Part 16

_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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

_Erythraea 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.

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 aequilaterale_, 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.

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.

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_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.

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.