_Stem._--Six to twenty inches high; leafy; bearing solitary or
rarely two or three large, slender-peduncled heads.
_Leaves._--Obovate to oblong; entire or with several sharp
teeth; thin. _Flower-heads._--Of yellow disk-flowers, and
usually pure white ray-flowers. _Disk._--Half an inch wide.
_Rays._--Fifty to seventy; narrowly linear; six lines or more
long. _Hab._--The Sierras; also the Rocky Mountains of
Colorado.
"High on the crest of the blossoming grasses,
Bending and swaying, with face toward the sky,
Stirred by the lightest west wind as it passes,
Hosts of the silver-white daisy-stars lie."
No fairer sight could be imagined than a mountain meadow filled with these
large, pure-white, feathery daisies.
[Illustration BACCHARIS--_Baccharis Douglasii_.]
CALIFORNIAN FALSE HELLEBORE.
_Veratrum Californicum_, Durand. Lily Family.
_Stems._--Stout; three to seven feet high. _Leaves._--Oval;
narrowing to lanceolate; sessile; sheathing; four to twelve
inches long. _Flowers._--Greenish-white in a large panicle,
with usually ascending branches. _Stamens and pistils_ in the
same flowers, or in separate ones. _Pedicels._--About two lines
long. _Perianth segments._--Six; spreading; oblanceolate; their
bases thickened and green or brownish; upper margins sometimes
minutely toothed; three to eight lines long. _Stamens._--Six.
Anthers confluently one-celled. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Styles
three, divergent. _Hab._--The Middle Sierras and Mendocino
County northward to the Columbia; also eastward.
The false hellebore may be found in midsummer in the mountains. It grows
along watercourses, and often covers rich, moist meadows, where its stems
rise from three to seven feet, with their coarsely ribbed, boat-shaped
leaves and large panicles of greenish-white flowers. When at its best it is
a rather fine, showy thing, but its leaves are often perforated by some
insect, and present a ragged, untidy appearance.
The mountaineers commonly call this plant "skunk cabbage," a deplorable
misnomer, because it is in no sense merited; and, moreover, we have a plant
to which the title more rightfully belongs. The root and young shoots are a
violent poison, and are fatal to animals which are unfortunate enough to
crop them.
Another species--_V. fimbriatum_, Gray--a smaller plant, is found upon the
plains in Mendocino County. It may be distinguished from the above by its
more slender leaves, its woolly flower-panicle, and its decidedly fringed
flower-petals.
II. YELLOW
[_Yellow or occasionally or partially yellow flowers not described in the
Yellow Section._
_Described in the White Section:--_
CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS--Mariposa Lily, or Tulip.
LILIUM PARRYI--Lemon-Lily.
VIOLA OCELLATA--Heart's-ease.
_Described in the Pink Section:--_
LESSINGIA GERMANORUM--Yellow Lessingia.
_Described in the Blue and Purple Section:--_
FRITILLARIA PUDICA--Yellow Fritillary.
IRIS MACROSIPHON--Ground-Iris.
SISYRINCHIUM CALIFORNICUM--Golden-eyed Grass.
TRILLIUM SESSILE--Californian Trillium.
_Described in the Red Section:--_
CASTILLEIA PARVIFLORA--Indian Paint-Brush.
CEREUS EMORYI--Velvet Cactus.
PENTSTEMON CENTRANTHIFOLIUS--Scarlet Bugler.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section:--_
CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--Californian Lady's Slipper.]
SUN-CUPS.
_OEnothera ovata_, Nutt. Evening-Primrose Family.
_Root._--A thick tap-root. _Leaves._--All radical;
oblong-lanceolate; smooth; ciliate. _Flowers._--Solitary in the
axils; bright golden yellow. _Calyx-tube._--Filiform; one to
five inches long; limb of four lanceolate, reflexed divisions.
_Petals._--Four; three to ten lines long. _Stamens._--Eight.
_Ovary._--Four-celled; underground. Style filiform. Stigma
capitate. _Fruit._--A ribbed capsule. _Hab._--Near the coast
from San Francisco to Monterey.
This little evening primrose is an exceedingly interesting plant, although
it is not of very wide distribution. The flat rosettes of leaves sometimes
measure over a foot across, and are thickly sown with the bright golden
flowers, large in proportion to the size of the plants. A flower or bud is
found in the axil of every leaf, diminishing in size toward the center, one
plant sometimes having a hundred blossoms and buds. These flowers are
peculiarly fresh and winsome, and were they not so abundant where they grow
they would doubtless be considered very beautiful.
