inches long; linear or oblong-lanceolate; sessile.
_Flowers._--Salmon-color; crowded at the summit of the stem.
_Calyx._--With obconic tube and broad, obtuse lobes.
_Corolla._--Narrowly funnel-form, with tube an inch long, and
five-lobed border almost as broad. (See _Gilia_.)
_Hab._--Widely distributed.
This plant was formerly placed in the genus _Collomia_; but that genus was
not well founded, and all its species have now been transferred to _Gilia_.
From the resemblance of its showy buff or salmon-colored flowers to the
_Bouvardias_ of our gardens, these plants are popularly known as "wild
Bouvardia." The blossoms are found in early summer, and grow usually in dry
places, exposed to the sun.
[Illustration SULPHUR-FLOWER--_Eriogonum umbellatum_.]
LITTLE ALPINE LILY.
_Lilium parvum_, Kell. Lily Family.
_Bulbs._--Small; of short, thick, jointed scales.
_Stem._--Slender; eighteen inches to six feet high.
_Leaves._--Scattered, or in whorls; two to five inches long; an
inch or less broad; rich green. _Flowers._--Orange-vermilion,
dotted with purple; two to fifty; scattered or somewhat
whorled. _Capsule._--Sub-spherical; six to nine lines long.
_Hab._--The High Sierras, from Yosemite Valley to Lake Tahoe.
Passing from the parched and dusty plains of our central valleys in July
and August, we are transported as though upon the magic tapestry of Prince
Houssain into a heavenly region of springtime, where the streams, fed by
the snow lying in shadowy mountain fastnesses, gush through plushy emerald
meadows, starred with millions of daisies and bordered by luxuriant tangles
of larkspurs, columbines, monk's-hoods, lupines, and a thousand other
charming plants--a veritable flower-lover's paradise.
Here from the thickets, standing with their roots in the rich, loamy soil
of the brookside, gleam the small orange blossoms of the little alpine
lily--little only in flower, for the slender stems often rise to a height
of six feet, producing several whorls of rich green leaves. These lilies
are but an inch or an inch a half long, with their perianth-segments yellow
or orange below and deeper orange-vermilion above, their tips only being
rolled backward.
GOLDEN YARROW.
_Eriophyllum confertiflorum_, Gray. Composite Family.
White-woolly plants, at length smooth. _Stems._--A foot or two
high. _Leaves._--Cuneate in outline; divided into three to
seven narrow linear divisions. _Flowers._--Golden yellow; in
densely crowded flat-topped clusters. _Heads._--Small; of
disk- and ray-flowers. _Rays._--Four or five; broadly oval or
roundish. _Involucre._--Oval; of about five thin bracts; two
lines long. _Hab._--From San Francisco to the Sierras, and
southward to San Diego.
[Illustration LITTLE ALPINE LILY--_Lilium parvum_.]
In early summer many a dry, rocky hill-slope is ablaze with the brilliant
flowers of the golden yarrow. The brown-mottled butterfly may often be
seen hovering over it, or delicately poising upon its golden table, fanning
his wings.
_E. caespitosum_, Dougl., is a very handsome species with solitary golden
flower-heads an inch or so across. Its leaves are broader and not so finely
divided, and some of the upper ones are linear and entire. This is found
throughout California.
TARWEED. WILD COREOPSIS.
_Madia elegans_, Don. Composite Family.
Usually viscid throughout. _Stems._--Three to six feet high.
_Leaves._--Crowded at the base of the stem; six to ten inches
long; small above. _Flower-heads._--Of both ray- and
disk-flowers. _Rays._--Twelve to fifteen; one inch long;
three-lobed at the apex; yellow, sometimes with a dark-red
base. _Involucre._--With one series of scales, each clasping a
ray. _Hab._--Throughout California, and in Oregon and Nevada.
This is one of the most beautiful of all our tarweeds. Its golden,
Coreopsis-like flowers open after sunset, and close at the first warmth of
the morning rays.
