[Sidenote: _Velaèa argùta_
=Yellow
Spring
California=]
This has a stout, brownish stem, about eight inches tall, and fine,
conspicuous foliage, mostly in a clump at the base, the leaves
rich-green and very glossy, stiff and crisp in texture, though not
thick, with bristle-tipped teeth. The rather ugly little flowers are
greenish-yellow and the main cluster has no bracts. This grows in
canyons in southern California.
[Sidenote: =Purple Sanicle, Nigger-babies=
_Sanícula bipinnatífida_
=Purplish
Spring, summer
Cal., Oreg.=]
This has branching, purplish stems, from six inches to three feet tall,
and handsome foliage. The flowers are maroon-color and are crowded
into balls, less than half an inch across, forming a loose, irregular
cluster, with leafy bracts at the base. The effect of the dark flowers
and fine foliage is rather attractive and it is common on grassy slopes
in the hills.
[Sidenote: _Eulòphus Bolánderi_
=White
Summer
Northwest=]
This has a smooth, stiff stem, one to two feet tall, the leaves cut
into long, narrow divisions, and the flowers very small, cream-white or
pinkish, forming a flat-topped cluster, about two inches across, with
narrow, pale bracts. This is quite pretty and common in Yosemite.
[Sidenote: =Indian Parsnip=
_Aulospérmum lóngipes (Cymopterus)_
=Yellow
Spring
Utah, Col., Wyo.=]
Decorative in form and color and unusual looking, with smooth, pale
bluish-green foliage, with a "bloom," the leaves prettily cut and
lobed, with pinkish leafstalks, forming, when young, a large rosette,
close to the ground, but the stem gradually lengthens until the cluster
of leaves, after the flowers are gone, finds itself on the summit of
a long stem, sheathed at base. The minute, bright yellow flowers form
flat-topped clusters, with flower-stems two or three inches tall, not
hollow, the main cluster about an inch across, usually without bracts,
and composed of five to ten smaller clusters, with bracts. When the
plant is young the general effect of the flat, pale gray rosette of
fern-like leaves, spotted with the contrasting yellow of the flowers,
is pretty and striking. Sometimes a few of the flowers are purple. This
has a thick root and grows on dry sunny hills, in gravelly soil.
[Illustration: Velaea arguta.
Eulophus Bolanderi.