAMES
PAGE
Aconite, 328
Alfalfa, 326
Alfilerilla, 194
Alpine Heather, 246
Alpine Phlox, 248
Alpine Willow-Herb, 254
Alum-Root, 58
Amapola, 116
American Barrenwort, 88
American Velvet-Plant, 191
Amole, 82
Angels' Trumpets, 96
Apple of Peru, 96
August-Flower, 176
Azulea, 284
Baby-Blue-Eyes, 290
Baby-Eyes, 284
Ball-Sage, 294
Balm of Heaven, 373
Balsamea, 366
Beach-Aster, 304
Beach Morning-glory, 210
Beach Primrose, 136
Beach Strawberry, 10
Bearberry, 12
Bear-Clover, 92
Bearwood, 68
Beautiful Clarkia, 236
Bed-Straw, 28
Bellflower, 322
Black Lily, 266
Black Sage, 294, 316
Bladderpod, 144
Blazing-Star, 168
Bleeding-Heart, 242
Blood-Drop, 129
Blue-Blossom, 274
Blue-Curls, 315
Blue-eyed Grass, 284
Blue Forget-me-not, 334
Blue Gentian, 330
Blue Gilia, 296
Blue Larkspur, 276
Blue-and-white Lupine, 300
Blue Milla, 302
Blue Myrtle, 274
Blue-veined Nemophila, 284
Blueweed, 328
Big-Root, 26
Bird's-Eyes, 288
Bitter-Bark, 68
Bitter-Root, 224
Brass Buttons, 151
Brodiæa, 262
Bronze-Bells, } 264
Brown Lily, }
Buck-Brush, 152
Bur-Clover, 132
Butter-and-Eggs, 151
Butterfly Tulip, 81
Button-Bush, } 98
Button-Willow, }
Cajeput, 373
Calabazilla, 117
Calf's-Head, 390
Californian Azalea, 86
California Bay-Tree, 373
Californian Bee-Plant, 342
Californian Bluebells, 290
Californian Buckeye, 69
Californian Centaury, 218
California Coffee, 67
Californian Compass-Plant, 157
Californian Dandelion, 164
Californian False Hellebore, 108
Californian Figwort, 342
Californian Fish-hook Cactus, 24
Californian Four-o'clock, 208
California Fuchsia, 366
Californian Goldenrod, 190
Californian Hardhack, 85
Californian Harebell, 322
Californian Holly, 90
Californian Horse-Chestnut, 69
California Laurel, 372
California Lilac, 258, 274
Californian Lobelia, 314
Californian Milkwort, 286
Californian Olive, 373
Californian Pitcher-Plant, 390
California Poppy, 114
Californian Rose-Bay, 234
Californian Saxifrage, 14
Californian Slippery-Elm, 158
Californian Spikenard, 76
Califor'n Sweet-scented Shrub, 352
Californian Trillium, 260
Californian Wild Currant, 214
Calypso, 210
Camass, 292
Canaigre, 378
Cancer-Root, 172
Canchalagua, 218
Canker Lettuce, 100
Cascara Sagrada, 67
Catalina Mariposa Tulip, 306
Cat's-Ears, 278
Chamisal, 60
Chamise Lily, 136
Chamiso, 60
Chaparral Lily, 72
Chaparral Pea, 230
Chia, 298
Chicalote, 74
Chickweed-Wintergreen, 202
Chicory, 312
Chilean Clover, 326
Chili-Cojote, 117
Chilicothe, 26
Chittemwood, 68
Chocolate Lily, 266
Choke-Cherry, 36
Cholla-Cactus, 356
Christmas-Berry, 90
Christmas-Horns, 346
Christmas-Rose, 340
Cinquefoil, 175
Clarkia, 228
Cleavers, 28
Clematis, 91
Climbing Pentstemon, 350