A strange feature of the plant is its flower-stem, which is not a
flower-stem at all, but a very much prolonged calyx-tube, the seed-vessel
being just within the surface of the ground.
We wonder how these imprisoned seeds are going to escape and find lodgment
to start new colonies elsewhere. Perhaps the moles and gophers could tell
something about it if they would.
The leaves of these little plants are sometimes used for salads.
These blossoms are often erroneously called "cow-slips."
COMMON BUTTERCUP.
_Ranunculus Californicus_, Benth. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
_Stems._--Slender; branching; six to eighteen inches high.
_Radical-leaves._--Commonly pinnately ternate; the leaflets cut
into three to seven usually linear lobes. Divisions of the
stem-leaves usually narrower. _Flowers._--Five to ten lines in
diameter; shining golden yellow. _Sepals._--Green; strongly
reflexed. _Petals._--Ten to fourteen; obovate; each with a
small scale at the base. _Stamens._--Numerous. _Pistils._
Numerous; on a receptacle. Ovaries flattened. Stigmas
recurved. _Hab._--Throughout Western California into Oregon.
[Illustration SUN-CUPS--_OEnothera ovata_.]
"The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice;
And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace."
The first clear, beautiful note of a lark has been heard; skies are blue
and fields are green; little frogs are filling the air with their
music;--and the buttercups are here. The fields are full of them, and their
bright golden eyes starring the meadows, bring a gladness to the face of
nature. The children wade knee-deep in their gold, filling their hands with
treasure; and yonder, where their golden masses cover the slopes, King
Midas may have passed, transforming the earth with his magical touch.
Because some of the buttercups grow where frogs abound, Pliny bestowed the
Latin name _Ranunculus_, meaning "little frog."
The Indians, who seem to have a use for everything, parch the seeds of our
common buttercup and beat them to a flour, which they eat without the
further formality of cooking. This flour is said to have the peculiar rich
flavor of parched corn.
We have a number of other species of buttercup--some of them denizens of
marshy spots; but the common field buttercup is widest-spread and best
known.
CREAM-CUPS.
_Platystemon Californicus_, Benth. Poppy Family.
Delicate hairy herbs. _Stems._--A span or two high.
_Leaves._--Mostly opposite; sessile; two to four inches long.
_Flowers._--Axillary; long-peduncled; an inch or so across.
_Sepals._--Three; falling early. _Petals._--Six, in two rows;
cream-color, often with a yellow spot at base.
_Stamens._--Numerous. Filaments broad; petaloid.
_Pistils._--Six to twenty-five; united in a ring at first;
afterward separating. Stigmas terminal. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
[Illustration CREAM-CUPS--_Platystemon Californicus_.]
The cream-cups are delicate, hairy plants of the early springtime, which
often grow in masses and take possession of whole fields. They seem to be
more vigorous in the south, and produce larger flowers there than in the
north, often having as many as nine petals. The delicate, nodding green
buds (like miniature poppy-buds) soon throw off their outer wrappings, and,
emerging from captivity, gradually assume an erect position and unfurl
their lovely, pure, straw-colored petals to their widest extent. These
blossoms open for several successive days.
The genus takes its name from the flat filaments. The numerous slender
pistils are so cleverly joined together into a cylinder, that they appear
like a hollow, one-celled ovary. But a cross-section will show the separate
ovaries under a glass.
Some people like the odor of these flowers; but I must confess to a lack of
appreciation of it. I suspect its charm must exist in some pleasant
association.
COPA DE ORO. CALIFORNIA POPPY. TOROSA.
_Eschscholtzia Californica_, Cham. Poppy Family.
_Stems._--Twelve to eighteen inches high; branching.
_Leaves._--Alternate; finely dissected; glaucous.
_Flowers._--Two or three inches across; usually orange; but
ranging from that to white. Summit of the peduncle enlarging
into a cup-shaped torus or disk, upon the upper inner surface
of which are borne the calyx, corolla, and stamens. _Calyx._--A
pointed green cap, falling early. _Petals._--Four.
_Stamens._--Numerous, in four groups, in front of the petals.
Anthers linear. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style short. Stigmas four
to six; unequal. _Capsule._--Cylindrical; ten-nerved; two or
three inches long. _Hab._--Throughout California.
Thy satin vesture richer is than looms
Of Orient weave for raiment of her kings!
Not dyes of olden Tyre, not precious things
Regathered from the long-forgotten tombs
Of buried empires, not the iris plumes
That wave upon the tropics' myriad wings,
Not all proud Sheba's queenly offerings
Could match the golden marvel of thy blooms.
For thou art nurtured from the treasure-veins
Of this fair land; thy golden rootlets sup
Her sands of gold--of gold thy petals spun.
