Part 19

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

_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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.