THE WILD FLOWERS

OF CALIFORNIA

THEIR NAMES, HAUNTS, AND HABITS

BY

MARY ELIZABETH PARSONS

ILLUSTRATED BY

MARGARET WARRINER BUCK

THIRD THOUSAND

WILLIAM DOXEY

AT THE SIGN OF THE LARK

SAN FRANCISCO

1897

Copyright, 1897

William Doxey

The Doxey Press

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• [a]PAGE]
  
• Preface[vii]
• Table of Plates[xiii]
• How to Use the Book[xix]
• Explanation of Terms[xxii]
• Important Plant Families and Genera[xxxi]
• Introductory[xlii]
• Prelude[xlvii]
• [Flower Descriptions:--]
• [a]I. White][3]
  
• [a]II. Yellow][109]
  
• [a]III. Pink][193]
  
• [a]IV. Blue and Purple][255]
  
• [a]V. Red][335]
  
• [a]VI. Miscellaneous][369]
  
• Index to Latin Names[393]
• Index to English Names[399]
• Index of Technical Terms[405]
• Glossary[406]

"Were I, O God, in churchless lands remaining, Far from all voice of teachers or divines, My soul would find in flowers of thy ordaining Priests, sermons, shrines!"

PREFACE

To the thoughtless a flower is often a trivial thing—beautiful perhaps, and worthy of a passing glance—but that is all. But to the mind open to the great truths of the universe, it takes on a deeper significance. Such a mind sees in its often humble beginnings the genesis of things far-reaching and mighty. Two thousand years ago one grain of the shower of pollen wafted upon the wind and falling upon a minute undeveloped cone, quickened a seed there into life, and this dropping into the soil pushed up a tiny thread of green, which, after the quiet process of the ages, you now behold in the giant Sequoia which tosses its branches aloft, swept by the four winds of heaven.

Whether manifesting itself in the inconspicuous flower upon the tree or in the equally unassuming inflorescence of the vegetable, or unfurling petals of satin or gauze of brilliant hue and marvelous beauty, the blossom is the origin of most that is useful or beautiful in the organic world about us. Strip the world of its blossoms, and the higher forms of life must come to a speedy termination. Thus we see the flower playing a wonderfully important part in the cosmos around us. It becomes henceforth not only a thing of beauty for the gratification of the æsthetic sense, but the instrument by which Nature brings about the fullness of her perfection in her own good season.

There is perhaps no nature-study that can yield the same amount of pure and unalloyed pleasure with so little outlay as the study of the wild flowers. When one is interested in them, every walk into the fields is transformed from an aimless ramble into a joyous, eager quest, and every journey upon stage or railroad becomes a rare opportunity for making new plant-acquaintances—a season of exhilarating excitement.

Mr. Burroughs, that devout lover of nature, says: "Most young people find botany a dull study. So it is, as taught from the text-books in the schools; but study it yourself in the fields and woods, and you will find it a source of perennial delight. Find your flower, and then name it by the aid of the botany. There is so much in a name. To find out what a thing is called is a great help. It is the beginning of knowledge; it is the first step. When we see a new person who interests us, we wish to know his or her name. A bird, a flower, a place—the first thing we wish to know about it is its name. Its name helps us to classify it; it gives us a handle to grasp it by; it sheds a ray of light where all before was darkness. As soon as we know the name of a thing, we seem to have established some sort of relation with it."

Having learned the name of a flower or plant, or having been formally introduced to it, as it were, our acquaintance has but just begun. Instead of being our end and aim, as it was with students of botany in the olden times, this is but the beginning. If this were our ultimate aim, all our pleasure would be at an end as soon as we had learned the names of all the plants within our reach. But the point of view has changed and broadened. The plant is now recognized as a living organism, not a dead, unchanging thing. It is vital; it grows; it is amenable to the great laws of the universe; and we see it daily complying with those laws, adapting itself to its surroundings—or perishing. It becomes a thing of absorbing interest when we trace the steps by which it has come to be what it is; when we note its relationship to other closely allied forms, and locate its place in the great world of plants.

A thoughtful observation of the structure of plants alone will fill the mind with amazement at the beauty of their minutest parts, the exquisite perfection of every organ. Then it is most interesting to notice the various kinds of places where the same plants grow; how they flourish in different soils and climates; how they parry the difficulties of new and unaccustomed surroundings, by some change of structure or habit to meet the altered conditions—as clothing themselves with wool, to prevent the undue escape of moisture, or twisting their leaves to a vertical position for the same purpose, or sending their roots deep into the earth to seek perennial sources of moisture, which enables them to flourish in our driest times. It is wonderful to note, too, the methods employed to secure the distribution of the seed—how it is sometimes imbedded in a delicious edible fruit, again furnished with hooks or bristles or springs, or provided with silken sails to waft it away upon the wings of the wind. Then the insects that visit plants. It is marvelous to note how plants spread their attractions in bright colors and perfumes and offerings of honey to bees, butterflies, and moths that can carry their pollen abroad, and how they even place hindrances in the way of such as are undesirable.