Clintonia, 202
Clocks, 194
Cluster-Lily, 262
Coast Lily, 356
Collinsia, 294
Columbine, 348
Common Aster, 332
Common Black Mustard, 140
Common Buttercup, 110
Common Elder, 45
Common Evening Primrose, 175
Common Fleabane, 216
Common Milkweed, 312
Common Monkey-Flower, 134
Common Mugwort, 377
Common Nightshade, 80
Common Stramonium, 96
Common Sunflower, 185
Common White Lupine, 85
Common Wild Pea, 25
Common Wild Rose, 234
Copa de Oro, 114
Coral-Root, 272
Coulter's Snapdragon, 46
Cowslips, 110
Cream-colored Wall-Flower, 132
Cream-Cups, 112
Creeping Wood-Violet, 140
Creosote-Bush, 191
Cudweed, 68
Cup of Gold, 116
Death Camass, 6
Deerweed, 152
Devil's Apple, 96
Diogenes' Lantern, 144
Dodder, 160
Dog's-tooth Violet, 136
Dog-Violet, 307
Dormidera, 116
Douglas Iris, 300
Drops of Gold, 376
Dutchman's Pipe, 374
Echeveria, 141
Elephants' Heads, 252
Ellisia, 36
Escobita, 228
Espuela del Caballero, 276
Evening Snow, 50
Everlasting Flower, 68
Fairy Bells, 376
False Alum-Root, 342
False Indigo, 315
False Lupine, 148
False Lady's Slipper, 388
False Mallow, 220
False Pimpernel, 172
False Solomon's Seal, 22
False Tidy-Tips, 148
Farewell to Spring, 240
Fawn-Lily, 136
Fetid Adder's-Tongue, 256
Fever-Bush, 370
Fig-Marigold, 220
Filaree, 194
Finger-Tips, 142
Firecracker Flower, 238
Fireweed, 244
Flaming Poppy, 129
Floriponda, 96
Fly-Flower, 124
Fragrant Sumach, 152
Friar's-Cap, 328
Fringed Gilia, 216
Fuller's Thistle, 386
Fuchsia-flowered Gooseberry, 338
Giant Californian White Poppy, 66
Glasswort, 387
Gobernadora, 191
Godetia, 240
Golden Brodiæa, 156
Golden Butterfly-Tulip, 150
Golden Dicentra, 162
Golden Lily-Bell, 144
Golden Stars, 154
Golden Thread, 160
Golden Yarrow, 180
Golden-eyed Grass, 284
Goose-Grass, 28
Gourd, 117
Grass-Nuts, 262
Greasewood, 60, 66
Great Willow-Herb, 244
Green-banded Mariposa, 268
Green-stemmed Filaree, 194
Ground-Iris, 280
Ground-Pink, 216
Groundsel-Tree, 104
Gum-Plant, 176
Hag-Taper, 191
Hairbell, 54
Harvest Brodiæa, 318
Heal-All, 322
Heart's-Ease, 50
Hedge-Nettle, 230
Heliotrope, 47
Helmet-Flower, 328
Hen-and-Chickens, 142
Hideondo, 191
Hog-Onion, 262
Hog's Potato, 8
Holly-leaved Barberry, 122
Holly-leaved Cherry, 61
Honeysuckle, 86
Horehound, 47
Hound's-Tongue, 258
Huckleberry, 200
Humboldt's Lily, 185
Humming-bird's Sage, 350
Humming-bird's Trumpet, 367
Ice-Plant, 51
Incense-Shrub, 214
Indian Lettuce, 16, 100
Indian Paint-Brush, 344
Indian Pink, 354
Indian Plume, 344
Indian Rhubarb, 242
Indian Warrior, 336
Indian Wheat, 157
Innocence, 294
Islay, 61
Ithuriel's Spear, 302
Jamestown-Weed, } 96
Jimson-Weed, }
Joshua-Tree, 44
Judas-Tree, 198
June-Berry, 88
