There are several kinds of Bahia, natives of western North America,
Mexico, and Chile, herbs or shrubs, more or less woolly.
[Sidenote: =Bahia=
_Bàhia absinthifòlia_
=Yellow
Spring
Arizona=]
This is from eight to fifteen inches tall, with pretty flowers, an inch
and a half across, with bright yellow rays and deep yellow centers,
contrasting well with the pale gray-green foliage, which is covered
with close white down. This grows in arid situations on the mesas and
often forms clumps.
There are several kinds of Crassina, natives of the United States and
Mexico.
[Sidenote: =Desert Zinnia=
_Crassìna pùmila (Zinnia)_
=White
Spring
Arizona=]
Nothing could look much less like a garden Zinnia than this dry,
prickly-looking dwarf shrub. It is from three inches to a foot high,
the branches crowded with very small, stiff, dull green leaves, and the
flowers are about an inch across, rather pretty but not conspicuous,
with a yellow center and four or five, broad, cream-white rays,
often tinged with dull pink. This plant grows on the plains and is a
"soil-indicator," as it flourishes on the poorest, stoniest, and most
arid land.
[Sidenote: =Wild Marigold=
_Bàileya multiradiàta_
=Yellow
Spring, summer, etc.
Southwest, Tex.=]
Charming flowers, with a thrifty, cultivated appearance like that
of a garden flower. The plant is a foot tall, with grayish-green,
woolly stems and foliage, and the handsome flower is an inch and a
half across, with a fine ruffle of many bright yellow rays, prettily
scalloped, and a yellow center, rather deeper in color. In Arizona
bouquets of these flowers may be gathered during every month in the
year.
[Sidenote: _Bàileya pauciradiàta_
=Yellow
Spring
Southwest=]
An odd little desert plant, about six inches tall, with a thickish stem
and soft, thickish leaves, covered all over with silky, white wool,
giving a pale, silky effect to the whole plant, which is quite pretty,
though the pale yellow flowers, each about half an inch across, are not
striking.
[Illustration: Desert Zinnia--Crassina pumila.
Baileya pauciradiata.
Bahia absinthifolia.