Studied in this way, botany is no longer the dry science it used to be, but becomes a most fascinating pursuit; and we know of no richer field in which to carry on the study of flowers than that afforded in California.

There has been a long-felt need of a popular work upon the wild flowers of California. Though celebrated throughout the world for their wealth and beauty, and though many of them have found their way across the waters and endeared themselves to plant lovers in many a foreign garden, the story of their home life has never yet been told.

It has been the delightful task of the author and the illustrator of the present work to seek them out in their native haunts—on seashore and mesa, in deep, cool cañon, on dry and open hill-slope, on mountain-top, in glacier meadow, by stream and lake, in marsh and woodland, and to listen to the ofttimes marvelous tales they have had to unfold. If they shall have succeeded in making better known these children of Mother Nature to her lovers and appreciators, and in arousing an interest in them among those who have hitherto found the technical difficulties of scientific botany insurmountable, they will feel amply rewarded for their labors.

The present work does not claim by any means to be a complete flora of the region treated. Our State is so new, and many parts of it have as yet been so imperfectly explored, that a comprehensive and exhaustive flora of it must be the work of a future time, and will doubtless be undertaken by some one when all the data have been procured. Such an attempt, however, were it possible, is without the scope of the present work.

California, with her wonderfully varied climate and topography, has a flora correspondingly rich and varied, probably not surpassed by any region of like area in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus the author finds herself confronted with an embarrassment of riches rather than with any lack of material; and it has often been exceedingly difficult to exclude some beautiful flower that seemed to have strong claims to representation. She therefore craves beforehand the indulgence of the reader, should he find some favorite missing.

In making a choice, she has been guided by the following general principles, and selected, first—the flowers most general in their distribution; second—those remarkable for their beauty of form or color, their interesting structure, history, or economic uses; third—those which are characteristically Californian. At the same time, those which are too insignificant in appearance to attract attention and those too difficult of determination by the non-botanist have been omitted. Flowering plants only have been included.

Many of our species extend northward into Oregon and Washington. Thus, while this work is called "The Wild Flowers of California," it will in a certain measure apply equally well to Oregon and Washington.

It has been the aim of the author to picture for the most part the flowers peculiarly Californian, leaving Mrs. Dana's charming book, "How to Know the Wild Flowers," to illustrate those we possess in common with the Atlantic Slope, thus making the works the complements one of the other.

Mrs. Dana has kindly permitted the author to use her plan of arrangement—i.e. of grouping all the white flowers in one section, the yellow in another, the pink in a third, and so on, which, in the absence of a key, greatly facilitates the finding of any given flower. The flowers of each section have been arranged as nearly as possible according to their natural succession in the seasons, with one or two exceptions.

Such confusion is rife in the nomenclature of Californian plants, and the same plant is so often furnished with several names,—and several plants sometimes with the same name,—that the authority is in every instance quoted, in order to make it perfectly clear what plant is meant by the name given. Wherever allusion is made to the Spanish-Californians, the Spanish-speaking Californians are meant, very few of whom are Castilians at the present day, most of whom are of an admixture of races.

The flower-cuts are all from pen-and-ink drawings by the illustrator; and all but four are from her own original studies from nature. These four, which it was impossible for her to procure, have been adapted by her from other drawings, by the aid of herbarium specimens. They include Aphyllon fasciculatum, Fremontia Californica, Hosackia gracilis, and Brodiæa volubilis. It has been impossible upon so small a page to maintain a uniform relative size in the drawings, for which reason the plant-descriptions in fine print should be consulted for the size.

The author and the illustrator desire to make grateful acknowledgments to many kind friends throughout the State who have rendered them assistance in numerous ways. Their gratitude is due in particular to Miss Alice Eastwood, of the California Academy of Sciences, who, by her unfailing kindness and encouragement, as well as by her personal assistance, has rendered them invaluable aid. Also, to Mr. Carl Purdy, of Ukiah, who from his wide experience, as a grower of our native liliaceous plants, has a knowledge of them shared by few or none, and who has generously placed at their disposal the results of his observations. They also tender their thanks to the Southern Pacific and the North Pacific Railways, who, by their generous granting of reduced rates and passes, have made possible a wider personal acquaintance with the flowers than could have otherwise been enjoyed.

San Rafael, Cal., October 15, 1897.

TABLE OF PLATES

HOW TO USE THE BOOK

When gathering flowers with a view to ascertaining their names with the help of the botany, the whole plant—root, stem, leaves, flowers, buds, and fruit—should be secured, if possible. This will avoid much uncertainty in the work.

