[Sidenote: =Venegasia=
_Venegàsia carpesioìdes_
=Yellow
Summer
California=]
These big, leafy plants, with their bright flowers, are a splendid
feature of the California woods and canyons in June, especially on the
slopes of the Santa Inez mountains, where they often cover large areas
with green and gold; unfortunately the smell is rather disagreeable.
The leafy stems are four or five feet high, nearly smooth, with
alternate, bright green leaves, almost smooth and thin in texture, and
the flowers, resembling Sun-flowers, are over two inches across, with
clear yellow rays, an orange center, and an involucre of many green
scales, overlapping and wrapped around each other, so that the bud
looks much like a tiny head of lettuce. This was named for Venegas, a
Jesuit missionary, and is the only kind, growing near the coast in the
South.
[Sidenote: =Lessingia=
_Lessíngia leptóclada_
=Lilac
Summer
California=]
This is a slender plant, from six inches to two feet tall, with pale
gray green, woolly leaves, the lower ones somewhat toothed, and
pale pinkish-lilac flowers, not very conspicuous in themselves, but
sometimes growing in such quantities that they form pretty patches of
soft pinkish color in sandy places. The flower-head is about half an
inch long, with no rays, but the outer flowers in the head are larger
and have long lobes resembling rays. This is very variable, especially
in size, and is common along dry roadsides and quite abundant in
Yosemite. The picture is of a small plant. _L. Germanòrum_, which is
common on sandy hills along the coast from San Francisco to San Diego,
has yellow flowers and blooms in autumn.
There are many kinds of Baeria, not easily distinguished.
[Sidenote: =Sunshine, Gold Fields=
_Baéria grácilis_
=Yellow
Southwest=]
This is a dear little plant, often covering the fields with a carpet of
gold. The slender stems are about six inches tall, with soft, downy,
light green leaves, usually opposite, and pretty fragrant flowers,
about three-quarters of an inch across, with bright yellow rays and
darker yellow centers. This is sometimes called Fly Flower, because
in some places it is frequented by a small fly, which is annoying
to horses. _B. macrántha_ is a much larger plant, a biennial, with
a tuberous root, from seven inches to a foot and a half tall, with
long, narrow, toothless leaves, with hairy margins, and flower-heads
from an inch to an inch and a half across, with yellow rays and hairy
involucres. This grows along the coast in California, blooming in May
and June.
[Illustration: Venegasia--V. carpesioides.
Sunshine--Baeria gracilis.