All the _Madias_ are used medicinally by old Spanish settlers.
_Madia sativa_, Molina, is one of our most troublesome species, because its
viscid secretion is so very abundant. The plants are tall, but the flowers
are inconspicuous, owing to the smallness or absence of the rays. It is
native of Chile as well as of California.
An oil of excellent quality was made from its seeds in that country before
the olive was so abundant.
LEOPARD-LILY. TIGER-LILY.
_Lilium pardalinum_, Kell. Lily Family.
Bulbs consisting of forking rhizomes, covered with small, erect
imbricated scales; often forming matted masses. _Stems._--Three
to ten feet high. _Leaves._--Usually whorled, with some
scattered above and below; lanceolate; three to seven inches
long. _Flowers._--Few to many; long-pediceled. _Perianth
segments._--Six; two or three inches long; six to nine lines
wide; strongly revolute; with orange base and reddish or
scarlet tips; spotted or dotted with purple on the lower half.
_Stamens._--Six. Anthers versatile. _Ovary._--Three-celled.
Style club-shaped. Stigma capitate. _Capsule._--Eighteen lines
or more long.
[Illustration TARWEED--_Madia elegans_.]
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Santa Barbara County
to British Columbia, and eastward.
No more magnificent sight could be imagined than a cañon-side covered with
a mass of these red and gold blossoms nodding on their tall stems. The
plants often grow in clumps and colonies of several hundred, and are always
found in the rich soil of stream-banks or of wet, springy places. Most of
us have been familiar with these spotted beauties from our childhood, with
their delicately swinging anthers full of cinnamon-colored pollen.
A friend writing us from near Mt. Shasta, one July, said: "I wish you could
have seen the _grove_ of tiger-lilies we saw near the place where we rested
and lunched. They sprang from a velvet bed of mosses and ferns, under the
shadow of a great rock, that towered at least a hundred feet above them.
Out of the rock sprang two streams of living water, ice-cold, which crossed
the trail and dashed over a rock below. Upon one plant we counted
twenty-five buds and blossoms, while a friend counted thirty-two upon
another."
Under extraordinarily favorable conditions, this lily has been known to
reach a height of ten feet.
YELLOW POND-LILY.
_Nuphar polysepalum_, Engelm. Water-Lily Family.
_Leaves._--Six to twelve inches long; three fourths as wide;
obtuse; deeply cleft at base; floating or erect.
_Flowers._--Floating; three to five inches across.
_Sepals._--Eight to twelve; petaloid; bright yellow, sometimes
greenish without. _Petals._--Twelve to eighteen; small; about
equaling the stamens, and resembling them.
_Stamens._--Numerous; red; recurved in age; pollen yellow.
_Ovary._--Large; eight- to twenty-celled. Stigma button-shaped;
many-rayed; four lines to an inch across. _Hab._--From Colorado
to Central California, and northward to Alaska.
Most of us are familiar with the yellow water-lily, and have seen its
pretty shield-shaped leaves floating upon the surface of some glassy pond,
starred with its large, golden flowers. The latter are sometimes five
inches across and quite showy. Sometimes entire marshes are covered with
the plants. The large seeds are very nutritious, and form an important
article of diet among the northern Indians.
HUMBOLDT'S LILY. TIGER-LILY.
_Lilium Humboldtii_, Roezl and Leichtlin. Lily Family.
_Bulbs._--Large; often weighing over a pound; with scales two
or three inches long. _Stems._--Stout; purplish; three or four
feet high; eight- or ten-flowered, or more.
_Leaves._--Wavy-margined; roughish; _Flowers._--Large; six to
eight inches in diameter; golden yellow; spotted with pale
purple, turning to red or brown. _Segments._--Having papillose
prominences near the base. (Otherwise like _L. pardalinum_.)
_Hab._--The foothills of the Sierras; southward to San Diego.