Her golden glory, thou! On hills and plains,
Lifting, exultant, every kingly cup
Brimmed with the golden vintage of the sun.
--INA D. COOLBRITH.
[Illustration CALIFORNIA POPPY--_Eschscholtzia Californica_.]
It is difficult to exaggerate the charms of this wonderful flower. When
reproduced in countless millions, its brilliant blossoms fairly cover the
earth; and far away upon distant mountain-slopes, bright patches of red
gold denote that league after league of it lies open to the sun. It revels
in the sunshine, and not until the morning is well advanced does it begin
to unfurl its tightly rolled petals.
In the early days, when Spanish vessels sailed up and down the
newly-discovered coast, the mariners, looking inland, saw the flame of the
poppies upon the hills and called this "the land of fire." They said that
the altar-cloth of San Pascual was spread upon the hills, and, filled with
a devotional spirit, they disembarked to worship upon the shore.
This flower is now cultivated in many parts of the world. But one can form
no conception of it, pale and languishing in a foreign garden. One must go
to its native hillsides to get any idea of its prodigal beauty.
The common title, "California poppy," though it has been widely used, is
open to the objection that it belongs more properly to another flower,
_Papaver Californicum_. The generic name is dissonant and harsh. Why not
replace it by one of the more euphonious Spanish titles--"amapola,"
"dormidera," "torosa," or, most charmingly appropriate of all, "copa de
oro,"--"cup of gold"?
There are many forms of _Eschscholtzia_, and of late the original species,
_E. Californica_, has been divided into a number of new species, which are,
however, difficult of determination.
The Indians of Placer County, it is said, boil the herbage, or roast it by
means of hot stones, lay it in water afterward, and then eat it as a green.
A drug made from this plant is used in medicine as a harmless substitute
for morphine and as a remedy for headache and insomnia, and it has an
especially excellent effect with children. The Spanish-Californians make a
hair-oil, which they prize highly, by frying the whole plant in olive oil
and adding some choice perfume. This is said to promote the growth of the
hair and to make it glossy.
MOCK-ORANGE. GOURD. CHILI-COJOTE. CALABAZILLA.
_Cucurbita foetidissima_, HBK. Gourd Family.
_Stems._--Long; coarse; trailing. _Leaves._--Alternate;
petioled; triangular-cordate; six to twelve inches long; acute;
rough. _Tendrils._--Three- to five-cleft. _Flowers._--Solitary;
yellow; three or four inches long; monoecious.
_Calyx-tube._--Six lines long, equaling the five linear lobes.
_Corolla._--Campanulate; five-cleft to the middle or lower;
with recurved lobes. _Stamens._--In the male flowers two with
two-celled anthers, and one with one; in the female all three
rudimentary. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style short. Stigmas
three; two-lobed. _Fruit._--Orange-like, but with a hard rind.
_Syn._--_C. perennis_, Gray. _Hab._--San Diego to San Joaquin
County.
The rough, ill-smelling foliage of the Chili-cojote is a common sight in
Southern California, where it may be seen trailing over many a field; but
woe to the negligent farmer who allows this pest to get a foothold--for it
will cost him a small fortune to eradicate it. It sends down into the earth
an enormous root, six feet or so long, and often as broad. When the gourds
are ripe, these vines look like the dumping-ground for numerous poor,
discarded oranges.
Notwithstanding its unsavory character, the various parts of this vine are
put to use--specially among the Spanish-Californians and the Indians. The
root is a purgative more powerful than croton-oil. When pounded to a pulp,
it is used as soap by the Spanish-Californians, who aver that it cleanses
as nothing else can; but rinsing must be very thorough--for any particles
remaining in the garments prove very irritating to the skin. The leaves are
highly valued for medicinal purposes, and the pulp of the green fruit,
mixed with soap, is said to remove stains from clothing. The Indians eat
the seed, when ground and made into a mush. The early Californian women
used the gourds as darning-balls.
This vine is a near relative of the pumpkins and squashes of our gardens.
The flowers are said to be violet-scented.
WATER-HOLLY. MAHONIA.
_Berberis nervosa_, Pursh. Barberry Family.
_Stem._--Simple; a foot or so high; bearing at summit a crown
of large leaves, mixed with many dry, chaffy, persistent
bracts. _Leaves._--One or two feet long, with from eleven to
seventeen ovate, acuminate, prickly, somewhat palmately nerved
leaflets. _Flowers._--Yellow, in elongated, clustered racemes.
Bractlets, sepals, petals, and stamens six, standing in front
of one another. Anthers two-celled; opening by uplifting
valves. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style short or none.
