in the country are conscious of a strange odor pervading all the air. It is
as though Dame Nature were brewing a vast cup of herb tea, mixing in the
fragrant infusion all the plants dried and stored so carefully during the
summer.
When the clouds vanish after this baptismal shower, everything is
charmingly fresh and pure, and we have some of the rarest of days. Then the
little seeds, harbored through the long summer in Earth's bosom, burst
their coats and push up their tender leaves, till on hillside and
valley-floor appears a delicate mist of green, which gradually confirms
itself into a soft, rich carpet--and all the world is in verdure clad. Then
we begin to look eagerly for our first flowers.
FLOWER DESCRIPTIONS
A FANCY
I think I would not be
A stately tree,
Broad-boughed, with haughty crest that seeks the sky.
Too many sorrows lie
In years, too much of bitter for the sweet:
Frost-bite, and blast, and heat,
Blind drought, cold rains, must all grow wearisome,
Ere one could put away
Their leafy garb for aye,
And let death come.
Rather this wayside flower!
To live its happy hour
Of balmy air, of sunshine, and of dew.
A sinless face held upward to the blue;
A bird-song sung to it,
A butterfly to flit
On dazzling wings above it, hither, thither,--
A sweet surprise of life,--and then exhale
A little fragrant soul on the soft gale,
To float--ah! whither?
--INA D. COOLBRITH.
_White or occasionally or partially white flowers not described in the
White Section._
_Described in the Yellow Section_:--
ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS--Pimpernel.
BRODIAEA LACTEA--White Brodiaea.
CALOCHORTUS WEEDII--Mariposa Tulip.
CUSCUTA--Dodder.
ERIOGONUM URSINUM.
ERYSIMUM GRANDIFLORUM--Cream-colored Wallflower.
ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFORNICA--California Poppy.
FLOERKIA DOUGLASII--Meadow-Foam.
HEMIZONIA LUZULAEFOLIA--Tarweed.
HOSACKIA BICOLOR.
MELILOTUS ALBA--White Sweet Clover.
PTEROSPORA ANDROMEDEA--Pine-Drops.
VERBASCUM BLATTARIA--Moth-Mullein.
_Described in the Pink Section_:--
APOCYNUM CANNABINUM--American-Indian Hemp.
DODECATHEON CLEVELANDI--Shooting-Stars.
GILIA ANDROSACEA.
LEWISIA REDIVIVA--Bitter-Root.
OXALIS OREGANA--Redw'd-Sorrel.
PHLOX DOUGLASII--Alpine Phlox.
RHUS INTEGRIFOLIA--Lemonade-Berry.
RHUS LAURINA--Sumach.
SILENE GALLICA.
TRIENTALIS EUROPAEA--Star-Flower.
_Described in the Blue and Purple Section_:--
BRODIAEA LAXA--Ithuriel's Spear.
CALOCHORTUS CATALINAE--Catalina Mariposa Tulip.
CALOCHORTUS MAWEANUS--Cat's-Ears.
CALOCHORTUS UMBELLATUS--White Star-Tulip.
CEANOTHUS DIVARICATUS--Wild Lilac.
CEANOTHUS THYRSIFLORUS--California Lilac.
COLLINSIA BICOLOR--Collinsia.
DELPHINIUM.
FRITILLARIA LILIACEA--White Fritillary.
IRIS DOUGLASIANA--Douglas Iris.
IRIS MACROSIPHON-Ground Iris.
POLYGALA CORNUTA.
SCUTELLARIA CALIFORNICA--White Skullcap
TRILLIUM SESSILE--Calif. Trillium.
_Described in the Red Section_:--
GILIA AGGREGATA--Scarlet Gilia.
AQUILEGIA COERULEA.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section_:--
CEPHALANTHERA OREGANA--Phantom Orchis.
CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--California Lady's Slipper.
CYPRIPEDIUM MONTANUM--Mountain Lady's Slipper.
PROSARTES MENZIESII--Drops of Gold.
