flowers, is found in wet places all up and down the Coast.
BABY-EYES. BLUE-VEINED NEMOPHILA.
_Nemophila intermedia_, Bioletti. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf
Family.
_Leaves._--With petioles somewhat widened at base and ciliate;
the upper all opposite. _Corolla._--Nine to twelve lines wide;
light blue to white; distinctly blue-veined or more or less
sown with purple dots. Scales of the corolla long, narrow,
hairy, with expanded tips extending nearly to the sinuses.
_Ovary._--Rounded; with twelve to twenty-four ovules.
(Otherwise as _N. insignis_.) _Syn._--_Nemophila Menziesii_,
Hook. and Arn. _Hab._--Rather widespread.
[Illustration BLUE-EYED GRASS--_Sisyrinchium bellum_.]
This beautiful _Nemophila_ is a more fragile flower than its sister, the
baby-blue-eyes. Its delicate corolla is usually white in the center,
blending to azure-blue upon the rim, and dotted and veined with the same.
At its best, it is an inch across. It affects the borders of moist
woodlands, rarely venturing far out into the openings. There it nestles
amid the tender herbage, often producing its ethereal flowers in such
profusion that it seems as though bits of the sky had fallen to earth. In
the south these blossoms do not seem so truly at home--for they are never
so large nor so fine.
CALIFORNIAN MILKWORT.
_Polygala Californica_, Nutt. Milkwort Family.
_Stems._--Two to eight inches high. _Leaves._--Six to twelve
lines long. _Flowers._--Rose-purple. _Sepals._--Five; two of
them large and spreading like wings; six lines or less long.
_Petals._--Three; united to each other and to the stamen-tube;
the middle one hooded above and beaked. _Stamens._--Eight.
Filaments united into a sheath, which is open above. Anthers
one-celled; opening terminally. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style
enlarging upward; curved like a button-hook. _Pod._--Rounded;
flat; three or four lines across. _Syn._--_P. cucullata_,
Benth. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges southward to Santa Barbara and
beyond.
In late spring the little flowers of the milkwort are common upon dry
hill-slopes in the shade of the trees. The small plants have a very
grown-up look, as though their age might be greater than indicated by their
stature. At first glance, one is quite certain to mistake these plants for
members of the pea family, as the blossoms have wings and a keel like the
papilionaceous flower. But a careful counting of sepals, petals, and
stamens will reveal their separate identity.
A curious feature of this plant is the fact that it bears another kind of
flower near the root. This is without petals, and is destined, for some
strange reason, to bear the seed. The upper flowers seem mostly for show,
though one does occasionally mature fruit.
_P. cornuta_, Kell., found in the Sierras, is a larger plant, with
greenish-white flowers.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN MILKWORT--_Polygala Californica_.]
WILD CANTERBURY-BELL.
_Phacelia Whitlavia_, Gray. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
A foot or so high; very hairy and glandular.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; ovate or deltoid; toothed;
twelve to eighteen lines long. _Flowers._--Purple.
_Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--An inch or more long.
_Stamens._--Five; on the base of the corolla; appendaged at
base; long-exserted, with the two-cleft style.
_Ovary._--Two-celled. _Syn._--_Whitlavia grandiflora_, Harv.
_Hab._--From Los Angeles to San Bernardino.
The wild Canterbury-bell is one of the most charming flowers to be found
anywhere. It affects the rich soil of half-shaded hill-slopes in the
vicinity of streams, where it opens its beautiful fragile bells. Its stems
are very brittle, and the blossoms fall early, the lower ones usually
having passed away before the upper buds have emerged from the coil. The
exceedingly long stamens and style give these blossoms an elegant, airy
look.
_P. Parryi_, Torr., is another beautiful species, found from Los Angeles to
San Diego. It resembles the above in foliage, color of blossoms, and the
long stamens; but the form of the flowers is that of the _Nemophila_.
BIRD'S-EYES.
_Gilia tricolor_, Benth. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--Slender; branching; six inches to a foot or more
high. _Leaves._--Twice pinnately parted into narrow linear
lobes. _Corolla._--Six lines long; with yellow tube;
funnel-form throat, marked with deep violet-purple; and lilac
or white limb. (See _Gilia_.) _Hab._--Throughout Western
California.
Whole slopes are often carpeted with this dainty _Gilia_, producing an
effect which has been described as like light chinchilla. The little
blossoms have a peculiarly fresh and winsome look, and are called
"bird's-eyes" by the children. The corollas are delicate lilac, blending
into white toward the center, while the throat has five purple spots
within, which give way to bright gold below.
