[Illustration]
There are only one or two kinds of Spraguea, natives of North America;
low herbs, not very succulent, with fleshy roots; the leaves alternate,
or from the root; the small flowers in coiled clusters; the two sepals
and the four petals all papery; the stamens one, two, or three in
number; the style long, with two stigmas; the capsule roundish, with
two valves, containing few or many, shining, black seeds.
[Sidenote: =Pussy-paws=
_Spràguea umbellàta_ (_Calyptridium_)
=Pink
Summer, autumn
Northwest=]
Sandy spots in the mountains are often brightened by lovely patches of
the soft pink blooms of this attractive and odd-looking little plant.
Near Wawona, on the Glacier Point trail, I saw at least half an acre
of sand carpeted with beautiful rose-color. In moderate altitudes the
plants are about ten inches tall, but they get dwarfish as they climb
and on the mountain-tops they are only an inch or so high, with close
mats of small leaves. They have strong tap-roots and the leaves are
dull gray-green, rather thick and stiff but hardly succulent, and grow
mostly in rosettes at the base, those on the stem having shrunk to mere
bracts, with several, smooth, reddish stalks springing from among them.
Each stem bears a close, roundish head, two or three inches across,
consisting of many tightly-coiled tufts of shaded pink, each composed
of innumerable, small, pink flowers, the papery, pink and white sepals
and bracts being the most conspicuous part. They overlap each other and
have daintily ruffled edges. The three stamens are long and protruding
and the style long and threadlike. The flower-clusters are like soft
pink cushions, so the pretty little name of Pussy-paws is appropriate,
both to form and coloring. Chipmunks are very fond of the small, black
seeds.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Pussy-paws--Spraguea umbellata.]