The anthers are best seen in the unopened buds, and the ovary in old flowers or those gone to seed. A cross-section of the ovary will show the number of its cells.

The flowers should be sorted into colors, and each in turn looked for in its own color-section. In arranging the flowers according to color, some difficulty has been experienced, because the pink blends so gradually into the purple, and the purple into white, etc., that it has been impossible sometimes to say accurately to which section a flower rightly belongs. In such a case search must be made in the other probable section. Sometimes the same flower occurs in several colors, in which case it is usually put into the section in whose color it most frequently occurs. In the Red Section have been included flowers of a scarlet hue, not those of crimson or magenta hues, as these have a tendency to merge into pink or purple. Flowers of a greenish-white are usually put into the White Section, those of more decided green into the Miscellaneous.

It is an excellent plan for the student to write a careful description of his plant before beginning to look for it in the book; commencing with the root, passing on to stem, leaves, inflorescence, calyx, corolla, etc., taking the order of the technical descriptions in the book. This will serve to do away with that vacillating condition of mind which is often the result of reading a number of plant-descriptions before fixing firmly in mind the characters of the specimen under consideration.

A magnifying-glass—or a small dissecting microscope and a good Zeiss lens, if more careful work is to be done,—a couple of dissecting needles, a pocket-knife, and a small three or four-inch measure, having one of the inches divided into lines, will be required for examining specimens.

It is also a good plan to make a note of the date and place of collection of all plants, as it is often of great interest to know these facts at some future time.

Plants are grouped into great orders, or families, which are made up of a number of genera, each genus consisting of a number of species. Every plant has two Latin names; the first a generic name, answering to the last name of a person; the second a specific name, answering to a person's given name. The latter is usually descriptive of some quality or character of the plant, the name of the place where found, or of its discoverer, or of some person in whose honor it is named. This dual name serves to clearly distinguish the species from all others, especially when the name of the person by whom the specific name was bestowed is added.

Each plant-family bears an English title, which is usually the name of its best-known genus. Thus the order Leguminosæ is known as the "Pea Family" because Lathyrus, or the pea, is its best-known genus. In many instances the English names borne by orders in the Eastern States have no significance with us, as the type genus is not found in our flora. In such cases we have given the name of the genus best known among us, to which we have added the other; thus, "Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family."

Most of our plants have common English names, and the same plant is often known by one name in one locality and by another in another. Hence, while these names are often pretty and apt, they cannot serve for the accurate identification of the plant. For this we must consult its Latin name, by which it is known all over the world.

Wherever the terms used are not understood, reference should be made to the "Explanation of Terms" or to the Glossary.

For identification of species not found in the present work, other books should be consulted. The two large volumes of the botany of the Geological Survey of California are the most complete of anything thus far published. In addition to these, "The Synoptical Flora of North America," as far as published (the Gamopetalæ, the Compositæ, and some orders of the Polypetalæ), furnishes valuable aid. Professor E.L. Greene's works, "The Botany of the Bay Region," "Pittonia," and "Flora Franciscana," furnish excellent plant-descriptions for the more advanced botanist. The author's technical descriptions have in every instance been verified by comparison with one or more of the above works.

Miss Eastwood's little volume, recently published as Part Second of "Bergen's Elements of Botany," (and also issued in separate form), is recommended for use in connection with the present work, as it embodies in compact form a general view of the method of classification of plants, showing their places in the plant-world and their relations to one another. It also contains very clear descriptions of plant-families. To the student who becomes interested in knowing more about the structure of plants, Gray's "Structural Botany" will prove useful; and the large work of Oliver and Kerner (translated from the German) will prove a fascinating book.

EXPLANATION OF TERMS

[The following simple definitions of the more common terms used have been mostly taken or adapted from the works of Asa Gray and others, and will prove useful to those unacquainted with botany, or to those whose memories require refreshing.]

ROOTS

The root is that portion of the plant which grows downward, fixing it to the soil, and absorbing nourishment from the latter. True roots produce nothing but root-branches or rootlets.

Simple or unbranched roots are named according to their shapes—

conical, when like the carrot;

napiform, when like the turnip;

fusiform, when like the long radish.

Multiple, or branched, roots may be—

fascicled, or bunched, as in the dahlia;

tubercular, when furnished with small tubers;

fibrous, when threadlike.

STEMS

The stem is the ascending axis of the plant, which usually bears the leaves, flowers, and fruit. The points on the stem to which the leaves are fastened are called the nodes; and the portions of stem between the nodes are called the internodes. The angle formed by the upper side of the leaf and the stem is called the axil.

Stems aboveground are classed as—

erect, when growing upright;

procumbent, when lying on the ground without rooting;

decumbent, when lying on the ground with the tip ascending;

diffuse, when loosely spreading;

creeping, when growing on the ground and rooting.