This wonderful lily, at first glance, resembles the common leopard- or
tiger-lily--_L. pardalinum_--and it is found sometimes in the same regions
as the latter, but never in the same kind of localities. It affects the
loose soil of dry, upland woods, but never grows in wet or boggy places.
Its flowers are larger than those of _L. pardalinum_, and have more of a
golden hue and less of red in them.
By July this lily is in full bloom and a magnificent sight. A plant was
once known which had fifty buds and blossoms, thirty of which were open at
once!
COMMON SUNFLOWER.
_Helianthus annuus_, L. Composite Family.
Hispid, coarse plants. _Stems._--Several feet high.
_Leaves._--Mostly alternate; petioled; deltoid-ovate to
ovate-lanceolate; acuminate; three to seven inches long;
three-ribbed at base. _Flower-heads._--Large; three or four
inches across, including the rays; solitary; composed of yellow
ray-flowers and purple-brown, tubular disk-flowers.
_Involucre._--Of several series of imbricated, ovate, acuminate
scales. _Disk._--An inch or so across. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
The stately form of the sunflower is a common sight in the south, where
whole fields are often covered with the plants. Their season of blossoming
is supposed to be in the autumn, but we have seen them blooming just as
gayly in March. This wild sunflower of the plains is believed to be the
original parent of the large sunflower of our gardens.
Its seeds are used by the Indians as food and in the preparation of
hair-oil.
Popular tradition makes this blossom a worshiper of the sun, and it is
believed to follow him with admiring glances.
"The lofty follower of the sun,
Sad when he sets, shuts up her hollow leaves,
Drooping all night, and when he warm returns,
Points her enamored bosom to his ray."
Another species--_H. Californicus_, DC.--found from San Francisco Bay
southward, along streams, has something the same habit as the above, but
may be known from it by its slender, smooth stems, leafy to the top, the
long, sprawling, awl-shaped bracts of its involucre, and its more delicate
flowers, about two and a half inches across. The disk-corollas are slightly
pubescent below. This species has a rather strong balsamic odor.
PINE-DROPS.
_Pterospora andromedea_, Nutt. Heath Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high. _Bracts._--Crowded at base;
scattered above. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Three lines
long; yellowish. _Stamens._--Ten. Anthers tailed; opening
lengthwise. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style short. Stigma
five-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout California, and across the
continent.
In our walks in the mountains, we occasionally encounter the flesh-colored
wands of this curious plant. The colorless leaves are reduced to mere
bracts, and the stems are densely clothed above with the little yellowish
waxen bells. The whole plant is very viscid and disagreeable to handle.
Though rare, it is found all across the continent. In the East it grows
only under pine-trees, upon whose roots it is supposed to be parasitic,
while in California it is said to be found under both oaks and pines.
There is but a single species in this genus. The seed is furnished with a
broad membranous wing, which has given rise to the name _Pterospora_,
derived from two Greek words, meaning _wing_ and _seed_.
[Illustration PINE-DROPS--_Pterospora andromedea_.]
TARWEED.
_Hemizonia luzulaefolia_, DC. Composite Family.
Glandular, strong-scented plants. _Stems._--Loosely branching;
slender; six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Linear; very
small above; elongated and withering early below.
_Flower-heads._--White or light yellow; composed of ray- and
disk-flowers. _Rays._--Six to ten; two to five lines long;
three-lobed. _Scales._--of the involucre each clasping a ray.
_Hab._--Common throughout the western part of the State.
Under the common designation of "tarweed," plants belonging to two
different genera--_Madia_ and _Hemizonia_--and comprising thirty or forty
species, may be found. They are mostly annuals or biennials, with viscid,
heavily scented foliage, which make themselves conspicuous in late summer
and through the autumn. The _Hemizonias_ are distinctively Californian;
while the _Madias_ we have in common with Chile. Their viscid exudation is
particularly ruinous to wool and clothing, but alcohol is a solvent for it,
and will generally remove it.
