reaches its greatest perfection north of us, on the rich bottom-lands of
the Columbia River. In spring the bushes are beautiful, when snowily laden
with masses of ragged white flowers; and from June to September they are no
less welcome, when abundantly hung with the black berries, which usually
have a bloom upon them. These berries are an important article of food
among our Western Indians, who make annual pilgrimages to the regions of
their growth, gathering and drying large quantities for winter use. The
drying they effect by crushing them to a paste, which they spread upon bark
or stones in the sun. It is said that many a party of explorers, lost in
the woods, has been kept alive by this little fruit.
Almost the same shrub in the Atlantic States is called "shad-bush," because
it blooms at about the season when the shad are running up the streams.
CHRISTMAS-BERRY. CALIFORNIAN HOLLY. TOYON.
_Heteromeles arbutifolia_, Roemer. Rose Family.
Shrubs four to twenty-five feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
short-petioled; oblong; serrate; leathery; two to four inches
long. _Flowers._--Small; white; four lines across; in dense
terminal panicles. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Petals._--Five;
roundish; spreading. _Stamens._--Ten; on the calyx. Filaments
awl-shaped; flat. _Ovaries._--Two; one-celled. Styles slender.
_Berries._--Red; four lines in diameter; in large clusters.
_Hab._--Coast Ranges, from San Diego to Mendocino County.
Christmas could hardly be celebrated among us without our beautiful
Californian holly. Florists' windows and the baskets of street-venders at
that season are gay with the magnificent clusters of rich cardinal berries,
which are really ripe by Thanksgiving. The common name, "Californian
holly," refers more to the berries than to the leaves, as the latter have
not the form of holly-leaves. We have often seen the venders mix the
berries with the prickly foliage of the live-oak, to make them seem more
like holly.
The large clusters of spicy white flowers appear in July and August.
Nothing in all our flora yields a finer contrast of lavish scarlet against
rich green. The berries have a rather pleasant taste, somewhat acid and
astringent, and are eaten by the Indians with great relish. The
Spanish-Californians used them in the preparation of an agreeable drink.
This is a very handsome shrub in cultivation.
VIRGIN'S BOWER. CLEMATIS.
_Clematis ligusticifolia_, Nutt. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
Nearly smooth. _Stems._--Woody; sometimes climbing thirty feet.
_Leaves._--Opposite; long-petioled; five-foliolate.
_Leaflets._--Ovate to lanceolate; eighteen lines to three
inches long; three-lobed and coarsely toothed; rarely entire or
three-parted. _Flowers._--Dioecious; in axillary panicles.
_Sepals._--Four; petaloid; four to six lines long; thin.
_Petals._--Wanting. _Stamens._--Numerous. _Pistils._--Many;
becoming long-tailed, silky akenes. _Hab._--Widely distributed.
The virgin's bower usually looks down upon us from among the branches of
some tree, where it entwines itself indistinguishably with the foliage of
its host. It climbs by means of the stalks of its leaflets, which wrap
themselves about small twigs. This species is not so noticeable during the
season of its blossoming as it is later, when the long plumes of its seed
have twisted themselves into silvery balls, making feathery masses. Mrs.
Blochman writes that among the Spanish-Californians, it is called "yerba de
chivato," and valued as a remedy for barbed-wire cuts in animals. It is
used in the form of a wash, and remarkable cures are effected.
Another widespread species--_C. lasiantha_, Nutt.--is far more showy than
the above. It is found in the Coast Ranges, from Los Angeles to Napa County
at least, and in the Sierras to Plumas County. Its long-peduncled flowers
are solitary; but they are so numerous and grow so closely together, that
they make dense masses of white, conspicuous at a long distance. The
flowers are larger, the sepals being an inch long, and covered with a silky
pubescence, which makes them like soft cream-colored velvet. The three
ovate leaflets are also silky.
LADIES' TRESSES.
_Spiranthes Romanzoffianum_, Cham. Orchis Family.
_Roots._--Fascicled tubers. _Stems._--Stout; four to eighteen
inches high. _Leaves._--Oblong-lanceolate to linear.
_Spikes._--One to even ten inches long. _Perianth._--Yellowish
white; four lines long. Upper sepal and two petals coherent.
Lip recurved, bearing a small protuberance on each side at
base. _Anther._--On the face of the short column.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Through the mountains from Los
Angeles northward.
The twisted spikes of these little orchids are interesting, because their
ranks remain so clearly defined as they wind about the stem. The plants
vary greatly in different seasons as to size, and are usually found in
moist places.