Kamass, 292
Labrador Tea, 103
Lady's Tobacco, 68
Ladies' Tresses, 92
Lantern of the Fairies, 54
Large-flowered Brodiæa, 318
Large-flowered Datura, 54
Large-flowered Dogwood, 94
Large-flowered Phacelia, 267
Large Vetch, 358
Large White Mountain Daisy, 106
Large Yellow Lupine, 161
Lavender Mountain Daisy, 332
Lead-Plant, 315
Leatherwood, 160
Lemonade-Berry, 3, 203
Lemon-Lily, 109
Leopard-Lily, 182
Lessingia, 252
Lilac Sand-Verbena, 292
Little Alpine Lily, 180
Llavina, 24
Lobelia, 6
Loco-Weed, 40
Love-Vine, 160
Lucern, 326
Mad-Apple, 96
Madrone, } 37
Madroño, }
Mad Violets, 204
Mahala Mats, 326
Mahogany, 203
Mahonia, 118, 122
Main-oph-weep, 56
Man-in-the-Ground, 26
Manzanita, 12
Marianas, 290
Mariposa Tulip, 78, 81
Matilija Poppy, 64
Meadow-Foam, 126
Meadow-Sweet, 85
Mesembryanthemum, 220
Milfoil, 97
Milkweed, Hornless Woolly, 380
Milk-white Rein-Orchis, 94
Miner's Lettuce, 16
Mission-Bells, 264
Mission Poppy, 66
Mist-Maidens, 22
Mock-Orange, 117
Monk's-Hood, 328
Mosquito-Bills, 206
Moth-Mullein, 190
Mother's Heart, 78
Mottled Swamp-Orchis, 388
Mountain Balm, 56
Mountain Birch, 84
Mountain Heart's-Ease, 29
Mountain Lady's Slipper, 382
Mountain Laurel, 373
Mountain Mahogany, 373
Mountain Misery, 92
Muilla, 369
Musky Filaree, 194
Naked Broom-Rape, 172
Nievitas, 30
Nigger-Babies, 284
Nigger-Heads, 340
Nine-Bark, 85
Noona, 268
Northern Scarlet Larkspur, 346
Oregon Grape, 118, 122
Orpine, 170
Oso-Berry, 18
Our Lord's Candle, 70
Pearly Everlasting Flower, 102
Pennyroyal, 324
Pentachæta, 126
Pepper-Root, 4
Phantom Orchis, 388
Pigeon-Berry, 67
Pimpernel, 126
Pin-Clover, 194
Pine-Drops, 186
Pink Monkey-Flower, 248
Pink Paint-Brush, 228
Pipe-Vine, 374
Pipsissiwa, 104
Pitcher-Sage, 42
Poison-Oak, 8
Poison-Weed, 157
Poléo, 324
Poor-Man's Weather-Glass, 126
Pop-corn Flower, 30
Prairie-Pointers, 206
Prickly-Pear, 170
Prickly Phlox, 206
Pride of California, The, 212
Pride of the Mountains, 250
Prince's Pine, 104
Purple Nemophila, 278
Pussy's-Ears, 278
Pussy's-Paws, 70
Quinine-Bush, 370
Racine-Amère, 224
Rattlesnake Plantain, 98
Rattle-Weed, 40
Redbud, 198
Red-stemmed Filaree, 194
Redwood Lily, 72
Redwood Sorrel, 196
Rein-Orchis, 384
Resin-Weed, 176
Rice-Root, 264
Rock-Cress, 196
Rock-Fringe, 254
Rock-Rose, 208
Romero, 316
Roosters'-Heads, 206
Ruby Lily, 72
Sacred Bark, 67
Sage, 298
Sagebrush, 377
Saitas, 262
Salal, 75
Samphire, 387
Sassafras Laurel, 373
Satin-Bell, 54
Sauco, 45
Scarlet Bugler, 358
Scarlet Fritillary, 346
Scarlet Gilia, 360
Scarlet Honeysuckle, 350
Scarlet Monkey-Flower, 360
Scarlet Paint-Brush, 344
Sea-Dahlia, 146
Self-Heal, 322
Service-Berry, 88
Shad-Bush, 90