TOOTHWORT. PEPPER-ROOT. SPRING-BLOSSOM.
_Dentaria Californica_, Nutt. Mustard Family.
_Roots._--Bearing small tubers. _Stems._--Six inches to two
feet high. _Root-leaves._--Simple and roundish or with three
leaflets. _Stem-leaves._--Usually with three to five pinnate
leaflets, one to three inches long. _Flowers._--White to pale
rose-color. _Sepals and Petals._--Four. _Stamens._--Four long
and two short. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style simple.
_Pod._--Slender; twelve to eighteen lines long.
_Syn._--_Cardamine paucisecta_, Benth. _Hab._--Throughout the
Coast Ranges.
What a rapture we always feel over this first blossom of the year! not only
for its own dear sake, but for the hopes and promises it holds out, the
visions it raises of spring, with flower-covered meadows, running brooks,
buds swelling everywhere, bird-songs, and the air rife with perfumes.
It is like the dove sent forth from the ark, this first tentative blossom,
this _avant courier_ of the great army of Crucifers, or cross-bearers, so
called because their four petals are stretched out like the four arms of a
cross.
It is usually in some sheltered wood that we look for this first shy
blossom; but once it has proved the trustworthiness of the skies, it is
followed by thousands of its companions, who then come out boldly and star
the meadows with their pure white constellations.
The Latin name of this genus (from the word _dens_, a tooth), translated
into the vernacular, becomes toothwort, the termination _wort_ signifying
merely plant or herb.
It was so named because of the toothed rootstocks of many species.
The little tubers upon the root often have a pungent taste, from which
comes one of the other common names--"pepper-root." Various other names
have been applied to these flowers, such as "lady's smocks" and
"milkmaids."
[Illustration _TOOTHWORT--Dentaria Californica._]
ZYGADENE.
_Zygadenus Fremonti_, Michx. Lily Family.
_Bulb._--Dark-coated. _Leaves._--Linear; a foot or two long;
deeply channeled. _Scape._--Three inches to even four feet
high. _Flowers._--White. _Perianth Segments._--Six; strongly
nerved; bearing at base yellow glands; inner segments clawed.
_Stamens._--Six; shorter than the perianth.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Styles three; short.
_Capsule._--Three-beaked. _Hab._--Coast Ranges, San Diego to
Humboldt County.
The generic name, _Zygadenus_, is from the Greek, and signifies yoked
glands, referring to the glands upon the base of the perianth segments.
We have several species, the most beautiful and showy of which is _Z.
Fremonti_. This is widely distributed, and grows in very different
situations. In our central Coast Range its tall stems, with their lovely
clusters of white stars, make their appearance upon rocky hill-slopes with
warm exposure, in the shelter of the trees, soon after the toothwort has
sprinkled the fields with its white bloom. In the south it rears its tall
stems upon open mesas, unprotected by the shelter of friendly tree or
shrub, and in some localities it makes itself at home in bogs. It is
possible that the future may reveal the presence of more than one species.
It has sometimes been called "soap-plant"; but this name more appropriately
belongs to _Chlorogalum_. It somewhat resembles the Star of Bethlehem of
Eastern gardens. The fact that it grows in boggy places has given rise to
the name of "water-lily" in certain localities; but this ought to be
discountenanced, as it bears not the slightest resemblance to the
magnificent water-lily of Eastern ponds.
Another species--_Z. venenosus_, Wats.--is found from Monterey and Mariposa
Counties to British Columbia. This may be distinguished from the above by
its narrow leaves--only two or three lines wide,--usually folded together,
and by its smaller flowers, with perianth segments only two or three lines
long; and also by the fact that the stamens equal the segments in length.
The bulb is poisonous, and our Northern Indians call it "death camass,"
while the farmers in the Sierras call it "Lobelia," not because of any
resemblance to that plant, but because its poisonous effects are similar to
those of the latter. It is fatal to horses, but hogs eat it with impunity,
from which it is also known as "hogs' potato." It is found in moist meadows
or along stream-banks, in June and July.