We wonder how these plants, which flourish in our driest seasons, can
extract so much moisture from the parched earth, and of what practical use
this resinous secretion can be in their economy. Though some of them are
described as having a disagreeable odor, many of them have a very pleasant
balsamic fragrance, which gives our summer and autumn atmosphere a peculiar
character of its own. Whole fields and hillsides are tinged with their warm
olive foliage, or are yellow with their golden flowers, which appear like a
fall revival of the buttercups. The flowers open mostly at night or in
early morning, closing in bright sunshine.
_Hemizonia luzulaefolia_ is a common species, whose flowers are redolent of
the odor of myrrh.
[Illustration TARWEED--_Hemizonia luzulaefolia_.]
CALIFORNIAN GOLDENROD.
_Solidago Californica_, Nutt. Composite Family.
_Stem._--Rather stout; low or tall. _Leaves._--Oblong, or the upper
oblong-lanceolate, and the lower obovate. _Flowers._--In a dense, pyramidal
panicle, four to twelve inches long, with mostly erect racemose branches.
_Heads._--Three or four lines long; yellow. _Rays._--Small; seven to
twelve; about as many as the disk-flowers. _Hab._--Throughout California,
to Nevada and Mexico.
Our State is not so rich in goldenrods as New England, yet we have several
rather pretty species. _Solidago Californica_ is found upon dry hills, and
blooms from July to October. It is said to thrive well under cultivation.
It differs from the "Western goldenrod" in having its flowers in a
pyramidal cluster.
MOTH-MULLEIN.
_Verbascum Blattaria_, L. Figwort Family.
_Stem._--Tall and slender. _Leaves._--Alternate; oblong; crenate-toothed;
nearly smooth; the upper ovate, acute, clasping. _Flowers._--Yellow or
white; purple-tinged; an inch or so across; in a terminal raceme; the
pedicels much exceeding the calyx-lobes. _Calyx._--Five-parted.
_Corolla._--Wheel-shaped, with five rounded, somewhat unequal lobes.
_Stamens._--Five. Filaments violet-bearded. Anthers confluently one-celled.
Pollen orange-colored, copious. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style slender.
_Hab._--The Upper Sacramento Valley, etc.; naturalized from Europe.
The mulleins are natives of Europe, which have found their way across the
water to us. Two or three species are now common in some localities. The
moth-mullein is so called because its blossoms have the appearance of a
number of delicate moths resting upon the stem. This is a tall, green
plant.
Another species--_V. Thapsus_, L.--is also quite common. In the Sacramento
Valley its tall, woolly tapers may be seen leaning in every direction,
giving the fields a disorderly appearance. This plant abounds throughout
Europe and Asia, and was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who
made lampwicks of its dried leaves and utilized its stalks, dipped in
tallow, for funeral torches. In medieval Europe it was called "hag-taper,"
because it was employed by witches in their incantations. In Europe at the
present time it is known as the "American velvet-plant," because of a
mistaken idea that it is a native of this country.
WESTERN GOLDENROD.
_Solidago occidentalis_, Nutt. Composite Family.
Smooth throughout. _Stems._--Paniculately branched; two to six
feet high. _Leaves._--Linear; entire; obscurely three-nerved;
two to four inches long; one to three lines wide.
_Flower-heads._--In numerous small, flat clusters, terminating
the slender branchlets; three lines long; yellow.
_Rays._--Sixteen to twenty not surpassing the eight to fourteen
disk-flowers. _Involucre._--Of imbricated scales; the outer
successively shorter. _Hab._--Near the Coast, from Southern
California to British America.
The Western goldenrod, with its slender, willowy stems and small
flower-clusters, may be found in wet places in late summer and early
autumn. Its blossoms are acacia-scented.
CREOSOTE-BUSH. GOBERNADORA. HIDEONDO.
_Larrea Mexicana_, Moricand. Creosote-Bush Family.