Stems underground are classed as rhizomes (or rootstocks) tubers, corms, and bulbs, the forms passing into one another by gradations.

A rhizome, or rootstock, is a horizontal underground stem. It is sometimes thick, fleshy, or woody, as in the iris;

a tuber is a short, much thickened rootstock, having eyes or buds of which the potato is an example;

a corm is a depressed and rounded, solid rootstock; it may be called a solid bulb; the garden cyclamen is an example;

a bulb is a leaf-bud, commonly underground, with fleshy scales or coats; the lily is an example.

LEAVES

Leaves are the green expansions borne by the stem, out-spread in the air and light, in which assimilation is carried on. They may be said to be the stomachs of the plant. A typical leaf consists of three parts—the blade, the foot-stalk (or petiole), and a pair of stipules. Yet any one of these parts may be absent.

The blade is the expanded portion of the leaf and the part to which the word leaf, in its commonest sense, is applied;

the stipules are small, usually leaflike bodies borne at the base of the petiole, usually one on either side;

the petiole is the stalk of the leaf.

Leaves are simple, when having but one blade; compound, when having more than one, when each blade is called a leaflet.

Compound leaves are said to be—

pinnate, when the leaflets are arranged along the sides of a petiole, or rather of its prolongation, the rachis;

abruptly pinnate, with an even number of leaflets;

odd-pinnate, with an odd leaflet at the end;

palmate, or digitate, when the leaflets all diverge from the summit of the petiole, like the fingers of a hand.

VENATION

The venation, or veining, of leaves relates to the mode in which the woody tissue, in the form of ribs, veins, etc., is distributed in the cellular tissue.

There are two principle modes—

the parallel-veined, of which the iris is an example;

the reticulated-veined, or netted-veined, of which the Elm is an example.

Small veins are called veinlets.

FORM

As to general form, or outline, leaves are:—

Those broadest in the middle—

peltate, or shield-shaped, when rounded, with the stem attached to the center, or near it—as in the garden nasturtium;

orbicular, when circular in outline, or nearly so;

oval, when having a flowing outline, with the breadth considerably more than half the length, and both ends alike;

elliptical, when having a flowing outline, twice or thrice as long as broad, and both ends alike;

oblong, when nearly twice or thrice as long as broad;

linear, when narrow, several times longer than wide, and of about the same width throughout;

acerose, when needle-shaped—like the Pine.

Those broadest at the base—

deltoid, when having the triangular shape of the Greek letter delta;

ovate, when having an outline like the section of a hen's-egg, the broader end downward;

lanceolate, or lance-shaped, when several times longer than broad, and tapering upward, or both upward and downward;

subulate, when shaped like an awl;

cordate, when ovate, with a heart-shaped base;

reniform, when like the last, only rounder and broader than long;

auriculate, when having a pair of small blunt projections, or ears, at the base;

sagittate, or arrow-shaped, when those ears are acute and turned downward, the body of the leaf tapering upward;

hastate, or halberd-shaped, when the ears or lobes point outward.

Those broadest at the apex—

obovate, when inversely ovate;

oblanceolate, when inversely lanceolate;

spatulate, when rounded above, and long and narrow below, like a druggist's spatula;

cuneate, or wedge-shaped, when broad above, tapering by straight lines to an acute base;

obcordate, when inversely cordate.

Sometimes no one of the above terms will describe a leaf, and it becomes necessary to combine two of them; as, linear-spatulate, ovate-lanceolate, etc.

THE APEX

Leaves are classified according to their apices; as—

emarginate, when having a decided terminal notch;

truncate, when abruptly cut off;

obtuse, when ending in a blunt or roundish extremity;

acute, when ending in an acute angle, without special tapering;

acuminate, when tapering into a narrow, more or less prolonged end;

mucronate, when abruptly tipped with a small, short point.

THE MARGIN

Leaves are classified according to their margins; as—

entire, when the margin is completely filled out to an even line;

repand, or undulate, when the margin is a wavy line;

dentate, or toothed, when the teeth point outward;

crenate, or scalloped, when dentate, with the teeth rounded;

serrate, when having small sharp teeth directed forward;

incised, when cut by sharp and irregular incisions more or less deeply;

lobed, when cut not more than half-way to the midrib, and the divisions or their angles are rounded;

cleft, when cut half-way down or more, and the lobes or sinuses are narrow or acute;

parted, when the cutting reaches almost but not quite to the midrib;

divided, when the blade is cut into distinct parts, thus making the leaf compound.

All these terms may be modified by the words pinnate or palmate; thus—pinnately parted, pinnately divided, palmately parted, palmately divided, etc.; also by the adjectives once, twice, thrice, etc.

TEXTURE

Leaves vary as to texture, and may be—

coriaceous, or leathery;

succulent, or juicy;

scarious, or dry and thin;

fleshy, or thick;

herbaceous, or thin.