Shasta Lily, 102
Shepherd's Purse, 78
Shooting-Stars, 204
Sierra Plum, 34
Sierra Primrose, 250
Silk-Tassel Tree, 370
Silver-weed, 175
Silkweed, 312
Si me quieres, no me quieres, 124
Skullcap, 270
Skunk-Cabbage, 108, 166
Snow-Berry, 225
Snow-Plant, 362
Snowy Lily-Bell, 54
Soap-Bush, 84, 258
Soap-Plant, 6, 82
Sour-Grass, 51
Southern Scarlet Larkspur, 364
Spanish Bayonet, 20, 70
Spanish Lily, 262
Spat'lum, 224
Spice-Bush, 373
Spineless Tuna, 225
Spreading Dogbane, 236
Spring-Blossom, 4
Squaw-Berry, 152
Squaw-Grass, 51
Squaw's Carpet, 326
Star-Flower, 202
Stickseed, 334
Sticky Monkey-Flower, 138
St. John's-Wort, 162
Stonecrop, 170
Strawberry Cactus, 24
Succory, 312
Sulphur-Flower, 178
Sun-Cups, 110
Sunflower, 157
Sunshine, 124
Tall Mountain Larkspur, 330
Tarweed, 92, 182, 188
Teasel, 386
Thimble-Berry, 24
Thistle-Poppy, 74
Thistle-Sage, 307
Thorn-Apple, 96
Tidy-Tips, 148
Tiger-Lily, 182, 185
Toad-Flax, 304
Tobacco-Root, 224
Tolguacha, 54
Toothwort, 4
Torosa, 114
Toyon, 90
Tree-Mallow, 226
Tree-Poppy, 118
Tree-Tobacco, 129
Tree-Yucca, 44
Trefoil Sumach, 152
Tuna, 170
Turban Cactus, 374
Turkey-Beard, 51
Turkish Rugging, 218
Turk's-head Cactus, 374
Twin-Berry, 122
Twining Hyacinth, 232
Umbrella-Plant, 242
Velvet Cactus, 357
Venegasia, 171
Vervenia, 282
Villela, 284
Violet Beard-Tongue, 308
Violet Nightshade, 268
Violet Snapdragon, 320
Virgin's Bower, 91
Wahoo, 68
Wake-Robin, 10
Washington Lily, 102
Water-Holly, 118
Water-Lily, 6
Western Boykinia, 81
Western Cardinal-Flower, 365
Western Goldenrod, 191
Western Spice-Bush, 352
Western Wall-Flower, 132
Whipplea, 32
Whispering Bells, 130
White Brodiæa, 156
White Daisy, 28
White Evening Primrose, 48
White Forget-me-not, 30
White Fritillary, 267
White Globe-Tulip, 54
White Layia, 28
White Nemophila, 39
White Owl's Clover, 52
White Sage, 66
White Sweet Clover, 156
White Tea-Tree, 84
White-veined Shinleaf, 100
Wild Bachelor's Button, 312
Wild Bouvardia, 178
Wild Bridal-Wreath, 85
Wild Broom, 152
Wild Buckwheat, 34
Wild Canterbury-Bell, 288
Wild Cherry, 36
Wild Coreopsis, 182
Wild Cucumber, 26
Wild Cyclamen, 204
Wild Date, 20
Wild Ginger, 310
Wild Gooseberry, 338
Wild Heliotrope, 282
Wild Hollyhock, 198
Wild Honeysuckle, 226
Wild Hyacinth, 262, 292
Wild Lantana, 292
Wild Morning-glory, 40
Wild Peony, 340
Wild Pie-Plant, 378
Wild Plum, 34
Wild Portulaca, 212
Wild White Lilac, 39
Wind-Flower, 18
Wind-Poppy, 129
Wintergreen, 75
Wood Anemone, 18
Wood-Balm, 42
Woodland Star of Bethlehem, 32
Wood Strawberry, 10
Woolly Blue-Curls, 316
Woolly Breeches, 128
Yarrow, 97
Yellow-Boy, 67
Yellow Daisy, 148
Yellow Forget-me-not, 128
Yellow Globe-Tulip, 144