TARWEED. MOUNTAIN MISERY.
_Chamaebatia foliolosa_, Benth. Rose Family.
Shrubby; a foot or two high; branching freely; glandular
pubescent throughout; fragrant. _Leaves._--Alternate; finely
dissected; ovate or oblong in outline; two or three inches
long. _Flowers._--White; few in terminal cymes.
_Calyx._--Five-lobed. _Petals._--Five; spreading; three or four
lines long. _Stamens._--Very numerous; short.
_Ovary._--Solitary. Style terminal. _Fruit._--A leathery akene.
_Hab._--The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Nevada County.
One of the most conspicuous plants to be met on the way to the Yosemite is
the _Chamaebatia_. It is exceedingly abundant, covering considerable areas
and filling the air with its balsamic fragrance, strongly suggestive of
tansy, though to many not so agreeable as the latter. It is a beautiful
plant, with its feathery leaves and strawberry-like flowers; but by the
roadside, where its viscid leaves and stems have caught the dust, it is
often but a travesty of itself.
Mrs. Brandegee writes of it: "Along the line of the railroad in Placer
County it is often called 'bear-clover,' perhaps in accordance with our
felicitous custom of giving names, because it bears not the least
resemblance to clover, and the bear will have nothing to do with it."
[Illustration LADIES' TRESSES--_Spiranthes Romanzoffianum_.]
LARGE-FLOWERED DOGWOOD.
_Cornus Nuttallii_, Audubon. Dogwood Family.
Shrubs or trees, fifteen to seventy feet high.
_Leaves._--Opposite; obovate; acute at each end; three to five
inches long. _Flowers._--Numerous; small; greenish; in a head
surrounded by an involucre of four to six large, yellowish or
white bracts, often tinged with red, and eighteen lines to
three inches long. _Calyx._--Four-toothed. _Petals and
Stamens._--Four. _Ovary._--Two-celled. _Fruit._--Scarlet; five
or six lines long. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from
Monterey and Plumas Counties to British Columbia.
Our large-flowered dogwood more nearly resembles the Eastern _C. florida_
than any other species, but it is a much handsomer shrub than the latter.
It reaches its maximum size in Northern Oregon and Washington, where, in
the season of its blossoming, it is a sight never to be forgotten. Its
masses of large white flowers, like single Cherokee roses, contrast finely
with the deep, rich greens of the fir forests, in which it often grows. In
its northern range, its leaves turn beautifully, and it becomes one of the
most brilliant masqueraders in the autumn pageant.
The wood is very hard, close-grained, and tough, and is used as a
substitute for boxwood in the making of bobbins and shuttles for weaving,
and also in cabinet-work.
MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS.
_Habenaria leucostachys_, Wats. Orchis Family.
_Root._--A fusiform tuber. _Stems._--One to four feet high;
leafy throughout. _Leaves._--Lanceolate; diminishing upward.
_Flowers._--Bright white, in a spike. _Perianth segments._--Two
or three lines long. _Lip._--Four lines long, with a slender
spur four to six lines long. _Anther._--On the column just
above the stigma. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Mountains
throughout California.
From July to September we may look for the milk-white rein-orchis in moist
meadows. It is especially abundant in the Sierras, where its charmingly
fragrant, pure-white spikes are particularly effective against the lush
green of the alpine meadows.
[Illustration MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS--_Habenaria leucostachys_.]
JAMESTOWN-WEED. JIMSON-WEED. THORN-APPLE. COMMON STRAMONIUM.
_Datura Stramonium_, L. Nightshade Family.
_Stems._--Two or three feet high; stout. _Leaves._--Alternate;
ovate; coarsely angled; long-petioled. _Flowers._--In the forks
of the stem; short-pediceled; white. _Calyx._--Tubular; angled;
five-toothed; over an inch long. _Corolla._--Funnel-form; three
inches long; with an expanded five-angled border.
_Stamens._--Five; included. Filaments long and slender; adnate
to the corolla below. Style long. _Ovary._--Two-celled; each
cell nearly divided again. _Fruit._--Larger than a walnut;
prickly. _Hab._--Waste grounds near habitations; introduced.
The jimson-weed, which is a native of Asia, has become quite common in
waste places. It is a rank, ill-smelling, nauseating weed, possessing
narcotic, poisonous qualities, but its flowers are rather large and showy.