Ill-smelling, resinous shrubs, four to ten feet high; diffusely
branched. _Leaves._--Opposite; with two unequal leaflets.
_Leaflets._--Three to six lines long; pointed; sessile.
_Flowers._--Solitary; yellow. _Sepals._--Five; silky;
deciduous. _Petals._--Five; three or four lines long.
_Stamens._--Ten; on a small ten-lobed disk. Filaments winged
below. _Ovary._--Five-celled; Style slender. _Hab._--Inland
deserts of the southern part of the State.
The most plentiful shrub growing in our southern desert regions is the
creosote-bush, so called because its sticky leaves burn with a black smoke
and a rank odor, between creosote and carbolic acid.
These shrubs often cover vast tracts of arid soil, and in places are the
only growth to be seen. The evergreen foliage is of a warm olive tone, and
is borne at the ends of many slender, grayish branches. The small,
stemless, opposite leaves, each divided almost to its base into two
leaflets, spread butterfly-like upon the slender branchlets. The leaf-nodes
are swollen into small, warty prominences, which are especially resinous.
In many localities, especially in Arizona, the branches of this shrub are
thickly incrusted with a certain gummy substance, which careful examination
has proved to be almost identical with the East Indian shellac of commerce.
This is caused by an insect of the genus _Coccus_, who stings the young
twigs, at the same time laying its eggs in them, causing them to exude the
gum. Could this gum be collected in sufficient quantities, it would
doubtless prove a valuable article of commerce, probably not inferior to
the East Indian lac. Dr. Edwd. Palmer writes that it is extensively used by
our Indians as a cement with which to fasten their flint arrowheads to the
shafts, to mend broken pottery, and to make water-tight their baskets,
woven of grass and roots. The plant yields a greenish-yellow dye, with
which they paint their persons and color their fabrics; but garments so
dyed are said to emit a disagreeable odor always upon being heated.
A lotion made by steeping the branches in water is said to be an excellent
remedy for sores; while the leaves dried and reduced to powder are
effectively used for the same purpose. Some of our pharmacists say that the
plant is a valuable remedy for rheumatism.
By the Spanish-Californians this shrub is known as "gobernadora" and
"hideondo"; and by the American settlers of the desert it is known by
several uncomplimentary names, among them the meaningless one of
"greasewood."
It blossoms in early summer.
III. PINK
[_Pink or occasionally or partially pink flowers not described in the Pink
Section._
_Described in the White Section_:--
ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM--Yarrow.
CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS--Mariposa Tulip.
CHIMAPHILA MENZIESII--Prince's Pine.
CONVOLVULUS LUTEOLUS--Wild Morning-glory.
GAULTHERIA SHALLON--Salal.
LATHYRUS TORREYI.
LATHYRUS VESTITUS--Common Wild Pea.
LAYIA GLANDULOSUM--White Daisy.
LILIUM RUBESCENS--Ruby Lily.
MALACOTHRIX SAXATILIS.
MESEMBRYANTHEMUM CRYSTALLINUM--Ice-Plant.
OENOTHERA CALIFORNICA--White Evening Primrose.
ORTHOCARPUS VERSICOLOR--White Owl's Clover.
PYROLA APHYLLA.
RHODODENDRON OCCIDENTALE--Californian Azalea.
RUBUS SPECTABILIS--Salmon-Berry.
SPIRAEA BETULIFOLIA--Pink Spiraea.
SPIRAEA DOUGLASII--Californian Hardhack.
SPRAGUEA UMBELLATA--Pussy's-Paws.
_Described in the Yellow Section_:--
HOSACKIA GRACILIS.
_Described in the Blue and Purple Section_:--
CALOCHORTUS SPLENDENS--Mariposa Tulip.
CALOCHORTUS UNIFLORUS.
TRILLIUM SESSILE--Californian Trillium.
_Described in the Red Section_:--
GILIA AGGREGATA--Scarlet Gilia.
_Described in the Miscellaneous Section_:--
CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--Californian Lady's Slipper.