Yellow Mariposa Tulip, 174
Yellow Pansy, 120
Yellow Pond-Lily, 184
Yellow-Root, 67
Yellow Sand-Verbena, 146
Yellow Star Tulip, 130
Yellow Sweet Clover, 156
Yerba Buena, 62
Yerba de Chivato, 91
Yerba del Indio, 354
Yerba del Pasmo, 61
Yerba Mansa, 76
Yerba Santa, 56
Yucca-Palm, 44
Zygadene, 6
INDEX OF TECHNICAL TERMS
PAGE
Aggregate fruit, xxx
Akene, xxx
Ament, xxviii
Anther, xxix
Axil, xxii
Berry, xxx
Blade, xxiii
Bract, xxvii
Bulb, xxiii
Calyx, xxviii
Capsule, xxx
Catkin, xxviii
Complete flower, xxviii
Compound leaf, xxiv
Corm, xxiii
Corolla, xxviii
Corymb, xxvii
Cyme, xxviii
Drupe, xxx
Essential organs, xxviii
Female flower, xxix
Filament, xxix
Flower-cluster, xxvii
Flower-head, xxviii
Follicle, xxx
Foot-stalk, xxiii
Fruit, xxix
Gourd, xxx
Imperfect flower, xxix
Inflorescence, xxvii
Internodes, xxii
Involucre, xxvii
Leaflet, xxiv
Leaves, xxiii
Legume, xxx
Male flower, xxix
Neutral flower, xxix
Nodes, xxii
Ovary, xxix
Palmate leaf, xxiv
Panicle, xxviii
Pedicel, xxvii
Peduncle, xxvii
Pepo, xxx
Perianth, xxviii
Perfect flower, xxix
Pericarp, xxix
Petals, xxviii
Petiole, xxiii
Pinnate leaf, xxiv
Pistil, xxix
Pistillate flower, xxix
Pollen, xxix
Pome, xxx
Raceme, xxvii
Rhizome, xxiii
Root, xxii
Rootstock, xxiii
Samara, xxx
Scape, xxvii
Sepals, xxviii
Simple leaf, xxiv
Solitary flower, xxvii
Spadix, xxviii
Spathe, xxviii
Spike, xxviii
Stamen, xxix
Staminate flower, xxix
Staminodia, xxix
Stem, xxii
Stigma, xxix
Stipules, xxiii
Style, xxix
Tuber, xxiii
Umbel, xxvii
Veinlets, xxiv
GLOSSARY
_Abortive_, defective or barren.
_Acuminate_, ending in a tapering point.
_Adnate_, growing to; or said of an anther whose cells are
borne upon the sides of the apex of the filament.
_Appendage_, any superadded part.
_Appressed_, lying flat against or together for the whole
length.
_Arborescent_, treelike; approaching the size of a tree.
_Attenuate_, slenderly tapering to a point.
_Auricle_, a small earlike lobe at the base of a leaf.
_Awn_, a bristle-shaped appendage.
_Barb_, a sharply reflexed point upon an awn, etc., like the
barb of a fish-hook.
_Basifixed_, attached by the base or lower end.
_Beak_, a narrow or prolonged tip.
_Bifid_, two-cleft to the middle or thereabouts.
_Bilabiate_, two-lipped.
_Blade_, the expanded portion of a leaf, petal, etc.
_Bract_, one of the leaves of a flower-cluster.
_Bracteate_, furnished with bracts.
_Bractlet_, a bract of the ultimate grade; as one inserted _on_
a pedicel or ultimate flower-stalk instead of _under_ it.
_Bracteolate_, having bractlets.
_Bulbiferous_, bearing bulbs.
_Caducous_, dropping off very early.
_Campanulate_, bell-shaped.
