Part 7

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.

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 papillae. _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.

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.

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 pharmacopoeia 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.

_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.

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.

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.

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.