Part 11

_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.

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.

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.

Among our Californian Indians, a decoction made from the root is a favorite tonic remedy, and it has become a recognized drug in the pharmacopoeia 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.

_Baeria 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 _Compositae_. 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 _Baeria_, 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.

Growing in brilliant beds by themselves, or intermingling their gold with that of the _Baeria_, the charming feathery blossoms of _Pentachaeta 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.

_Floerkia 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.

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.

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_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.

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.

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.

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_OEnothera 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 _OEnothera_.) _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," _OE. 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.