_Capitate_, headlike, or collected in a head.
_Carina_, a salient longitudinal projection on the center of
the lower face of an organ.
_Carinate_, furnished with a carina, or keel.
_Carpel_, a simple pistil, or one of the several parts of a
compound one.
_Ciliate_, marginally fringed with hairs.
_Clavate_, club-shaped.
_Claw_, the narrowed base, or stalk, which some petals, etc.,
possess.
_Coalescing_, cohering; used properly in respect to similar
parts.
_Column_, a body formed by the union of filaments (stamineal);
or (in orchids) of the stamens and pistil.
_Confluent_, blended, or running together.
_Connate_, growing together; united in one.
_Connective_, the portion of the filament which connects or
separates the cells of an anther.
_Connivent_, coming into contact or converging.
_Cordate_, heart-shaped.
_Coriaceous_, leathery.
_Corymb_, a flat-topped inflorescence flowering from the margin
inward.
_Corymbose_, in corymbs, or in the form of a corymb.
_Cruciferous_, of four somewhat similar petals, spreading in
the form of a cross.
_Cymose_, in cymes. (See _cyme_, in Explanation of Terms, p.
xxviii.)
_Deciduous_, falling at the end of the season.
_Declined_, bent or curved downward or forward.
_Decumbent_, reclining, but with summit ascending.
_Decurrent_, running down the stem; applied to a leaf with
blade prolonged below its insertion.
_Deflexed_, bent or turned abruptly downward.
_Dehiscing_, opening by valves, slits, or regular lines; as a
capsule or an anther.
_Deltoid_, having the shape of the Greek letter _delta_;
broadly triangular.
_Denticulate_, minutely toothed.
_Depauperate_, impoverished in size by unfavorable
surroundings.
_Dichotomous_, forking regularly by pairs.
_Diæcious_, with stamens and pistils in different flowers on
different plants.
_Dissected_, deeply cut, or divided into numerous segments.
_Divaricate_, extremely divergent.
_Divided_, lobed or cut clear to the base.
_Emarginate_, notched at the extremity.
_Entire_, with the margin uninterrupted; without teeth or
divisions of any sort.
_Equitant_, astride; as of leaves folding over each other in
two ranks; as in the iris.
_Erose_, gnawed.
_Exserted_, projecting beyond an envelop; as stamens from a
corolla.
_Extrorse_, facing outward; said of the anther.
_Falcate_, scythe-shaped; sickle-shaped.
_Fascicled_, in a close cluster or bundle; said of flowers,
stalks, roots, and leaves.
_Fertile_, capable of producing fruit; as a pistillate flower;
applied also to a pollen-bearing stamen.
_Fibrous_, composed of or of the nature of fibres.
_Filiform_, threadlike.
_Flexuous_, zigzag; bent alternately in opposite directions.
_Foliaceous_, leaflike in structure or appearance; leafy.
_Foliolate_, having leaflets; the number indicated by the Latin
prefixes, _bi-_, _tri-_, etc.
_Follicle_, a pod formed from a single pistil, dehiscing along
the ventral suture only.
_Free_, not growing to other organs.
_Fugacious_, falling very early.
_Funnel-form_, tubular, but expanding gradually from the narrow
base to the spreading border or limb; _e.g._ the Morning-glory
flower.
_Galea_, a helmet; applied to the helmet-shaped upper lip of
the corolla in _Labiatæ_, etc.; also in some _Scrophularineæ_,
though not so shaped.
_Glabrous_, without any kind of hairiness.
_Gland_, any secreting structure, depression or prominence, on
any part of a plant, or any structure having such an
appearance.
_Glandular_, bearing glands, or glandlike.
_Glaucous_, covered or whitened with a bloom like that on a
cabbage-leaf.
_Habit_, the general form or mode of growth of a plant.
_Herbaceous_, having the character of an herb; not woody or
shrubby.
_Hispid_, beset with rigid or bristly hairs, or with bristles.
