from the same root; a foot or so high. _Leaves._--Three at the
top of the stem; three to eight inches long. _Flowers._--White
to deep wine-color. _Petals._--One to four inches long.
(Otherwise as _T. ovatum_.) _Hab._--From San Luis Obispo to
Oregon.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN TRILLIUM--_Trillium sessile, var. Californicum_.]
We begin to look for the Californian _Trillium_ early in the spring. Little
companies of the plants may be seen upon low flats under the trees, where
the soil is rich. The small, turnip-like tubers usually send up several
stems, which lean gracefully away from one another. The large leaves are
often like pieces of decorated china that have been several times through
the kiln. They have various superimposed blotchings, the latest of which
are dark, sharp, cuneiform characters, mysterious hieroglyphs of Nature,
which might reveal wondrous secrets, could we but decipher them. The
blossoms have a strong, heavy fragrance, and are exceedingly variable in
color, ranging from pure white to lilac, deep wine, and even black-purple.
These plants are much admired in the East and in Europe, where they are
cultivated in the garden.
BRODIAEA. CLUSTER-LILY. WILD HYACINTH.
_Brodiaea capitata_, Benth. Lily Family.
_Corm._--Small; scaly-coated. _Leaves._--Linear; a foot or more
long; passing away early. _Scapes._--Four inches to over two
feet high. _Flowers._--Deep violet to white; six to ten lines
long. _Bracts._--Sometimes deep, rich purple. _Perianth._--With
oblong tube and campanulate, six-parted limb. _Stamens._--Six;
on the corolla; the inner with an appendage on each side; the
outer naked. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style stout. Stigma
three-lobed. _Hab_.--Throughout California.
This beautiful _Brodiaea_ grows all over the hills in early spring, and
steals into cultivated fields, where it luxuriates in the freshly stirred
soil and lifts its fine violet-colored clusters above the waving grain. It
holds quite as warm a place in our affections as the more gorgeous poppy.
These blossoms will keep a long time after being gathered, and are used
every year in lavish profusion in the decorations of the flower carnivals.
The little bulbs, eaten raw, are quite palatable, and are eagerly sought by
the children, who call them "grass-nuts." The early Spanish-Californians
also appreciated them, and knew them as "saitas." They have a number of
other common names, such as "Spanish-lily," "cluster-lily," "wild
hyacinth," and "hog-onion"; but I must protest against the injustice of
this latter, and beg all flower-lovers to discountenance it.
[Illustration BRODIAEA--_Brodiaea capitata_.]
Closely resembling the above, is _B. multiflora_, Benth. It has, however,
but three stamens, the other three being represented by staminodia, which
are entire and of the same length as the stamens.
_B. congesta_, Smith, another similar species, is often four feet tall. It
also has three stamens and three staminodia; but the latter are deeply
cleft and exceed the anthers. This is called "ookow" by the Indians.
BROWN LILY. MISSION-BELLS. BRONZE-BELLS. RICE-ROOT.
_Fritillaria lanceolata_, Pursh. Lily Family.
_Stem._--A foot or two high. _Leaves._--In scattered whorls;
lanceolate; two to five inches long. _Flowers._--One to
several; open campanulate; greenish or black-purple; variously
checkered or mottled. _Perianth-segments._--Strongly arched,
with a large oblong nectary. _Stamens._--Six.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. _Hab_.--The Coast Ranges, from British
Columbia to Santa Cruz.
"'Neath cloistered boughs each floral bell that swingeth
* * * * *
Makes Sabbath in the fields, and ever ringeth
A call to prayer."
One of the oddest and most beautiful flowers of our rich woodlands is the
brown lily, or _Fritillaria_. It is unrivaled in elegance, for every line
of its contour is a study in grace. Nor do its charms cease with stem and
leaf and flower; for, hidden away in the rich leaf-mold, is one of its most
beautiful features, its bulb. This is pure, shining white, conical in form,
and surrounded by many tiny bulblets, like grains of rice, which crumble
away from it at a touch. If you go into the woods in early spring, you will
often see certain handsome, broad, shining, solitary leaves, close to the
ground, and you will wonder what they are. Often near them there are many
tiny leaves of the same sort pushing their way aboveground; and sometimes
among them all there is a solitary strong scape, with unfolding leaves and
a promise of flowers. This is a colony of the beautiful brown lilies. The
tiny leaves are the product of the little rice-grains, and are probably now
seeing the light for the first time. Between these and the large leaves
the breadth of the hand, are many sizes, in all stages. The broad leaves
may be from bulbs four or five years old, but they will send up no
blossom-stalk this year; for there is rarely or never a radical-leaf and a
blossom-stalk from the same bulb at once.