[Illustration _ZYGADENE--Zygadenus Fremonti._]
POISON-OAK.
_Rhus diversiloba_, Torr. and Gray. Poison-Oak or Cashew Family.
_Shrubs._--Three to fifteen feet high. _Leaflets._--One to four
inches long. _Flowers._--Greenish white; small. _Sepals and
Petals._--Usually five. _Stamens._--As many or twice as many as
the petals. _Ovary._--One-celled. Styles three: distinct or
united. _Fruit._--A small, dry, striate, whitish drupe.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
The presence of the poison-oak in our woods and fields makes these outdoor
haunts forbidden pleasures to persons who are susceptible to it. It is
closely allied to the poison-ivy of the Eastern States, and very similar in
its effects. It is a charming shrub in appearance, with beautiful glossy,
shapely leaves; and in early summer, when it turns to many shades of
scarlet and purple-bronze, it is especially alluring to the unsuspecting.
It is quite diverse in its habit, sometimes appearing as an erect shrub,
and again climbing trees or rock surfaces, by means of small aerial
rootlets, to a considerable height. Horses eat the leaves without injury;
and the honey which the bees distill from its small greenish-white flowers
is said to be excellent.
Many low plants seek the shelter of these shrubs, and some of our loveliest
flowers, such as Clarkias, Godetias, Collinsias, Brodiaeas, and larkspurs,
seem to realize that immunity from human marauders is to be had within its
safe retreat.
The remedies for oak-poisoning are numerous; and it may not be out of place
to mention a few of them here. Different remedies are required by different
individuals. Any of the following plants may be made into a tea and used as
a wash: Grindelia, manzanita, wild peony, California holly, and _Rhamnus
Purshiania_, or _Californica_. Hot solutions of soda, Epsom salts, or
saltpeter are helpful to many, and the bulb of the soap-root,--_Chlorogalum
pomeridianum_--pounded to a paste and used as a salve, allowing it to
dry upon the surface and remain for some hours at least, is considered
excellent. In fact, any pure toilet soap may be used in the same manner.
[Illustration POISON OAK--_Rhus diversiloba_.]
WAKE-ROBIN.
_Trillium ovatum_, Pursh. Lily Family.
_Rootstock._--Thickened. _Stem._--Erect; stout; a foot or more
high; bearing at summit a whorl of three sessile leaves.
_Leaves._--Rhomboidal; acuminate; netted-veined; five-nerved;
two to six inches long. _Flower._--Solitary; pure white,
turning to deep rose; peduncle one to three inches long.
_Sepals._--Three; herbaceous. _Petals._--One or two inches
long. _Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Stigmas three;
sessile. _Capsule._--Broadly ovate: six-winged. _Hab._--The
Coast Ranges, from Santa Cruz to British Columbia.
The wake-robin is in the vanguard of our spring flowers, and a walk into
some high, cold cañon while the days are still dark and short will be amply
rewarded by the finding of its white and peculiarly pure-looking blossoms
standing upon the bank overlooking the streamlet. The blossoms remain
unchanged for a time, and then, as they fade, turn to a deep purplish
rose-color.
Our wake-robin so closely resembles _T. grandiflorum_, Salisb., of the
Eastern States, that it seems a pity it should have been made into a
different species.
BEACH-STRAWBERRY.
_Fragaria Chilensis_, Ehrhart. Rose Family.
_Hab._--The coast, from Alaska to San Francisco and southward.
This beautiful strawberry is found growing near the seashore, where its
large, delicious berries are often buried beneath the shifting sand,
becoming bleached in color. It sometimes covers acres with its thick,
shining, dark-green leaves, among which are sprinkled its large pure-white
flowers, an inch or more across.
The wood-strawberry--_F. Californica_--is very common in the Coast Ranges;
but for the most part it is dry and flavorless.