[Illustration WILD CANTERBURY-BELL--_Phacelia Whitlavia_.]
BABY-BLUE-EYES. CALIFORNIAN BLUEBELLS. MARIANAS.
_Nemophila insignis_, Dougl. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Tender, more or less hairy herbs. _Stems._--Branching; six to
twelve inches long. _Leaves._--Pinnately parted into five to
nine small, oblong, entire or two- to five-lobed divisions.
_Calyx._--Five-parted, with five extra, alternating, reflexed
lobes. _Corolla._--An inch or more across; from azure-blue,
with a large, well-defined white center, more or less dotted,
to deep blue. The throat furnished with ten short, wide, hairy
scales, or plates. _Stamens._--Five; on the corolla.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style two-cleft. _Hab._--Throughout
California.
When skies are smiling and the earth is already clothed with a luxuriant
and tender herbage, we find upon some balmy morning that the baby-eyes have
opened in gentle surprise upon the lovely world. The spring breezes blow
over no more beautiful and ethereal flowers than these. Companies of them
open together, dotting the sward and luring us on from one to another, the
one just beyond always seeming a little brighter blue or a little more
captivating than those near at hand, till we are beguiled into filling our
hands with them.
These delicate blossoms vary greatly in size and color. The largest and
finest I ever saw grew upon the flower-sprinkled slopes of Lake Merced,
near San Francisco. There the perfect azure corollas were an inch and a
half across, with the large white circle in the center well defined.
Under southern skies it becomes a deep Yale blue, with the texture of
tissue-paper, and with dark red-brown anthers.
From the campanulate, half-opened buds, it has been called "Californian
bluebell," and among the Spanish-Californians it is known as "Mariana."
[Illustration BABY-BLUE-EYES--_Nemophila insignis_.]
LILAC SAND-VERBENA. WILD LANTANA.
_Abronia villosa_, Wats. Four-o'clock Family.
Plants with more or less glandular-villous pubescence. _Stems._--Prostrate.
_Leaves._--Rarely an inch long. _Peduncles._--One to three inches long;
five- to fifteen-flowered. _Involucral bracts._--Lanceolate; three or four
lines long. _Perianth._--Lilac; four or five lines across; with obcordate
lobes. (Otherwise as _A. latifotia_.) _Hab._--San Diego and eastward; also
in southern deserts.
The charming flowers of the lilac sand-verbena are not found upon the
immediate sea-beach, but always a little withdrawn from it, where the soil
is more firmly established, yet within sight and sound of the waves. The
blossoms have a delicate beauty, not shared by our other species of
_Abronia_, and somewhat resemble our garden verbenas. They are sometimes
called "wild lantana."
_A. umbellata_, Lam., is common all up and down our coast, often making
masses of deep pink on the beach; while _A. maritima_, Nutt., is found from
Santa Barbara to San Diego. The latter is a very stout, coarse, viscid
plant, with small, very deep magenta flowers.
CAMASS. KAMASS. WILD HYACINTH.
_Camassia esculenta_, Lindl. Lily Family.
Bulbs coated. _Leaves._--Radical; six or eight; grasslike;
three to eight lines broad; usually shorter than the scape.
_Scape._--Twelve to twenty-four inches high; loosely ten- to
twenty-flowered. Pedicels three to twelve lines long.
_Flowers._--From dark blue to nearly white; seven to fifteen
lines long or more; an inch or so across. _Perianth._--Of six
distinct, oblanceolate, three- to seven-nerved segments.
_Stamens._--Six; shorter than the segments. Anthers yellow.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style filiform; about equaling the
perianth; slightly three-cleft at the summit. _Hab._--From
Central California to Washington.
In some localities these plants are found covering meadows and marshy
tracts in great profusion. They bear beautiful clusters of showy blue
flowers, somewhat like the hyacinth in habit, and have long been favorites
in European gardens. We are especially interested in them, however, on
account of the bulbs, which are about an inch in diameter and very
nutritious.
Grizzly bears, when more plentiful in the early days, were particularly
fond of them; and the northern Indians to-day value them very highly as an
article of diet, calling them "kamáss." Indeed, the Nez Percé Indian war in
Idaho was caused by encroachments upon the territory which was especially
rich in these bulbs. The plants are more abundant north of us than with us.