[Illustration BROWN LILY--_Fritillaria lanceolata_.]
When the plant is about to flower, the bulb sends up a tall stalk, with
here and there a whorl of shining leaves, hanging at the summit its string
of pendent bronze-bells. These are mottled and checkered, and are of
varying shades, from dull green to black-purple, and often have a beautiful
bloom upon them. Their modest colors blend so nicely into the shadowy scene
about, that it is difficult to see them unless the eye is somewhat
practiced.
Following the inflorescence comes a beautiful and unique seed-vessel,
curiously winged and angled, and of a delicate, papery texture when mature.
It contains the thin, flat seeds, neatly packed in six ranks.
The flowers are usually an inch long, though they are sometimes two inches
long. A plant was once found three and a half feet high, with a chime of
nineteen bells.
BLACK LILY. CHOCOLATE-LILY.
_Fritillaria biflora_, Lindl. Lily Family.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges, from San Diego to Mendocino County.
We have a number of species of _Fritillaria_, most of them with beautiful
flowers. They fall naturally into two groups, according to the character of
the bulb; _F. lanceolata_ and _F. biflora_ being types of the two groups.
_F. biflora_, the black, or chocolate, lily, is the species common in the
south, and blooms early. It closely resembles _F. lanceolata_, but can
always be distinguished by its bulb, which is composed of several erect,
short, easily separable scales. Its specific name is an unfortunate one;
for, far from being confined to two flowers, it often has as many as ten.
_F. pluriflora_, Torr., found upon the upper Sacramento, has flowers of a
uniform reddish-purple, without mottling or spots. It has a comparatively
large bulb, an inch or so long, formed of separate scales.
_F. pudica_, Spreng., found on the eastern slopes of the Sierras, has
solitary yellow flowers.
_F. liliacea_, Lindl., is our only white species. This is found upon the
hills of San Francisco and in the Sacramento Valley. It has a whorl of
leaves near the ground and two or three greenish-white, nodding flowers. It
is exceedingly local.
LARGE-FLOWERED PHACELIA.
_Phacelia grandiflora_, Gray. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Coarse, glandular-viscid plants; one to three feet high.
_Leaves._--Round-ovate; irregularly toothed; sometimes three or
four inches long. _Flowers._--Lavender to white; variously
streaked and veined with purple. _Corolla._--Rotate; two inches
across; without scalelike appendages in the throat.
_Filaments._--Long; purple. Anthers large; versatile. Style
two-cleft. (See _Phacelia_.) _Hab._--From Santa Barbara to San
Diego.
This is the largest-flowered of all our _Phacelias_. Its tall stems are
abundantly covered above with the fine-looking blossoms. These are very
attractive to the uninitiated, who usually rushes forward in breathless
haste to possess himself of these new-found treasures and is rarely
satisfied with less than a large bunch of them. But woe lies in wait for
him. The innumerable glands, covering the whole plant, readily yield up
their viscid fluid, which in a few moments turns everything with which it
comes in contact to a deep red-brown, like iron-rust. If he escape with
ruined clothing, and hands the color of a red Indian, he will have come off
well--for the plant poisons some people.
Another species--_P. viscida_, Torr.--found in about the same range as the
above, resembles it closely. It is a foot or so high, branching from the
base, and has blue flowers, with purple or white centers, and only half the
size of the above.
VIOLET NIGHTSHADE.
_Solanum Xanti_, Gray. Nightshade Family.
Herbaceous nearly to the base; viscid-pubescent, with jointed
hairs. _Stems._--Several feet high. _Leaves._--Two inches or
less long; sometimes with lobes at the base; thin.
_Flowers._--An inch or so across. _Calyx._--Five-parted.
_Corolla._--Violet, with green spots ringed with white at the
base. _Stamens._--Five. Filaments short. Anthers erect; opening
terminally. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style filiform; exserted.
_Berries._--Purple; six lines in diameter. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
These plants are especially abundant in the south, where one encounters
them upon every roadside. The clusters of violet flowers are very handsome,
and often have the perfume of the wild rose.
Another species--_S. umbelliferum_, Esch.--is so nearly like the above as
to be often confounded with it. But it has smaller, thicker leaves, the
hairs are branched, and it is more woody below, with shorter flowering
branches.