[Illustration WAKE-ROBIN--_Trillium ovatum_.]
=MANZANITA. BEARBERRY.=
_Arctostaphylos manzanita_, Parry. Heath Family.
Shrubs three to twenty-five feet high, with purple-brown bark.
_Leaves._--Pale. _Flowers._--White or pinkish; in crowded
clusters. _Corolla._--Four or five lines long; campanulate.
_Stamens._--Ten; filaments dilated and bearded at base; anthers
two-celled, opening terminally, each cell furnished with a long
downward-pointing horn. _Ovary._--Globose; five to ten-celled.
Style simple. _Fruit._--Six lines in diameter, containing
several bony nutlets. _Syn._--_Arctostaphylos pungens_, HBK.
_Hab._--Throughout the State.
Of all our shrubs, the manzanita is the most beautiful and the best known.
Sometimes as early as Christmas it may be found in full bloom, when its
dense crown of pale foliage, surmounting the rich purple-brown stems, is
thickly sown with the little clusters of fragrant waxen bells. After the
blossoms have passed away, the shrubs put forth numerous brilliant scarlet
or crimson shoots, which at a little distance look like a strange and
entirely new kind of blossoming. The manzanita is closely allied to the
madroño, and resembles it in many ways, particularly in the annual peeling
of its rich red bark and in the form of its flowers.
The Greek generic name, translated into English, becomes "bearberry." The
pretty Spanish name--from _manzana_, apple, and the diminutive, _ita_,--was
bestowed by the early Spanish-Californians, who recognized the resemblance
of the fruit to tiny apples.
We have a dozen or more species of _Arctostaphylos_, but _A. manzanita_ is
the commonest of them all. It varies greatly in size and habit. In
localities most favorable it becomes a large, erect shrub, with many
clustered trunks, while in the Sierras it finds but a precarious footing
among the granite rocks, often covering their surfaces with its small
tortuous, stiff branches. The leaves, by a twisting of their stalks, assume
a vertical position on the branches, a habit which enables many plants of
dry regions to avoid unnecessary evaporation.
[Illustration MANZANITA--_Arctostaphylos manzanita_.]
The largest manzanita known is upon the estate of Mr. Tiburcio Parrott, in
St. Helena, Napa County, California. It is thirty-five feet high, with a
spread of branches equal to its height, while its trunk measures eleven and
a half feet in circumference at the ground, soon dividing into large
branches. It is a veritable patriarch, and has doubtless seen many
centuries. According to an interesting account in "Garden and Forest," it
once had a narrow escape from the ax of a woodman. A gentleman who was a
lover of trees, happening to pass, paid the woodman two dollars to spare
its life.
Years ago no traveler from the East felt that he could return home without
a manzanita cane, made from as straight a branch as could be secured.
The berries of this shrub are dry and bony and quite unsatisfactory. They
are, however, pleasantly acid, and have been put to several uses. It is
said that both brandy and vinegar are made from them, and housewives make
quite a good jelly from some species. Bears are fond of the berries, and
the Indians eat them, both raw and pounded into a flour, from which mush is
made. The leaves made into a tincture or infusion are now an officinal
drug, valued in catarrh of the throat or stomach.
From Monterey to San Diego is found _A. glauca_, Lindl., the great-berried
manzanita. It closely resembles the above, but its berries are three
fourths of an inch in diameter.
Of the same range as the last is _A. bicolor_, Gray, whose leaves are of a
rich, shining green above and white and woolly beneath. Its berries are the
size of a pea, yellowish at first, and turning red later.
CALIFORNIAN SAXIFRAGE.
_Saxifraga Californica_, Greene. Saxifrage Family.
_Leaves._--Few; all radical; oval; one to two inches long, on
broad petioles six to twelve lines long. _Scape._--Six to
eighteen inches high. _Flowers._--White or rose; four or five
lines across. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft, with reflexed lobes.
_Petals._--Borne on the calyx. _Stamens._--Ten.