Mr. Macoun gives a most interesting account in "Garden and Forest" of the
preparation of kamáss among the Indians, which is a very important and
elaborate performance. He says, in substance: For some days beforehand the
squaws were busily engaged in carrying into camp branches of alder and
maple, bundles of skunk-cabbage (_Lysichiton_), and a quantity of a black,
hairlike lichen, which grows in profusion upon the western larch. A hole
ten feet square and two feet deep was then dug, and a large fire was made
in this, in which they heated a great many small boulders to the glowing
point. They then piled maple and alder boughs over these to the depth of a
foot or more, tramped them down, and laid over them the leaves of the
skunk-cabbage. Thin sheets of tamarack bark were spread over the steaming
green mass, and upon these were placed the bulbs in large baskets. The
black lichen was laid over the uncovered bark, and the remaining bulbs were
spread on this. The whole was then covered with boughs and leaves as
before, and sand was sprinkled on to the depth of four or five inches, and
on the top of the whole a larger fire than before was built. The sun was
just setting when this was lighted, and it burned all night. The oven was
left for a day to cool. When opened, the bulbs in the baskets were
dissolved to a flour, from which bread could be made; while those on the
lichen had become amalgamated with it, forming a substance resembling
plug-tobacco, which could be broken up and kept sweet a long time.
When boiled in water, the bulbs yield a very good molasses, much prized by
the Indians, and used by them upon important festival occasions.
There is a white-flowered form of this same species, whose bulb is said to
be poisonous.
INNOCENCE. COLLINSIA.
_Collinsia bicolor_, Benth. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--A foot or so high. _Leaves._--The lower oblong; the upper
ovate-lanceolate. _Calyx._--Unequally five-cleft. _Corolla._--Nine lines
long. Upper lip lilac or white; lower of three lobes; the middle folded
into a keeled sac containing the stamens and style; the two lateral
rose-purple. _Stamens._--Four; in two pairs on the corolla. Upper filaments
bearded. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style filiform. _Hab._--Throughout Western
California.
Where spreading trees cast a dense shade and the moisture still lingers,
companies of lovely _Collinsias_ stand amid the fresh green grasses, their
delicate, many-storied blossoms swaying upon the idle breezes. In the north
these are in the rear guard of spring flowers, and make their appearance
just before the _Godetias_ bid farewell to spring; but in the south they
come earlier. They vary much in color, from the typical rose-purple and
white or lilac to all white.
We have a number of species; but _C. bicolor_ is the most showy and
widespread.
BLACK SAGE. BALL-SAGE.
_Audibertia stachyoides_, Benth. Mint Family.
Shrubby; three to eight feet high; with herbaceous flowering
branches. _Leaves._--Opposite; oblong-lanceolate; tapering into
a petiole; crenate. _Flowers._--In interrupted spikes, having
from three to nine dense, rather remote, headlike, bracteate
whorls. _Calyx._--Bilabiate; each lip with two or three awned
teeth. _Corolla._--Lavender; six lines long; bilabiate. Upper
lip erect; emarginate; lower deflexed; three-lobed.
_Stamens._--Two sterile; two perfect on jointed filaments.
_Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style slender. Stigma
two-cleft. _Hab._--From San Francisco Bay to San Diego.
We have but two or three true sages, or _Salvias_, in California; but the
plants of the closely allied genus _Audibertia_ are with perfect propriety
called sages, as they manifest all the characteristics of that genus,
differing only in the structure of the stamens. There are a number of
species of _Audibertia_, all of them important honey-plants. They are
particularly abundant in the south, where they form a characteristic
feature in the landscape, often covering whole hill-slopes.
[Illustration COLLINSIA--_Collinsia bicolor_.]
_A. stachyoides_ frequently forms dense thickets over vast reaches of
mountain-side, and when in full bloom is very noticeable. Its specific name
is a happy one, denoting its resemblance to the _Stachys_, or hedge-nettle.
But its pointed leaves, shrubby habit, and rank odor, together with its
more numerous flower-whorls, proclaim its separate identity.
_A. nivea_, Benth., found from Santa Barbara to San Diego, has larger
spikes of rich, warm lilac flowers. Nothing could be more charming than the
soft lavender billows of it undulating over slope after slope of wild
mountain-side.
BLUE GILIA.
_Cilia Chamissonis_, Greene. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
_Stems._--About a foot high. _Leaves._--Alternate; dissected into linear
segments. _Flowers._--In capitate clusters an inch and a half across; deep
blue. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--Four lines long; with five obtuse
lobes. _Stamens._--Exserted. Anthers nearly white. (See _Gilia_.)