We once saw, in an ideal Japanese villa among the redwoods, a rustic arbor
over which had been trained the rough, woody stems of one of these
nightshades. The genius of these wise little people, who had adapted this
pretty woodland climber to sylvan cultivation, seemed to us worthy of
emulation.
GREEN-BANDED MARIPOSA. NOONA.
_Calochortus macrocarpus_, Dougl. Lily Family
Nature has sent this, one of the finest and most elegant of all our
_Mariposas_, to beautify the arid sagebrush deserts of our northeastern
boundary. In Europe it is admired beyond all our other species, and there
is a great demand for the bulbs. Its large flowers are of a beautiful
lilac, similar in tone to the Marie Louise violet, and each pointed petal
has a green band running down its center.
[Illustration VIOLET NIGHTSHADE--_Solanum Xanti_.]
Among the Indians of their native region the rather large bulbs of these
plants are known as "noonas," and regarded as a priceless delicacy. Even
those who have never experienced the bliss of tasting them know them by
reputation as the acme of all that is delicious. When Mr. Johnson, of
Astoria, wished to secure a number of the bulbs for the European market, he
hired the squaws to dig them, but found that they ate them as fast as they
dug them; and it was only by offering them most liberal stores of bacon and
flour he could induce them to restrain their appetites and part with the
treasure.
SKULLCAP.
_Scutellaria tuberosa_, Benth. Mint Family.
_Stems._--Several inches high, or at length trailing, and a
foot long; from small tubers. _Leaves._--One inch long and
less; not aromatic. _Flowers._--Axillary; blue-purple.
_Calyx._--Bilabiate. _Corolla._--Six lines or more long;
tubular; bilabiate. _Stamens._--Four; in pairs; ascending;
contained in the helmet. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets.
Style filiform. _Hab._--Hillsides, from San Diego northward;
probably throughout the State.
The bright-green herbage and the rich purple-blue flowers of the little
skullcap may be looked for early in February. In the north they grow upon
dry, stony hill-slopes under the chaparral, while southward they often
affect the walls of cañons, among moist, luxuriant vegetation.
Though borne in the axils of the opposite leaves, the pretty blossoms, by a
twist of their pedicels, stand side by side in pairs, in a very sociable
way. The curious little two-lipped calyx resembles an old-fashioned Quaker
bonnet.
Another species--_S. angustifolia_, Pursh.--has linear to oblong leaves, an
inch long; flowers an inch or more long, the lower lobe of whose corolla is
hairy within, and the root is not tuberous. It is otherwise like the above.
_S. Californica_, Gray, is very similar to the last species, but has
cream-white flowers. This is found in early summer upon dry banks.
[Illustration SKULLCAP--_Scutellaria tuberosa_.]
CORAL-ROOT.
_Corallorhiza Bigelovii_, Wats. Orchis Family.
Leafless plants, with coral-like roots.
_Scapes._--Flesh-colored; six to twenty-four inches high, with
two to four scarious, sheathing bracts. _Flowers._--Few to
many; sessile. _Perianth._--Of six segments. The five upper
yellowish, striped with purple. The lip yellowish, tipped with
deep red-purple. _Anther._--One; resting upon the column like a
lid; falling early. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Central and
northern Coast Ranges and Sierras.
The coral-root is very rare in some localities, and one may not meet it
more than a few times. But there are favored spots where its flesh-colored
stems rear themselves luxuriantly. One year I saw a magnificent bunch of
them in the hands of some friends who were taking them to San Francisco to
furnish a rare and costly decoration for some festive occasion. Some of the
stems were two feet tall and thickly covered above with the odd flowers,
making a cluster which it would be difficult to equal for quiet elegance of
coloring.
The plants are often found in redwood groves or upon wooded hill-slopes of
north exposure, where the dull stems and flowers blend so nicely into the
dead needles and leaves upon the ground that it is difficult to detect
their presence.
As its name indicates, the root is the counterpart of a spray of branching
coral.
Another species--_C. multiflora_, Nutt.--has stems of a colder purple; and
the lip of the flower is white, spotted with purple, somewhat fan-shaped
and three-lobed.
[Illustration CORAL-ROOT--_Corallorhiza Bigelovii_.]
CALIFORNIA LILAC. BLUE MYRTLE. BLUE-BLOSSOM.
_Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_, Esch. Buckthorn Family.
Varying from small, prostrate shrubs in exposed places, to
erect shrubs or small trees. _Branches._--Strongly angled; not
spiny. _Leaves._--Elliptical; twelve to eighteen lines long;
three-nerved; smooth and shining above. _Flowers._--Bright to
pale blue, rarely white; in dense clusters about three inches
long, terminating the usually elongated, somewhat leafy
peduncles. _Capsules._--Globose; two lines in diameter; smooth,
not crested; slightly lobed. (See _Ceanothus_.) _Hab._--Near
the coast, from Monterey northward into Oregon.