_Ovaries._--Two; partly united. Styles short. Stigmas capitate.
_Syn._--_S. Virginiensis_, Michx. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
[Illustration CALIFORNIANSAXIFRAGE--_Saxifraga Californica_.]
In the rich soil of cool northward slopes, or on many a mossy bank amid the
tender young fronds of the maidenhair, may be found the delicate clusters
of our little Californian saxifrage. The plants are small, with but a few,
perhaps only one or two, oval, rather hairy leaves, lying upon the ground,
and a slender red scape upholding the dainty cluster of small white
flowers. The tips of the calyx-lobes are usually red, and the wee stamens
are pink.
We have several species of saxifrage, most of which are plants of exceeding
delicacy and grace, and with small flowers.
MINER'S LETTUCE. INDIAN LETTUCE.
_Montia perfoliata_, Howell. Purslane Family.
Smooth, succulent herbs. _Radical Leaves._--Long-petioled;
broadly rhomboidal. _Stems._--Simple; six to twelve inches
high, having, near the summit, a pair of leaves united around
the stem. _Flowers._--White. _Sepals._--Two. _Petals._--Five,
minute. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--One-celled Style slender.
Stigma three-cleft. _Syn._--_Claytonia perfoliata_, Don.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
Though our Indian lettuce is closely allied to the Eastern "Spring Beauty,"
one would never suspect it from its outward appearance and habit. The
little flower-racemes look as though they might have pushed their way right
through the rather large saucer-like leaf just below them. The succulent
leaves and stems are greedily eaten by the Indians, from which it is called
"Indian lettuce."
Mr. Powers, of Sheridan, writes that the Placer County Indians have a novel
way of preparing their salad. Gathering the stems and leaves, they lay them
about the entrances of the nests of certain large red ants. These, swarming
out, run all over it. After a time the Indians shake them off, satisfied
that the lettuce has a pleasant sour taste equaling that imparted by
vinegar. These little plants are said to be excellent when boiled and well
seasoned, and they have long been grown in England, where they are highly
esteemed for salads.
[Illustration MINER'S LETTUCE--_Montia Perfoliata_.]
WOOD ANEMONE. WIND-FLOWER.
_Anemone quinquefolia_, L. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Rootstock._--Horizontal. _Stem._--Six to fourteen inches high.
_Leaves._--Radical leaf remote from the stem; trifid; the
segments serrate. Involucral leaf not far below the flower;
three foliolate. _Sepals._--Petaloid; five or six; usually
bluish outside. _Petals._--Wanting. _Stamens and
Pistils._--Numerous. _Akenes._--Two lines long; twelve to
twenty. _Syn._--_Anemone nemorosa_, L. _Hab._--The Coast
Ranges, in moist shade.
The delicate blossoms of the wood anemone might at first be confounded with
those of the toothwort by the careless observer, but a moment's reflection
will quickly distinguish them. The anemone is always a solitary flower with
many stamens, and its petals are of a more delicate texture. It grows upon
wooded banks or cool, shaded flats among the redwoods.
There are many quaint traditions as to the origin of its name, and poets
have from early times found something ideal of which to sing in these
simple spring flowers.
The generic name has the accent upon the third syllable, but, when
Anglicized into the common name, the accent falls back upon the second.
OSO-BERRY.
_Nuttallia cerasiformis_, Torr. and Gray. Rose Family
Deciduous shrubs; two to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._--Broadly
oblanceolate; two to four inches long; narrowed into a short
petiole. _Flowers._--White; in short terminal racemes;
dioecious; three to eleven lines across. _Calyx._--Top-shaped,
with five-lobed border. _Petals._--Five; inserted with ten of
the stamens on the calyx; broadly spatulate.
_Stamens._--Fifteen. _Ovaries._--Five. Styles short.
_Fruit._--Blue-black, oblong drupes; six to eight lines long.
_Hab._--Chiefly the Coast Ranges from San Luis Obispo to Fraser
River.