_Fruit._--Dark-blue, glaucous berries; four lines in diameter.
_Hab._--Deep coast woods, from Monterey to Vancouver Island.
The water-holly is one of the beautiful plants to be found in our deep
coast woods within the cool influence of the sea-fogs. The plants are very
symmetrical, with their crown of dark, shining leaves, with numerous
prickly leaflets, and in spring, when the long graceful racemes of yellow
flowers are produced in abundance, and hang amid and below the leaves, they
are very ornamental. The stems are densely clothed with numerous dry,
awl-shaped scales, an inch or more long.
Another species--_B. repens_--the creeping barberry, or Oregon grape, is a
low, prostrate shrub, less than a foot high, with from three to seven
leaflets. These leaflets are pinnately veined, and have not the beautiful,
shining upper surface of those of the water-holly, and the few racemes of
yellow flowers which terminate the branches are quite short--only an inch
or two long. This is found throughout the State and northward upon rocky
hills.
TREE-POPPY.
_Dendromecon rigidum_, Benth. Poppy Family.
Shrubs two to eight feet high. _Leaves._--One to three inches
long; leathery. _Flowers._--Solitary; yellow; one to three
inches across. _Sepals._--Two; falling early. _Petals._--Four.
_Stamens._--Many. _Ovary._--Linear; one-celled. Stigma
two-lobed. _Capsule._--Eighteen to thirty lines long.
_Hab._--Dry hills from San Diego to Butte County.
[Illustration TREE-POPPY--_Dendromecon rigidum_.]
The tree-poppy is the only truly woody plant in the poppy family. Its pale
leaves are quite rigid, and resemble those of the willow in form. The
bright golden flowers are sometimes three inches across, and one can
readily imagine the fine effect produced when many of them are open at once
upon a hillside. Though found through quite a range, this shrub attains its
most perfect development in Santa Barbara County.
YELLOW PANSY.
_Viola pedunculata_, Torr. and Gray. Violet Family.
_Stems._--Leafy; two to six inches or more high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; long-petioled; ovate; cuneate; crenate;
with lanceolate stipules. _Flowers._--Large; long-peduncled;
deep golden yellow. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Petals._--The two
upper tinged with brown outside; the three lower veined with
purple; the two lateral bearded; the lower one with a short
spur at base. _Stamens._--Five. Anthers nearly sessile; erect
around the club-shaped style. _Ovary._--One-celled.
_Hab._--Southern to Middle California.
Pansies! Pansies! How I love you, pansies!
Jaunty-faced, laughing-lipped, and dewy-eyed with glee;
Would my song might blossom out in little five-leaved stanzas
As delicate in fancies
As your beauty is to me!
But, my eyes shall smile on you and my hands infold you,
Pet, caress, and lift you to the lips that love you, so
That, shut ever in the years that may mildew or mold you,
My fancy shall behold you
Fair as in the long ago.
--JAS. WHITCOMB RILEY.
On wind-swept downs near the ocean, on the low hills of the Coast Ranges,
or upon the plains of the interior, this charming golden pansy spreads
itself in profusion in early spring. It is the darling of the children, who
on their way to school gather great handfuls of its brown-eyed blossoms.
You may often see myriads of them dancing on their long stems in the
breeze, and showing glimpses of red-brown where their purplish outer petals
are turned toward you for the moment. In the shelter of quiet woodlands,
its stems are longer and more fragile.
[Illustration YELLOW PANSY--_Viola pedunculata_.]
TWIN-BERRY.
_Lonicera involucrata_, Banks. Honeysuckle Family.
Shrubs eight to ten feet high. _Leaves.-_-Three inches long or
so. _Flowers._--A pair; at the summit of an axillary peduncle;
with a conspicuous involucre of four bracts, tinged with red or
yellow. _Calyx._--Adherent to the ovary; the limb minute or
obsolete. _Corolla._--Tubular; irregular; half an inch or more
long; viscid-pubescent; yellowish. _Stamens._--Five.
_Ovary._--Two- or three-celled. Style filiform. Stigma capitate.
_Berries._--Black-purple. _Hab._--Throughout the State;
eastward to Lake Superior.
A walk through some moist thicket, or along a stream-bank in March, will
reveal the yellow flowers of the twin-berry amid its ample, thin green
leaves. These blossoms are always borne in pairs at the summit of the stem,
and are surrounded by a leafy involucre, consisting of two pairs of round,
fluted bracts. As the berries ripen and become black, these bracts deepen
to a brilliant red and make the shrubs much more conspicuous and ornamental
than at blossoming-time.