In the spring our chaparral-covered slopes begin to take on a bluish tinge,
like the misty smoke of distant camp-fires, for which the blossoms of the
California lilac are responsible. This is a graceful evergreen shrub, with
rich, shining leaves, among which the abundant feathery clusters of tiny
blue flowers find a charming setting. The blossoms are deliciously
fragrant, filling the cool air with perfume.
This shrub is never found far away from the coast, and it reaches its
greatest beauty in Mendocino County, where it becomes a tree, sometimes
thirty-five feet high. Its wood is exceedingly brittle. In early days it
used to be cultivated in San Francisco gardens before it was crowded out by
foreign shrubs, often far less worthy.
It is known in some localities as "blue myrtle," and in others as
"blue-blossom." The name "California lilac," by which it is most often
known, is more generally and more appropriately applied to this species of
_Ceanothus_ than to any of the others.
The dark seeds are a favorite food of the quail.
[Illustration CALIFORNIA LILAC--_Ceanothus thyrsiflorus_.]
BLUE LARKSPUR. ESPUELA DEL CABALLERO.
_Delphinium_, Tourn. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
California is rich in beautiful larkspurs, but the species are very
difficult of determination and not well defined as yet. We have two
well-marked scarlet species; but confusion still reigns among the blue and
the white. Some of the latter are poisonous to sheep and cattle, causing
great losses to the herds every year in some localities.
Among the blue larkspurs are some of our handsomest spring flowers. Their
slender wands, covered with magnificent large blossoms, rise abundantly on
every side upon some of the mesas of our seashore, making charming
flower-gardens upon the plains. They are so lavishly bestowed that every
comer may gather his fill and still none be missed. In color they are
matchless--of the richest of Mazarin blue and purple-blue.
Other species are to be found upon the slopes of interior valleys and
scattered all through the Coast Ranges and the Sierra foothills. In
midsummer, which is the vernal springtime of the mountains, many lovely
species deck the alpine meadows and brooksides.
The Spanish-Californians have a pretty title for these blossoms--"espuela
del caballero"--"the cavalier's spur."
[Illustration BLUE LARKSPUR.]
CAT'S-EARS. PUSSY'S-EARS.
_Calochortus Maweanus_, Leichtlein. Lily Family.
_Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from San Francisco and
Butte County to the Willamette Valley.
This is an exceedingly pretty little _Calochortus_, much resembling _C.
Benthami_ in form, but having pure-white or purplish-blue flowers, which
are also covered with hairs and delicately fringed with hairs on the
margin. Its stems are low, slender, and graceful, without bulblets at the
base; and the gland upon the petals has a transverse scale covering its
upper portion.
This plant belongs to the section of _Calochortus_ whose species are known
as "star-tulips." In the Coast Ranges, in early spring, the blossoms are
found in moist meadows near the sea, where they nestle amid the grasses.
The children are specially fond of them, and know them as "cat's-ears" and
"pussy's-ears."
_C. uniflorus_, Hook. and Arn., found in wet meadows from San Francisco
northward, has lilac to rose-purple flowers. Its petals are hairy on the
lower third, and its stems bear small bulblets at the base underground.
_C. umbellatus_, Wood., is very similar to _C. Maweanus_; but its
pure-white petals are almost without hairs, and its stem is without
bulblets. This is found blooming in March and April on the low mountains of
Contra Costa and Marin Counties.
PURPLE NEMOPHILA.
_Nemophila aurita_, Lindl. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet long; square; angled; weak; very
brittle; with backward-pointing, hooked bristles.
_Leaves._--All with a dilated, clasping, eared base or winged
petiole; above deeply pinnatifid into five to nine oblong or
lanceolate, downward-pointing lobes. _Corolla._--Violet; an
inch or so across. (Otherwise as _Nemophila insignis_.)
_Hab._--From San Francisco to San Diego.
[Illustration _CAT'S-EARS--Calochortus Maweanus._]
The purple _Nemophila_ is most abundant in the south, growing everywhere in
early springtime upon hillsides partially shaded. Its long, coarse,
hispid stems run riot over small undershrubs or dead or unsightly
brushwood, often completely covering them with a mound of foliage thickly
sown with the dull-purple flowers.