[Illustration WOOD ANEMONE--_Anemone quinquefolia._]
About the same time that the beautiful leaves of the buckeye are
emerging from their wrappings, we notice in the woods a shrub which has
just put forth its clusters of bright-green leaves from buds all along
its slender twigs. Amid their delicate green hang short clusters of
greenish-white flowers. These blossoms have a delicious bitter
fragrance, redolent of all the tender memories of the springtime.
This shrub is usually mistaken for a wild plum; and the illusion is still
further assisted when the little drupes, like miniature plums, begin to
ripen and hang in yellow and purple clusters amid the matured leaves.
WILD DATE. SPANISH BAYONET.
_Yucca Mohavensis_, Sargent. Lily Family.
_Trunk._--Usually simple; rarely exceeding fifteen feet high;
six or eight inches in diameter; naked, or covered with
refracted dead leaves, or clothed to the ground with the living
leaves. _Leaves._--Linear-lanceolate; one to three feet long;
one or two inches wide; rigid; margins at length bearing coarse
recurved threads. _Flowers._--In short-stemmed or sessile,
distaff-shaped panicles, a foot or two long; pedicels
eventually drooping, twelve to eighteen lines long.
_Perianth._--Broadly campanulate. _Segments._--Six; thirty
lines long; six to twelve wide. _Stamens._--Six; six to nine
lines long; filaments white, club-shaped. _Ovary._--Oblong;
white; an inch or two long, including the slender style.
Stigmas three. _Fruit._--Cylindrical; three or four inches
long; pendulous, pulpy. _Syn._--_Yucca baccata_, Torr.
_Hab._--Southern California, from Monterey to San Diego; coast
and inland.
The genus _Yucca_ comprises sixteen or eighteen species, and reaches its
greatest development in Northern Mexico. Three species are to be found
within our borders, two of which are arborescent, _Y. arborescens_, and _Y.
Mohavensis_. Considerable confusion has hitherto reigned among the species,
but they are now better understood.
They are all valuable to our Indians as basket and textile plants, and are
useful to them in many other ways.
Owing to the structure of the flowers, self-fertilization seems impossible,
and scientists who have made a study of the subject say that these plants
are dependent upon a little white, night-flying moth to perform this office
for them. This little creature goes from plant to plant, gathering the
pollen, which she rolls up into a ball with her feet. When sufficient has
been gathered, she goes to another plant, lays her egg in its ovary, and
before leaving ascends to the stigma and actually pushes the pollen into
it, seeming to realize that unless she performs this last act, there will
be nothing for her progeny to eat. This seems an almost incredible instance
of insect intelligence; but it is a well-authenticated fact.
_Yucca Mohavensis_, commonly called "wild date," or "Spanish bayonet," is
more widely distributed within our borders than either of our other
species. Its large panicle of overpoweringly fragrant white waxen bells is
a striking object wherever seen. On the coast this yucca is often stemless,
but in the interior, where it is more abundant, it rises to a considerable
height, and culminates upon the Mojave Desert, where the finest specimens
are found.
The fruit, which ripens in August and September, turns from green to a
tawny yellow, afterward becoming brownish purple, and eventually almost
black. This has a sweet, succulent flesh, and, either fresh or dried, is a
favorite fruit among the Indians. Dr. Palmer writes that this is one of the
most useful plants to the Indians of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern
California. They cut the stems into slices, beat them into a pulp, and mix
them with the water in washing, as a substitute for soap.
The leaves are parched in ashes, to make them pliable, and are afterward
soaked in water and pounded with a wooden mallet. The fibers thus liberated
are long, strong, and durable, and lend themselves admirably to the weaving
of the gayly decorated horse-blankets made by the tribes of Southern
California. They also make from it ropes, twine, nets, hats, hair-brushes,
shoes, mattresses, baskets, etc.
FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL.
_Smilacina sessilifolia_, Nutt. Lily Family.