ARRANGEMENT

According to their arrangement on the stem, leaves are—

alternate, when distributed singly at different heights on the stem;

opposite, when two stand opposite each other at the nodes;

whorled, when more than two are borne at a node, equidistant in a circle around the stem.

INFLORESCENCE

Inflorescence is a term commonly applied to the mode of flowering—i.e. to the arrangement of blossoms on the stem and their relative positions to one another.

A peduncle is the stem of a solitary flower, or the main stem of a flower-cluster;

a scape is a peduncle growing from the ground;

a pedicel is the stem of each flower in a cluster;

a bract is a small floral leaf;

an involucre is a collection of bracts around a flower-cluster or around a single flower.

Flowers may be solitary or clustered.

Solitary flowers or flower-clusters are—

terminal, when borne at the summit of the stem;

axillary, when borne in the axils of the leaves.

A flower-cluster is called—

a raceme, when the flowers are arranged along the axis upon pedicels nearly equal in length;

a corymb, when the flowers are arranged as in the raceme, with the lower pedicels elongated, making the cluster flat-topped;

an umbel, when the pedicels arise from the same point, like the rays of an umbrella, and the cluster is flat-topped;

a panicle, when compound, irregularly made up of a number of racemes;

a spike, when like a raceme, the flowers being without pedicels;

a spadix, when it is a fleshy spike, generally enveloped by a large bract, called a spathe, as in the calla-lily;

an ament, or catkin, when it is a pendent spike, with scaly bracts, like the Willow;

a head, when it is a shortened spike, with a globular form;

a cyme, when it is branched and flat-topped, usually compound, with the older flowers in the center of each simple cluster.

THE INDIVIDUAL FLOWER

A complete flower consists of stamens and pistils (the organs of reproduction), and calyx and corolla (the floral envelops which protect the stamens and pistils). But any one of these organs may be absent.

The calyx is the outer floral envelop, which is more often green, though it is sometimes colored. It may consist of a number of separate parts, called sepals, or these may be more or less united.

The corolla is the inner floral envelop. It is usually colored, and forms the most beautiful feature of the flower, and plays an important part in attracting insects to it, which may carry on the work of fertilization. It may consist of a number of separate parts, called petals, or these may be more or less united, in which case the corolla is said to be gamopetalous. When the calyx and corolla are much alike, and seem like one floral circle, this is referred to as a perianth.

The stamens and pistils are called the essential organs of a flower, because they are necessary to the maturing of the fruit.

Perfect flowers have both sets of essential organs.

Imperfect flowers have but one set of essential organs.

Staminate (or male) flowers have only stamens;

Pistillate (or female) flowers have only pistils.

Neutral flowers have neither.

THE STAMEN

The stamen consists of two parts—the filament and the anther. The filament is the stalk of the stamen. The anther is the little case holding the pollen, or powdery substance, which, falling upon the stigma, is conducted downward into the ovary, where it quickens the ovules into life. The anther normally consists of two cells, which more often open lengthwise for the discharge of the pollen, though they sometimes open by terminal pores or chinks, or by uplifting lids.

Stamens sometimes undergo a morphological change, taking the form of scales or other bodies (as is the case in many of our Brodiæas), when they are called staminodia.

THE PISTIL

The pistil is the organ occupying the center of the flower. It consists of three parts—the ovary, or the enlarged part below, consisting of one or more cells or cavities, and containing the ovules, or unfertilized seed; the style, or the stem which upholds the stigma; the stigma, or the roughened portion which receives the pollen.

The pistil is simple, when it has but one ovary, style, stigma, etc.; compound, if any one of these is duplicated.

THE FRUIT

The fruit is the ripened ovary. After the ovules have been fertilized, the ovary is called a pericarp. Fruits may be either fleshy or dry.

The following are some of the principal kinds of dry fruits:—

A capsule is a dry, dehiscent (splitting) fruit, composed of more than one carpel or division;

an akene is a small, dry, hard, one-celled, one-seeded indehiscent fruit;

a follicle is a pod formed from a single pistil, dehiscing along the ventral suture only;

a legume is a simple pericarp, opening by both seams.

a samara is a dry, indehiscent fruit, having a wing.

The following are some of the principal kinds of fleshy fruits:—

A pome is a fruit like an apple or pear;

the pepo, or gourd, fruit is like that of the melon, squash, etc.;

the drupe is like that of the cherry, plum, and peach;

the berry is like that of the grape, currant, and tomato.

Aggregate fruits are those in which a cluster of carpels, all of one flower, are crowded upon the receptacle into one mass; as in the raspberry and blackberry.

IMPORTANT PLANT FAMILIES AND GENERA

[To avoid too long technical descriptions in the body of the work, a few of the more important plant families and genera have been inserted below, to which reference has been made in the technical descriptions.]