The leaves and seeds are made into the drug called "stramonium," which is
used as a remedy in neuralgia, spasmodic cough, and other disorders.
As the plant usually grows by roadsides or in the vicinity of dwellings,
children are not infrequently poisoned by its fruit and leaves. The poison
manifests itself in dryness of the throat, rapid pulse, and delirium; and
even death may ensue, preceded by convulsions and coma.
This plant is also called "mad-apple," "apple of Peru," and "Devil's
apple."
It has a near relative--_D. suaveolens_, HBK.,--a large shrub with
dark-green leaves and very large, pendulous white flowers. This is common
in Californian gardens, and is known popularly as "floriponda," or "angels'
trumpets." It sheds a powerful fragrance upon the air at night, which is
not noticeable by day.
YARROW. MILFOIL.
_Achillea Millefolium_, L. Composite Family.
_Stems._--A foot or two high. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile;
twice-pinnately parted into fine linear, acute, three- to
five-cleft lobes; lanceolate in outline; two to four inches
long; strong-scented. _Flower-heads._--Crowded in a flat
cluster; white, sometimes pink; four lines across, including
the rays; made up of white disk-flowers and obovate white rays.
_Hab._--All around the Northern Hemisphere.
The yarrow, which is a common weed in most countries of the Northern
Hemisphere, has long been known to botanists and herbalists, and was
formerly in high repute for its many virtues. The leaves steeped in hot
water are still considered very healing applications to cuts or bruises;
and among the Spanish-Californians the fresh plants are used for stanching
the blood in recent wounds.
This plant received the name _Achillea_, because the great hero of the
Trojan war was supposed to have been the first to discover its virtues.
In Sweden it is used as a substitute for hops in the brewing of beer. Among
the superstitious, even of the present day, it is regarded as a most potent
love-charm, when plucked by a love-lorn maiden from the grave of a young
man, while repeating the proper formula.
In the spring, the plants first develop a rosette of finely dissected,
feathery leaves, which lie flat upon the ground. Later, when these are well
grown, it sends up its tall flower-stalks, crowned with close, flat
clusters of small white blossoms.
M. Naudin, who has an intimate knowledge of the plants of dry countries,
recommends the yarrow for lawn-making where irrigation is impossible. "It
grows freely in the driest of weather, and makes a handsome turf. It must
be frequently cut, however, to prevent it from throwing up flower-stems. It
will not succeed on a lime-impregnated soil."
Among children the yarrow is commonly known as "old man."
RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN.
_Goodyera Menziesii_, Lindl. Orchis Family.
_Leaves._--Two or three inches long; leathery; dark green,
veined with white. _Scape._--Six to fifteen inches high, with
scattered lanceolate bracts. _Spike._--Many-flowered.
_Perianth._--White; two to four lines long; downy. Lateral
sepals deflexed; upper and two petals coherent. Lip erect,
saccate below, concave above, and narrowing into the recurved
summit. _Anther._--On the base of the column behind.
_Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Mountains, from Mendocino and
Mariposa Counties to British Columbia.
The rattlesnake plantain is frequently met under the coniferous trees of
our northern woods. Its common name comes from the mottling of its leaves,
which is similar to that of the rattlesnake's skin. In midsummer, or later,
the plant sends up a stalk of small but shapely little blossoms. These are
so modest, one would hardly suspect they belonged to the showy orchis
family.
BUTTON-BUSH. BUTTON-WILLOW.
_Cephalanthus occidentalis_, L. Madder Family.
Shrubs eight to ten feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite, or in
whorls of three or four; petioled; ovate to lanceolate; three
to five inches long. _Flowers._--Small; white; in spherical
heads an inch in diameter. _Calyx._--Four-toothed.
_Corolla._--Long funnel-form with four-cleft limb.
_Stamens._--Four; short; borne on the throat of the corolla.
_Ovary._--Two- to four-celled. Style long-exserted. Stigma
capitate. _Hab._--Throughout the State.
The button-bush is a handsome shrub, found upon stream borders, often
standing where its roots are constantly under water. Its leaves are
willow-like, and its spherical flower-heads, poised gracefully at the ends
of the branches, resemble small cushions filled with pins. The blossoms
often have a jessamine-like fragrance.
A tincture made of the bark is used by physicians as a tonic and laxative
and as a remedy for fevers and coughs.
This shrub is especially abundant in the interior, on the lower reaches of
the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, where it is in bloom from June to
August.
[Illustration RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN--_Goodyera Menziesii_.]
WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF.
_Pyrola picta_, Smith. Heath Family.
_Leaves._--Leathery; dark green, veined with white; one or two
inches long. _Scape._--Four to nine inches high.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Petals._--Six lines or so long; white.
_Stamens._--Ten. Anthers opening terminally.
_Ovary._--Five-celled. Style long; curved. _Hab._--The Middle
Sierras and Mendocino County, and northward.
The great coniferous forests of our higher mountains afford homes for many
interesting members of the Heath family. A trip to the Sierras in August
will yield many a prize to the flower-lover. _Pyrolas_, with waxen
clusters, vie with _Pipsissiwas_; the weird looking _Pterospora_ rears its
uncanny, gummy stems, clothed with small, yellowish bells, while an
occasional glimpse of a blood-red spike betrays the most wonderful of them
all--the snow-plant.
Of the _Pyrolas_ we made the acquaintance of three in this region. These
pretty plants are called "shinleaf," because the leaves of some of the
species were used by the English peasantry as plasters which they applied
to bruises or sores. _Pyrola picta_, with its rich leathery, white-veined
leaves and clusters of whitish, waxen flowers, was quite plentiful and
always a delight to meet. _Pyrola dentata_, Smith, we often found growing
with it. This has spatulate, wavy-margined leaves; which are pale and not
veined with white, and its scapes are more slender. It never was so
attractive or vigorous a plant as the other.
A ramble in the woods one day brought us to the brink of a charming stream,
whose pure, ice-cold waters babbled along most invitingly. Following its
course, we found ourselves in a delightfully cool, moist thicket, where,
nestling in the deep shade, we found the beautiful, rich, glossy leaves of
_Pyrola rotundifolia, var. bracteata_, Gray. The leaves are roundish, of a
beautiful, bright chrome green, highly polished, and the delicate flowers
are rose-pink. This is called "Indian lettuce" and "canker lettuce," and a
tincture of the fresh plant is used in medicine for the same purposes as
chimaphila. _P. aphylla_, Smith, is easily distinguished by the absence
of leaves. It has flesh-colored stems, and its flowers are sometimes of the
same color, and sometimes white. This is found in the Coast Ranges.
[Illustration WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF--_Pyrola picta_.]
PEARLY EVERLASTING FLOWER.
_Anaphalis Margaritacea_, Benth. Composite Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high; leafy up to the flowers.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate or linear-lanceolate;
two to four inches long; white-woolly, at length becoming green
above. _Heads._--Of filiform disk-flowers only.
_Involucre._--Of many rows of pearly white, pointed scales, not
longer than the flowers, resembling ray-flowers. _Hab._--Widely
distributed over the northern parts of America and Asia.
Our wild everlasting flowers are very difficult of determination, and are
comprised under at least three genera, _Gnaphalium_, _Anaphalis_, and
_Antennaria_. The word _Anaphalis_ is from the same root as the word
_Gnaphalium_, and the species have quite the aspect of _Gnaphalium_.
The flowers of the pearly everlasting have a peculiarly pure pearly look
before they are entirely open, and their sharp-pointed little scales give
them a prim, set look, like very regular, tiny white roses. There is a hint
of green in them, but they are never of the dirty yellowish-white of the
cudweed, nor have they the slippery-elm-like fragrance of the latter. When
fully expanded, the centers are brown. The leaves, which at length become a
dark, shining green, make a fine contrast with the permanently white-woolly
stems. The flower-clusters are loosely compound.
WASHINGTON LILY. SHASTA LILY.
_Lilium Washingtonianum_, Kell. Lily Family.
_Hab._--Throughout the Sierras from three to six thousand feet
elevation.
I shall never forget the thrill of delight I felt on first beholding this
noble white lily, some years ago, in an open fir forest near Mt. Shasta. I
had often heard of it, but never dared hope it would be my privilege to
gather it for myself in its own native haunts.
The blossoms somewhat resemble those of the ruby lily, but the petals have
longer claws and are more loosely put together. They are fragrant, but
their perfume is not to be compared with that of the ruby lily.
Mr. Purdy once saw, upon a single great mountain-side, ten thousand of
these wonderful plants, upbearing their beautiful, pure lilies--a sight
outrivaling the poet's vision of the golden daffodils.
The Shasta lily is never found in the Coast Ranges. Another species, _L.
Parryi_, Wats., resembling this in the form of its flowers, is found in the
San Bernardino Mountains. This is known as the "lemon lily," and has clear
yellow flowers, dotted sparingly with deeper yellow. It is a charming
flower, and is always found in shaded, springy places in cool cañons.