_Hab._--The Coast of Central California.
This pretty _Gilia_ is quite common about San Francisco in springtime, and
often makes masses of bright deep blue over the fields.
_G. capitata_, Dougl., is a closely allied species, found in the Coast
Ranges from Central California northward. This is in every way a more
delicate plant. Its stems are taller and more slender; its flower-heads are
less than an inch across, and composed of very small light-blue flowers,
with feathery, exserted stamens.
_G. achilleaefolia_, Benth., is a beautiful form, closely related to both
the above, but quite variable in habit. Its flowers are light
lavender-blue, six lines or so long, and are borne in larger clusters,
often two inches across, on long, naked peduncles. At a little distance
these blossoms somewhat resemble the clusters of _Brodiaea capitata_.
[Illustration BLUE GILIA--_Gilia Chamissonis_.]
CHIA. SAGE.
_Salvia Columbariae_, Benth. Mint Family.
_Stems._--Six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Wrinkly; one
to several inches long. _Flowers._--Blue; in interrupted
whorls. _Whorls._--Twelve to eighteen lines in diameter;
subtended by numerous, ovate-acuminate bracts.
_Calyx._--Bilabiate; upper lip arching, and tipped with two
short bristles; lower, of two awn-like teeth. _Corolla._--Three
or four lines long; bilabiate. Upper lip erect; notched or
two-lobed. Lower deflexed; with three lobes, the central much
larger. _Stamens._--Two. Filaments two; short; apparently
forked--_i.e._ bearing on their summit a cross-bar having on
one end a perfect anther-cell and on the other a dwarfed or
rudimentary one. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style
slender. _Hab._--Throughout the State, specially southward.
This rough-leaved sage is quite common, especially southward, and grows
upon dry hillsides or in sandy washes, where it blossoms in early spring.
Its small bright-blue flowers are borne in an interrupted spike, consisting
of from one to four button-like heads. Each of these heads has below it a
number of leafy bracts, which are often of a bright wine-color, and form a
rather striking combination with the blue flowers.
After the blossoms have passed away, the dried stems and heads remain
standing all over the hills, shaking out the little gray seed in abundance.
These seeds have been for centuries an article of economic importance to
the aborigines and their descendants. Dr. Rothrock writes that among the
Nahua races of ancient Mexico the plant was cultivated as regularly as
corn, and was one of their most important cereals. Quantities of the seed
have been found buried beneath groves which must be at least several
hundred years old. It was in use among the Indians of California before the
occupation of the country by the whites, being known among them as "chia."
Dr. Bard writes of these seeds: "They were roasted, ground, and used as
food by being mixed with water. Thus prepared, it soon develops into a
mucilaginous mass, larger than its original bulk. Its taste is somewhat
like that of linseed meal. It is exceedingly nutritious, and was readily
borne by the stomach when that organ refused to tolerate other aliment. An
atole, or gruel, of this was one of the peace offerings to the first
visiting sailors. One tablespoonful of these seeds was sufficient to
sustain for twenty-four hours an Indian on a forced march. Chia was no less
prized by the native Californian, and at this late date it frequently
commands six or eight dollars a pound."
[Illustration CHIA--_Salvia Columbariae_.]
When added to water, the seeds make a cooling drink, which has the effect
of assuaging burning thirst--a very valuable quality on the desert.
BLUE-AND-WHITE LUPINE.
_Lupinus bicolor_, Lindl. Pea Family.
_Stems._--Stoutish; six to ten inches high; silky.
_Leaves._--Alternate; with small stipules. _Leaflets._--Five to
seven; linear-spatulate; one inch long. _Flowers._--Four or
five lines long; blue and white; the white changing to
red-purple after fertilization. Upper calyx-lip bifid; lower
twice as long; entire. _Keel._--Falcate; acute; ciliate toward
the apex. _Pod._--Small; about five-seeded. (See _Lupinus_.)
_Hab._--Western Central California.
In late spring the open fields about San Francisco take on a delicate,
amethystine tinge, due to the blossoms of the blue-and-white lupine. After
fertilization has taken place, the white in these blossoms turns to deep
red, and this admixture gives the general lilac tone to the mass.
DOUGLAS IRIS.
_Iris Douglasiana_, Herb. Iris Family.
_Rhizomes._--Stoutish; clumps not dense.