_Imbricate_, overlapping, like shingles on a roof.
_Incised_, cut irregularly and sharply.
_Included_, inclosed by the surrounding organs; not exserted.
_Indigenous_, native to the country.
_Inferior_, said of the ovary when the calyx, corolla, or
stamens are borne upon its summit or sides.
_Inflorescence_, the flowering portion of a plant, and
especially the mode of its arrangement.
_Innate_, said of an anther when it is a continuation of the
filament.
_Introrse_, facing inward, or toward the axis, as an anther.
_Involucrate_, having an involucre.
_Involucre_, a circle of bracts subtending a flower-cluster.
_Involute_, rolled inward.
_Keel._ (See _carina_.)
_Keeled_, furnished with a keel, or carina.
_Lacerate_, torn; irregularly and deeply cleft.
_Laciniate_, cut into narrow, slender teeth, or lobes.
_Liliaceous_, lily-like.
_Limb_, the dilated and usually spreading portion of a perianth
or petal as distinct from the tubular part, or claw.
_Line_, the twelfth part of inch.
_Linear_, narrow and elongated, with parallel margins.
_Lip_, either of the two divisions of a bilabiate corolla or
calyx; in orchids the upper petal (often, apparently, the
lower) usually very different from the others.
_Lobe_, any division of a leaf, corolla, etc., especially if
rounded.
_Lunate_, crescent-shaped, or half-moon-shaped.
_Lyrate_, lyre-shaped; pinnatifid with the terminal lobe large
and rounded, and one or more of the lower pairs small.
_Membranaceous_, thin; rather soft and translucent, like
membrane.
_Monœcious_, with stamens and pistils in separate blossoms on
the same plant.
_Mucronate_, with a short, abrupt, small tip.
_Nectar_, the sweetish secretion of the blossom from which bees
make honey.
_Nectary_, the place or gland in which nectar is secreted.
_Nerve_, a simple, unbranched vein or slender rib.
_Nerved_, furnished with a nerve or nerves.
_Ob-_, used as a prefix meaning inversely.
_Obtuse_, blunt or rounded at the end.
_Odd-pinnate_, pinnate, with an odd leaflet at the end.
_Palate_, a protrusion at or near the throat of a two-lipped
corolla.
_Panicle_, a loose, irregularly branching inflorescence.
_Papilionaceous_, butterfly-like; applied to the peculiar
irregular flower common in _Leguminosæ_.
_Papillæ_, minute, thick, nipple-shaped, or somewhat elongated
projections.
_Parasitic_, growing upon and deriving nourishment from another
plant.
_Parted_, cleft nearly, but not quite, to the base.
_Perfoliate_, said of leaves connate about the stem.
_Persistent_, not falling off; said of leaves continuing
through the winter.
_Petaloid_, petal-like.
_Petiolate_, having a petiole.
_Petiole_, the foot-stalk of a leaf.
_Petiolulate_, having a petiolule.
_Petiolule_, the foot-stalk of a leaflet.
_Pinnate_, having its parts arranged in pairs along a common
rachis.
_Pinnatifid_, pinnately cleft.
_Pistillate_, having a pistil or pistils, and no stamens.
_Puberulent_, minutely pubescent.
_Pubescent_, covered with hairs, usually soft and short.
_Rachis_, the axis (backbone) of a spike, or of a compound
leaf.
_Radiate_, diverging from a common center, or bearing
ray-flowers; said of flower-heads of composite plants.
_Radical_, belonging to or proceeding from the root, or from
the base of the stem.
_Ray_, one of the radiating branches of an umbel; the marginal
flowers, as distinct from those of the disk, in _Compositæ_,
etc.
_Receptacle_, a more or less expanded surface, forming a
support for a cluster of organs (in a flower) or a cluster of
flowers (in a head), etc.
_Recurved_, curved backward or downward.
_Reflexed_, abruptly bent or turned backward or downward.
_Regular_, symmetrical in form; uniform in shape or structure.
_Retrorse_, directed backward or downward.