LABRADOR TEA.
_Ledum glandulosum_, Nutt. Heath Family.
Shrubs two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate;
short-petioled; oblong or oval; an inch or two long;
coriaceous; sprinkled beneath with resin-dots.
_Flowers._--White; in terminal and axillary clusters.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Petals._--Five; three lines long;
rotately spreading. _Stamens._--Four to ten. Anthers opening
terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style filiform, persistent.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from Mendocino County northward, and
through the Sierras.
Our Labrador tea is a comely shrub, found in the mountains at an elevation
of four thousand feet and upward. Its small, leathery leaves are miniature
copies of those of the Californian rhododendron, differing from them,
however, in the sprinkling of resin-dots upon the under surface.
Upon seeing the flowers of this shrub for the first time, one is apt to
imagine it a member of the Rose family, something akin to the cherry, with
its clusters of small white flowers of a bitter fragrance; but a glance at
the anthers, with their terminal pores, tells the story quickly.
A tea made from the leaves is, with many people, a valued remedy for
rheumatism.
This little shrub is much dreaded by sheepmen, who claim that it poisons
their flocks. It has been suggested that it would be an excellent thing to
have it widely planted as a means of reducing these bands of "hoofed
locusts," as Mr. Muir terms them--these marauders who trample down so much
beauty, and leave desolation everywhere in their wake.
PIPSISSIWA. PRINCE'S PINE.
_Chimaphila Menziesii_, Spreng. Heath Family.
_Stems._--Six inches high. _Leaves._--Six to eighteen lines
long; dark green, sometimes variegated with white; leathery.
_Flowers._--One to three. _Calyx._--Five-parted; white.
_Petals._--Five; waxen-white or pinkish. _Stamens._--Ten.
Filaments enlarged and hairy in the middle. Anthers two-celled;
opening terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style short. Stigma
button-like. _Hab._--The Middle Sierras and Mendocino County.
The prince's pine is a charming little plant, and may be found beneath the
undergrowth in the great coniferous woods of the Sierras, where it sits
demurely with bowed head, like some cloistered nun engaged with her own
meditations. It has an exquisite perfume, like that of the lily of the
valley.
The common prince's pine of the Eastern States--_C. umbellata_--is more
rare with us, though it is found through somewhat the same range as the
above. It is a more vigorous plant than the other, has from four to seven
purplish flowers in the cluster, while its leaves are never spotted.
In the East, from the leaves of this species is manufactured the drug
"chimaphila," which is valued as a tonic and astringent, also as a remedy
for cataract.
GROUNDSEL-TREE.
_Baccharis pilularis_, DC. Composite Family.
Evergreen dioecious shrubs, one to twelve feet high, with angled
or striate branches. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; obovate;
cuneate; obtuse; coarsely toothed; leathery; one inch or less
long. _Flower-heads._--Crowded at the ends of the branchlets;
four lines long; one or two across; without ray-flowers.
_Involucres._--Oblong; of many imbricated scales. _Sterile
heads._--With funnel-form, five-lobed corollas. _Fertile
heads._--With filiform corollas, mixed with a dense white silky
pappus, which soon elongates. _Hab._--All along the Coast.
[Illustration PRINCE'S PINE--_Chimaphila Menziesii_.]
In the fall, the dark-green foliage of the groundsel-tree is relieved by
its abundant small white flower-clusters. The flowers of the male shrub
are never very beautiful, being usually of a yellowish or dirty white;
indeed, so little resembling the other, as to appear like a separate
species. But when the white silk down of the female shrub is fully
expanded, its boughs are laden as with drifted snow. This lavish provision
of silk is designed by nature for the wafting abroad of the seed.
It varies greatly in size and habit. Upon exposed, wind-swept sandhills it
is low and close-cropped, but in more favorable localities, where the soil
is rich and the climate more genial, it responds graciously to the changed
conditions, becoming one of our most picturesque shrubs.
Growing and blooming at the same time with the above, may be found its near
relative--_B. Douglasii_, DC. This does not aspire to shrubhood, but its
tall stems, with their lanceolate, somewhat glutinous leaves, sometimes
reach four feet in height, bearing at summit their pretty Ageratum-like,
white flower-clusters. It loves the sandy soil of creek-banks and low
fields, and is abundant from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
LARGE WHITE MOUNTAIN DAISY.