FAMILIES

Cruciferæ. Mustard Family.

Herbs with pungent, watery juice. Leaves.—Alternate; without stipules; entire or divided. Flowers.—Generally in racemes. Sepals.—Four. Petals.—Four; usually with narrowed base or claw; the blades spreading to form a cross. Stamens.—Six; two of them shorter than the other four. Ovary.—Two-celled; rarely one-celled. Style undivided, or none. Stigma entire or two-lobed. Fruit.—A silique—i.e. a capsule, in which the walls separate upward away from a central partition.

The Mustard family is a very large one, comprising over a hundred and seventy genera, and containing between one and two thousand species. It is widely distributed over all parts of the world, but is most abundantly represented in the cooler or temperate regions. It furnishes us with many useful plants; such as the mustard, horseradish, radish, cabbage, turnip, cauliflower, etc.

The genera of this order are very closely allied, and very difficult of discrimination. The fruit, as well as the flower, is necessary in the study of any given species.

Leguminosæ. Pea Family.

The order Leguminosæ is divided into three well-marked sub-orders—the Pea family proper, the Brasiletto family, and the Mimosa family. But as all our genera, save Cercis, fall under the first, we shall describe that only.

Papilionaceæ. Pea Family proper.

Herbs, shrubs, or trees. Leaves.—Usually alternate; compound; with stipules; the latter sometimes transformed into thorns or tendrils. Flowers.—Seldom solitary; usually in spikes, racemes or umbels. Calyx.—Five-toothed; often bilabiate. Corolla.—Irregular; of five petals; papilionaceous—i.e. the two lower petals more or less coherent, forming the keel; the two lateral ones often adherent to the keel, called the wings; the upper petal called the standard or banner. Stamens and pistil inclosed in the keel. Stamens.—Ten; their filaments either coherent into a tube surrounding the pistil; or nine of them united into a sheath, open above, the tenth lying in front of the cleft; or rarely all distinct. Ovary.—Superior; one-celled. Style.—Simple and incurved. Stigma.—Simple. Fruit.—A two-valved pod, of which the garden pea is typical.

The Pea family, including its three sub-orders, is one of the most important plant-families known. It is distributed over almost the entire world, and furnishes some of the most valuable products to man. The Judas-tree, the numerous acacias, and the sweet pea, are well known in our gardens; while among our most valuable vegetables are the bean, the pea, and the lentil. The clover and alfalfa are extremely important forage plants.

The order furnishes several important timber-trees, in different parts of the world, such as the Rosewood, the Laburnum, and the Locust; and yields numerous products of economic importance, such as licorice, senna, gum Senegal, gum Arabic, gum tragacanth, balsam of copaiba, balsam of Tolu, indigo, logwood, red sandalwood, etc.

Compositæ. Composite Family.

Herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves.—Usually alternate; without stipules. Flowers.—In a close head on a common receptacle, surrounded by an involucre, whose divisions are called scales or bracts. Calyx-tube.—Adnate to the one-celled ovary; its limb (called a pappus) crowning its summit in the form of bristles, awns, scales, teeth, etc.; or cup-shaped; or else entirely absent. Corolla.—Either strap-shaped or tubular; in the latter chiefly five-lobed. Stamens.—Five (rarely four); on the corolla; their anthers united in a tube. Style.—Two-cleft at the apex. Fruit.—An akene. Flowers with strap-shaped corollas are called ray flowers or rays. The tubular flowers compose the disk.

The Composite family is the largest of all plant-families, numbering twelve thousand species and upward, and is widely distributed over the world. In the cooler parts of the world the plants are mostly herbaceous, but toward the tropics they gradually become shrubs, and even trees. In North America they comprise about one sixth of all the flowering plants.

For so large a family there are comparatively few useful plants found in it. Among the products of the order, may be mentioned chicory, lettuce, the artichoke, the vegetable oyster, arnica, chamomile-flowers, wormwood, absinth, elecampane, coltsfoot, taraxacum, oil of tansy, etc. But our gardens owe to this family innumerable beautiful and showy plants such as the China aster, the chrysanthemum, the cosmos, zinnia, dahlia, ageratum, gaillardia, coreopsis, sunflower, etc., etc.

The plants of this family are quickly recognized by the flowers being always borne in a head and surrounded by an involucre, and presenting the appearance of a single flower. The heads are sometimes made up entirely of one kind of flower. The dandelion and the chicory are examples of a head made up entirely of ray-flowers, while the thistle consists of tubular flowers only. The more common arrangement, however, is the mixed one, comprising both tubular disk-flowers and strap-shaped rays, as in the daisy. The seeds are usually furnished with silken down or a delicate parachute to waft them abroad.

The identification of the flowers of this order is a very difficult matter, even for experienced botanists.

Labiatæ. Mint Family.