_Revolute_, rolled backward from the margins or apex.
_Rhomboidal_, quadrangular, with the lateral angles obtuse.
_Rudiment_, an imperfectly developed and functionally useless
organ.
_Rugose_, wrinkled; ridged.
_Saccate_, sac-shaped; baggy.
_Sagittate_, shaped like an arrowhead; triangular, with basal
lobes prolonged downward.
_Salver-form_, narrowly tubular, with limb abruptly or flatly
expanded.
_Scabrous_, rough to the touch.
_Scape_, a naked peduncle rising from the ground.
_Scarious_, thin, dry, membranaceous, and not green.
_Scorpioid_, incurved like the tail of a scorpion; said of an
inflorescence.
_Segment_, one of the parts of a leaf or other organ that is
cut or divided.
_Serrate_, having teeth directed forward, like the teeth of a
saw.
_Serrulate_, minutely serrate.
_Sessile_, stemless.
_Sinus_, a recess or re-entering angle.
_Sheathing_, infolding like a sheath.
_Spathe_, a large bract or pair of bracts (often colored)
inclosing a flower-cluster.
_Spinescent_, ending in a spine or rigid point.
_Spinulose_, with diminutive spines.
_Spur_, a usually slender tubular process, from some part of a
flower, often honey-bearing.
_Staminate_, having stamens, but no pistils.
_Staminodium_, a sterile stamen, or something taking the place
of a stamen.
_Stellate_, star-shaped.
_Sterile_, barren; incapable of producing seed; a sterile
stamen is one not producing pollen.
_Striate_, marked with fine longitudinal lines.
_Subtended_, supported or surrounded; as a pedicel by a bract,
or a flower-cluster by an involucre.
_Subulate_, awl-shaped.
_Succulent_, fleshy and juicy.
_Superior_, growing above; a superior ovary is one wholly above
and free from the calyx.
_Terete_, cylindrical.
_Ternate_, in threes.
_Thyrse_, a contracted or ovate panicle.
_Thyrsoid_, thyrselike.
_Tomentum_, dense, matted, woolly pubescence.
_Trifoliolate_, having three leaflets.
_Tubular_, tube-shaped.
_Undulate_, wavy.
_Unisexual_, of one sex; said of flowers having stamens only,
or pistils only.
_Urceolate_, cylindrical or ovoid, but contracted at or below
the open orifice, like an urn or a pitcher.
_Valve_, the several parts of a dehiscent pericarp; the
doorlike lid by which some anthers open.
_Ventricose_, swelling unequally, or inflated on one side.
_Versatile_, swinging; turning freely on its support.
_Villous_, bearing long and soft, straight or straightish
hairs.
_Virgate_, wandlike.
_Viscid_, glutinous; sticky.
_Whorl_, an arrangement of leaves, flowers, etc., in a circle
about the stem, or axis.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
UTF-8 encoding
Obvious punctuation and spelling errors repaired.
Flowers with no common name have a thought break.
Inconsistent hyphenation has been repaired.
Page 141 "black-bird" changed to "blackbird".
Page 192 "arrow-heads" changed to "arrowheads".
Page 324 "horse-mint" changed to "horsemint".
Page 164 "over-powering" changed to "overpowering".
Page 141 "lace-like" changed to "lacelike".
Page 190 "golden-rod" changed to "goldenrod".
Page 354 "tooth-like" changed to "toothlike".
The following index entries were repaired:
Large Yellow Lupine, 16[**numbers missing]
Lavender Mountain Daisy, [**numbers missing]
Lead-Plant, [**numbers missing]
Leatherwood, [**numbers missing]
Lemonade-Berry, [**numbers missing]
Lemon-Lily, [**numbers missing]
In ambiguous cases, the text has been left as it appears in the
original book. In particular, the following errors:
endquote missing punctuation
paragraph starts with lower-case
mismatched square backets
mismatched quotes
wrong spaced quotes
missing paragraph breaks
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits" ***
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