OREGON GRAPE. HOLLY-LEAVED BARBERRY. MAHONIA.
_Berberis Aquifolium_, Pursh. Barberry Family.
Shrubs two to six feet high; branching. _Leaves._--Alternate;
pinnate. _Leaflets._--Seven to nine; glossy; ovate to
oblong-lanceolate; one and one half to four inches long;
acuminate; sinuately dentate, with numerous spinose teeth; the
lowest pair distant from the stem. _Racemes._--Eighteen lines
to two inches long; clustered near the ends of the branches.
(Otherwise as _B. nervosa_.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges and Sierras
from Monterey and Kern County northward into Oregon.
The holly-leaved barberry, or Oregon grape, is a very ornamental shrub and
one much prized in our gardens, where it is known as _Mahonia Aquifolium_.
In the spring, when yellow with its masses of flowers; or in its summer
dress of rich, shining green; or in the autumn, when its foliage is richly
touched with bronze or scarlet or yellow, amid which are the beautiful blue
berries, it is always a fine shrub. In its native haunts it affects greater
altitudes than our other species.
[Illustration TWIN-BERRY--_Lonicera involucrata_.]
Among our Californian Indians, a decoction made from the root is a
favorite tonic remedy, and it has become a recognized drug in the
pharmacopoeia of our Coast, being used as an alterative and tonic. The root
is tough and hard, of a bright golden yellow, and intensely bitter. The
bark of the root is the part that is used medicinally.
The shrub is very plentiful in the woods of Mendocino County, where it
covers considerable areas.
SUNSHINE. FLY-FLOWER.
_Baeria gracilis_, Gray. Composite Family.
Six inches or so high; branching freely. _Leaves._--Mostly
opposite; linear; entire; an inch or so long.
_Flower-heads._--Yellow; of disk and ray-flowers. _Rays._--Ten
to fourteen; three or four lines long.
_Involucre._--Campanulate; of a single series of small
lanceolate, herbaceous scales. _Hab._--From San Francisco
southward.
Considered singly, the blossom of this plant is a simple, unassuming little
flower; but when countless millions of its golden stars stud the nether
firmament, it becomes one of the most conspicuous of all our _Compositae_.
It literally covers the earth with a close carpet of rich golden bloom, and
other plants, such as scarlet paint-brushes, blue Phacelias, and yellow and
white tidy-tips, rise out of its golden tapestry. Mile after mile of it
whirls by the car-window as we journey along, or long stretches of it gild
the gently rounded hill-slopes of the distant landscape.
There are several other species of _Baeria_, but this is the most abundant
and widespread. In some localities this little plant is so much frequented
by a small fly, which feeds upon its pollen, that it is called
"fly-flower." It then becomes a serious nuisance to horses and cattle,
which grow wild and restive under the persecution of this insect.
In the Spanish deck of playing-cards in the early days, the "Jack of
Spades" always held one of these flowers in his hand. By the
Spanish-Californians it was called "Si me quieres, no me quieres"--"Love
me, love me not,"--because their dark-eyed maidens tried their fortunes
upon it in the same manner that our own maidens consult the marguerite.
[Illustration PENTACHAETA--_Pentachaeta aurea_.]
[Illustration SUNSHINE--_Baeria gracilis_.]
Growing in brilliant beds by themselves, or intermingling their gold with
that of the _Baeria_, the charming feathery blossoms of _Pentachaeta
aurea_, Nutt., are found in midspring. They have from fifty to seventy
rays and their involucres consist of several rows of scarious-margined
bracts.
MEADOW-FOAM.
_Floerkia Douglasii_, Baillon. Geranium Family.
Smooth, succulent herbs. _Stems._--A foot or so long.
_Leaves._--Much dissected. _Flowers._--Axillary; solitary.
_Sepals._--Narrow; acute. _Petals._--Nine lines long or so;
yellow, sometimes tipped with white, white, or rose-tinged.
_Stamens._--Ten, in two sets; a gland at the base of those
opposite the sepals. _Ovary._--Of five carpels, becoming
distinct. Style five-cleft at the apex. _Syn._--_Limnanthes
Douglasii_, R. Br. _Hab._--Oregon to Southern California.
When the spring is well advanced, our wet meadows are all a-cream with the
meadow-foam, whose dense masses blend exquisitely with the rich red of the
common sorrel, which is in blossom at the same time.
This plant is a near relative of the redwood-sorrel, and its flowers are
similar in size and veining, and also in their habit of closing at night.
It is much admired and has long been in cultivation.
PIMPERNEL. POOR-MAN'S WEATHER-GLASS.
_Anagallis arvensis_, L. Primrose Family.