Herbs with square stems. Leaves.—Opposite; usually aromatic. Flowers.—Axillary, or often in whorls or heads. Corolla.—Bilabiate (rarely regular). Stamens.—Four (or only two). Ovary.—Deeply four-lobed; becoming four seedlike nutlets. Style single; arising from the midst of the lobes.

The plants of this order are easily recognized by the traits in the above description. But some of these traits are shared by the plants of the Figwort family, which have also the bilabiate corolla. The distinguishing character, however, is always to be found in the four-lobed ovary for the Figworts have a two-celled ovary.

This order is a large one; and there are no noxious or poisonous plants to be found in it. On the contrary, it comprises many useful plants, too well known almost to need enumeration—such as the lavender, peppermint, sage, horehound, thyme, spearmint, horsemint, pennyroyal, etc.

GENERA

Ceanothus, L. Buckthorn Family.

Shrubs or small trees, sometimes spinescent. Leaves.—Opposite or alternate; petioled; variously toothed or entire. Flowers.—Blue or white; small, usually not more than two or three lines across; borne in showy thyrsoid or cymose clusters. Calyx.—Petaloid; with short tube and five-cleft border, the lobes acute and connivent. Petals.—Five; long-clawed; hooded; inserted on the calyx-tube. Stamens.—Five; opposite the petals; long exserted. Ovary.—Three-lobed; three-celled. Style short; three-cleft. Fruit.—Dry; consisting of three dehiscent nutlets; sometimes crested.

The genus Ceanothus is mainly a Western one. Of its thirty or more species, two thirds are found in the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

In California we have about twenty species; and these all hybridize to such an extent, that often the determination of any given species is a very difficult matter. The genus reaches its culmination in the mountains of Santa Cruz County, where there are many beautiful species. Many of the species are commonly known as "California lilac."

Lupinus, Catullus. Pea Family.

Leaves.—Palmately divided, with from one to sixteen leaflets; stipules adnate; seldom conspicuous. Leaflets.—Entire; sessile. Flowers.—In terminal racemes, whorled or scattered. Calyx.—Deeply bilabiate; upper lip notched; lower usually entire, or occasionally three-toothed or cleft. Corolla.—Papilionaceous. Standard.—Broad, with sides reflexed. Wings.—Falcate; oblong; commonly slightly united at the tip in front of and inclosing the falcate, usually slender, pointed keel. Stamens.—With their filaments united in a tube; of two forms; five with longer and basifixed anthers; the alternate five with shorter and versatile ones. Pod.—Compressed; straight; two-valved. Style slender. Stigma bearded.

The Lupines are mostly plants of Western America. In fact, they are so abundant between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean that that territory is known among botanists as the "Lupine Region."

The species, which are very numerous, are difficult of determination, requiring very long technical descriptions, which cannot be given in a work like the present. For this reason we have been able to give but a few of the more easily recognized.

We have in California upwards of forty species. They are of little economic importance, although one or two species have been found very useful in the reclaiming of sand-dunes. Several species have been cultivated for ornament. The leaves are often beautiful and the flower-clusters showy.

The generic name is supposed to come from the Latin lupinus, a wolf, and to have been given because of the voracity evinced by the species in exhausting the soil.

Astragalus, Tourn. Pea Family.

Herbs, or sometimes plants woody at base. Leaves.—Alternate; with stipules; unequally pinnate. Flowers.—Rather small; chiefly in simple axillary spikes or racemes, upon a commonly elongated peduncle; papilionaceous. Calyx.—Five-toothed. Corolla and its slender-clawed petals usually narrow. Keel not pointed. Stamens.—Nine united; one free. Ovary.—One-celled; sometimes apparently two-celled. Pod.—Very various; commonly inflated. Seeds.—Few to many on slender stalks; generally small for the size of the pod.

The genus Astragalus is a very large one, comprising many species in most parts of the world, save Australia and South Africa. About two hundred species are native of North America, most of which are found in the region west of the Mississippi River. Of these several are known as "loco-weed," and are poisonous to sheep and cattle.

Very few species of this genus have any economic value. A. gummifer and some other similar species of Western Asia, low, spiny shrubs, yield the gum tragacanth of commerce.

Œnothera, L. Evening-Primrose Family.

Herbs, or plants sometimes woody at the base. Leaves.—Alternate. Flowers.—Axillary or in spikes or racemes. Calyx-tube.—More or less prolonged above the ovary with four reflexed segments.

Petals.—Four; obcordate to obovate; sessile; yellow to white, often tinged with red or turning red in fading. Stamens.—Eight; equal; or those opposite the petals shorter. Anthers perfect; two-celled; versatile. Ovary.—Four-celled; many ovuled. Style filiform. Stigma four-lobed or capitate. Fruit.—A capsule with the seeds in one or two rows in each cell.