_Radical-leaves._--Strongly ribbed underneath; dark, shining
green above; one to three feet long; three to eight lines
broad; flexile; rosy pink at base. _Stems._--Simple; two- or
three-flowered. Flowers.--On pedicels six to eighteen lines
long; deep reddish-purple, lilac, or cream.
_Perianth-tube._--Six to twelve lines long.
_Capsule._--Narrowly oblong; acutely triangular; twenty lines
long. Seeds nearly globular. (Otherwise as _I. macrosiphon_.)
_Hab._--The Coast, from Santa Cruz to Marin County.
On account of the bright and varied hues of its flowers, the genus _Iris_
was named for the rainbow-winged messenger of the gods. In France it is
known as "fleur-de-lis," a name whose origin has caused endless discussion
and has been accounted for in many ways. There are many species, all of
them beautiful. Orris-root is the product of the lovely white Florentine
_Iris_.
[Illustration BLUE-AND-WHITE LUPINE--_Lupinus bicolor_.]
In California we have several comparatively well-known species, and a
number of others which are without names as yet; but the Douglas _Iris_ is
probably our most beautiful. It thrives well upon open mesas or upon
well-drained hill-slope in the shelter of the chaparral. But it is found at
its best in the rich soil of moist woodlands, whose seclusion seems the
most fitting abode for so aristocratic a flower. There, surrounded by the
delicate greenery of fern-fronds and a hundred other tender, springing
things, it seems to hold a sylvan court, receiving homage from all the
other denizens of the wood. There is a certain marked and personal
individuality about these flowers which makes encountering them seem like
meeting certain distinguished personages.
ITHURIEL'S SPEAR. BLUE MILLA.
_Brodiaea laxa_, Wats. Lily Family.
_Corm._--Small; fiber-coated. _Leaves._--Usually two; radical;
linear channeled. _Scapes._--Six inches to two feet high.
_Umbels._--Of ten to thirty or more purple or violet, or even
white, flowers. _Pedicels._--One to three inches long.
_Perianth._--Twelve to twenty lines long. _Stamens._--Six; in
two rows; the upper opposite the inner lobes of the perianth.
_Ovary._--Three-celled; on a stalk six lines long. _Hab._--From
Kern County to Northern Oregon.
After the delicate _Collinsias_ have stolen away, the beautiful flowers of
Ithuriel's spear begin to claim our attention in open grassy spots on the
borders of rich woodlands. The common name is a happy one; for there is
something commanding about this tall blossom-crowned shaft. It will perhaps
be remembered that the angel Ithuriel possessed a truth compelling spear.
When Satan, disguised, went to the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve, Ithuriel
and Zephon were sent to expel him.
[Illustration ITHURIEL'S SPEAR--_Brodiaea laxa_.]
... "him there they found,
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve,
Assaying by his devilish art to reach
The organs of her fancy, and with them forge
Illusions as he list, phantasms, and dreams;
* * * * *
Him thus intent Ithuriel with his spear
Touched lightly; for no falsehood can endure
Touch of celestial temper, but returns
Of force to its own likeness: up he starts
Discovered and surprised."
BEACH-ASTER.
_Erigeron glaucus_, Ker. Composite Family.
Six to twelve inches high, having a tuft of radical leaves and
some ascending stems. _Leaves._--Obovate or spatulate-oblong;
one to four inches long; pale; somewhat succulent; slightly
viscid. _Flower-heads._--Composed of dull-yellow disk-flowers
and bright-violet ray-flowers. _Disk._--Eight lines or so
across. _Rays._--Six or eight lines long; narrow; numerous; in
several rows. _Hab._--The Coast, from Oregon to Southern
California.
Almost anywhere upon our Coast, "within the roar of a surf-tormented
shore," we can find the beautiful blossoms of the beach-aster. We may know
them by their resemblance to the China asters of our gardens, though they
are not so large. They present a most delightful combination of color in
their old-gold centers, violet rays, and rather pale foliage.
TOAD-FLAX.
_Linaria Canadensis_, Dumont. Figwort Family.
_Stems._--Slender; six inches to two feet high.
_Leaves._--Mostly alternate on the flowering stems, but smaller
and broader ones often opposite or whorled on the procumbent
shoots; linear; smooth. _Flowers._--Blue; in terminal racemes;
like those of _Antirrhinum_, but the tube furnished with a
long, downward-pointing spur at base. _Hab._--Throughout
California.