At first it is difficult to realize that this plant of coarse habit belongs
to the sisterhood of baby-eyes, those delicate, ethereal favorites of the
springtime. In fact, one's first impression of it is that it is some new
species of nightshade. One learns, however, to have a fondness for these
blossoms and a growing desire to gather them; but their tangling,
quarrelsome habit forbids one, if any other flowers are in question.
It is said that the dark-eyed señoritas of early days decked their
ball-dresses with sprays of this flower, which clung gracefully to the thin
fabrics.
GROUND-IRIS.
_Iris macrosiphon_, Torr. Iris Family.
Almost stemless plants, often forming mats.
_Rhizome._--Slender. _Radical-leaves._--Grasslike; six to
fifteen inches long. _Buds._--One or two; borne in sheathing
bracts. _Flowers._--On short pedicels; deep purple-blue, marked
with white. _Perianth._--With slender tube one to three inches
long. _Stamens._--Three; borne under the petaloid divisions of
the style. _Ovary._--Three-celled. _Capsule._--Oblong-ovoid;
shortly acute at each end; one inch long. Seeds in two rows in
each cell; compressed and angled. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges,
from San Mateo to Trinity County.
When spring is at its height, this charming little _Iris_ may be found upon
sunny, open hillsides among the unrolling crosiers of the common brake.
There is something peculiarly captivating about these blossoms, with their
satisfying richness of hue and perfect symmetry of form, added to which is
a sweet, delicate perfume, an ideal exhalation of the springtime.
As the buds unfold beautifully in water, it is better to gather buds than
flowers, as the latter are too fragile to carry without breaking.
[Illustration GROUND-IRIS--_Iris macrosiphon_.]
_I. longipetala_, Herb., is the common bog-iris of our central coast. It
grows in large clumps in wet places, and while not a delicate flower, it
has a certain brave, hardy look as it stands out upon the wind-swept
downs of the Coast. Its stems are rather stout, a foot or two high, and
have from three to five large lilac flowers. The sepals are veined with
deeper lilac and blotched with orange.
WILD HELIOTROPE. VERVENIA.
_Phacelia tanacetifolia_, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
_Stems._--One to three feet high; rough and hairy.
_Leaves._--Much divided. _Flowers._--Bright violet to blue; in
clustered, scorpioid racemes. _Calyx-lobes._--Linear or
linear-spatulate. _Corolla._--Six lines long. Style two-cleft.
(See _Phacelia_.) _Hab._--Throughout the western part of the
State.
The wild heliotrope is one of the most abundant flowers of midspring,
especially in the south. It affects the gravelly banks of streams or the
sandy soil of mesas; or grows all along the railroad embankments, making
great mounds of foliage, thickly sown with the bright violet-blue blossoms;
or it may often be seen clambering up through small shrubs, seeming to seek
the support of their stiff branches. It is needless to say that this is not
a true heliotrope, but belongs to the closely allied genus, _Phacelia_.
The specific name, _tanacetifolia_, meaning with tansy-like leaves, is
more applicable to the _var. tenuifolia_, Thurber. Among the
Spanish-Californians it is known as "vervenía."
It is a very important honey-plant.
_P. Douglasii_, Torr., is a species with lavender corolla with much the
aspect of the baby-blue-eyes. This is common in the western part of the
State, south of Monterey, and is found sparingly north of that point.
[Illustration WILD HELIOTROPE--_Phacelia tanacetifolia_.]
BLUE-EYED GRASS. AZULEA. VILLELA.
_Sisyrinchium bellum_, Wats. Iris Family.
_Leaves._--Radical; grasslike; shorter than the stems. _Stems._--Flat;
clustered; six to eighteen inches high. _Flowers._--Four to seven;
contained in two nearly equal sheathing bracts. _Perianth._--Six-parted;
purplish-blue, with yellow center; six lines to an inch across.
_Stamens._--Three. Filaments united. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Style
filiform. Stigma spindle-shaped; three-cleft after fertilization.
_Hab._--Throughout California.
The blue-eyed grass is such a modest flower, one would never suspect it to
be closely allied to the regal _Iris_. In late spring its quiet stars are
found in our meadows everywhere. In the south it grows so luxuriantly and
so determinedly that it has become a serious pest to the farmer, crowding
more useful plants from the pasture.
Owing to the quaint manner in which its petals kink up when they fade,
these blossoms are called "nigger-babies" by the children. Among the
Spanish-Californians the plant is known as "azulea" and "villela," and is
made into a tea, which is considered a valuable remedy in fevers. It is
thought that a patient can subsist for many days upon it alone.