GOMPHOCARPUS TOMENTOSUS--Hornless Woolly Milkweed.
RUMEX HYMENOSEPALUS--Wild Pie-Plant; Canaigre.]
RED-STEMMED FILAREE. ALFILERILLA. CLOCKS. PIN-CLOVER.
_Erodium cicutarium_, L'Her. Geranium Family.
_Leaves._--Chiefly radical in a depressed rosette; six to ten
inches long; dissected into narrow toothed lobes. Stem-leaves
smaller. _Flowers._--Pink; four to eight in an umbel; parts in
fives. _Petals._--Four lines long. _Stamens._--Five perfect,
with flattened filaments; five reduced to mere scales.
_Carpels_ and styles one or two inches long; separating upward
from a central axis into twisted, bearded tails.
_Hab._--Throughout the State.
The name "alfilerilla" is Spanish, coming from _alfiler_, a needle, and
refers to the long, slender beak of the carpels. By corruption it has
become "filaree."
This plant is found in abundance everywhere, and is one of our most
valuable forage-plants. It varies greatly in size, and becomes very rank in
growth where the soil is rich. Ordinarily, it makes its appearance soon
after the beginning of the rainy season, as a rosette of leaves lying upon
the ground, and later it sends up its reddish stems. Its seed-vessels look
like a group of fantastic, long-billed storks, and the long beaks of the
carpels, as they separate from the central axis, begin to curl about any
convenient object. They are thus widely disseminated in the hair of animals
and the clothing of people. Children call them "clocks," and love to stand
the seed up in their clothing and watch the beaks wind slowly about, like
the hands of a timepiece.
We have several other species of _Erodium_. _E. moschatum_, L' Her., is a
coarser plant whose foliage has a musky fragrance, especially when wilted.
It is also a valuable forage-plant and is commonly known as "musky filaree"
or "green-stemmed filaree."
_E. Botrys_, Bertoloni, is a very abundant plant. Its flowers are larger,
six lines across, and are pink, strongly veined with wine-color. The beaks
of its carpels are sometimes four inches long.
[Illustration RED-STEMMED FILAREE--_Erodium cicutarium_.]
REDWOOD-SORREL.
_Oxalis Oregana_, Nutt. Geranium Family.
Herbs with sour juice. _Leaves._--With three leaflets; petioles
two to even twelve inches long. Leaflets one or two inches
broad; usually light-blotched. _Scapes._--One to six inches
long; one-flowered. _Sepals._--Five. _Petals._--Five; nine to
twelve lines long; white or rose-colored, often veined with
darker color; usually having an orange spot at base.
_Stamens._--Ten. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Styles five.
_Hab._--Coast woods, from Santa Cruz to Washington.
In deep woods, "where no stir nor call the sacred hush profanes," the
beautiful leaves and delicate flowers of the redwood-sorrel cover the
ground with an exquisite tapestry, which catches the shimmer of the
sunlight as it sifts down through the tall trees. If the goddess Nanna in
passing left the print of her pretty fingers upon the clover, perhaps some
wood-nymph may have touched the leaves of this charming plant. Each day as
twilight deepens, the leaflets fold gently together and prepare to sleep.
The small yellow oxalis--_O. corniculata_, L.--becomes a troublesome weed
in our lawns.
ROCK-CRESS.
_Arabis blepharophylla_, Hook. and Arn. Mustard Family.
_Stems._--Four to twelve inches high.
_Radical-leaves._--Broadly spatulate; one or two inches long.
_Cauline-leaves._--Oblong; sessile. _All._--Ciliate.
_Flowers._--Purplish-pink. _Sepals._--Four; generally colored.
_Petals._--Four; six to nine lines long; clawed.
_Stamens._--Six; two shorter. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Stigma
button-shaped. _Pod._--Linear; an inch or more long; flattened.
_Hab._--The Coast, from San Francisco to Monterey.