The name Œnothera is from two Greek words, meaning wine and a hunt, or pursuit. Mr. Gray tells us that it was given in ancient times to some plant whose roots were eaten to provoke a relish for wine.

This is a large genus, containing a hundred or more species, which are mostly confined to America, about a quarter of them being Californian. Many of them are very beautiful and have long been favorites in gardens. The flowers are yellow or white, and are commonly designated as "evening primroses," as many of them open upon the edge of evening.

Godetia, Spach. Evening-Primrose Family.

The genus Godetia is closely allied to that of Œnothera; but is distinguished from the latter in several points. Its flowers are purple, lilac, or rose-colored—never yellow; the anthers are basifixed—i.e. fixed by their bases—not versatile; and the stigma, instead of being capitate, has four linear lobes.

The plants of this genus were formerly included under Œnothera; but it has been thought best to put them into a separate genus, which has been named for a Dr. Godet.

There are numerous species, many of them very beautiful and showy. They vary a great deal under different conditions and in different seasons, and are not well understood by botanists as yet.

The genus is confined to the western coast of North America, and is most largely represented in California.

The species flower mostly in late spring and early summer, which has given rise to the pretty name of "farewell to spring" for the plants of this genus.

Gilia, Renz. and Pav. Phlox or Polemonium Family.

Herbs or plants somewhat shrubby at base. Leaves.—Opposite or alternate; simple or compound; without stipules. Many species with showy flowers. All the parts of the flower five, except the pistil, which has a three-celled ovary and a three-lobed style. Calyx.—Imbricated in the bud. Corolla.—Regular; funnel-form, salver-form, or sometimes short campanulate or rotate; convolute in the bud. Stamens.—Five; on the corolla alternate with its lobes; distinct. Filaments mostly slender; sometimes unequal in length; not bearded at base.

This genus was named in honor of Philip Gil, a Spanish botanist. In America the name is pronounced jil'i-a, though according to the rules of the Spanish language he'li-a would be the correct pronunciation.

This is a comparatively large genus, comprising about a hundred species, most of which are native to the western parts of the United States. The flowers are often showy and beautiful, and some of them closely resemble the phloxes. A number are cultivated under the botanical name of Ipomopsis or Leptosiphon.

Phacelia, Juss. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.

Herbs, mostly branched from the base and hairy. Leaves.—Alternate; the lower sometimes opposite; simple or compound. Flowers.—Usually in one-sided scorpioid racemes. Calyx.—Deeply five-parted; without appendages. Corolla.—From almost rotate to narrowly funnel-form; five-lobed; with ten vertical plates or scales at the base within. Stamens.—Five; equally inserted low or at the base of the corolla. Ovary.—One-celled. Styles two; or one which is two-cleft. Fruit.—A capsule.

The name Phacelia is from a Greek word signifying a fascicle, or bunch, and refers to the fascicled or clustered flower-racemes.

This genus is closely allied to Nemophila, but differs from it in several points. The calyx is not furnished with appendages at the sinuses; the corolla is imbricated in the bud—i.e. the lobes overlap one another in the manner of bricks in a wall,—and is not convolute, or rolled up, as in Nemophila.

This is mainly a North American genus, having about fifty species, about thirty of which are Californian. Many of the species have beautiful and showy flowers, and are cultivated in gardens. The blossoms are blue, violet, purple, or white, but never yellow (save sometimes in the tube or throat).

Mimulus, L. Figwort Family.

Leaves.—Opposite; simple. Flowers.—Axillary on solitary peduncles; sometimes becoming racemose by the diminution of the upper leaves to bracts. Calyx.—Tubular or campanulate; mostly five-angled and five-toothed. Corolla.—Funnel-form; bilabiate; the upper lip erect, two-lobed; the lower three-lobed; a pair of ridges, either bearded or naked, running down the lower side of the throat. Stamens.—Four. Anthers often near together in pairs, with divergent cells. Ovary.—Superior; two-celled. Style filiform. Stigma two-lipped, with the lips commonly dilated and petaloid.

The genus Mimulus is so named from the shape of the corolla, which is supposed to resemble the gaping countenance of an ape. It comprises forty or fifty species, and affords us some of our most beautiful flowers. The greater number of species and the handsomest are Pacific, and several of our Californian species are especially prized in cultivation.

The plants of the genus are all known as "monkey-flowers." They exhibit an interesting character in the structure and movements of the stigma. It is usually composed of two somewhat expanded lips. These are extremely sensitive, and when touched, or when pollen has been received by them, they close quite rapidly.

Orthocarpus, Nutt. Figwort Family.

Low herbs; almost all annuals. Leaves.—Mainly alternate; sessile; often cut into from three to five filiform divisions; the upper passing into the bracts of the dense spike and usually colored, as are the calyx-lobes. Calyx.—Short-tubular or oblong-campanulate; evenly four-cleft, or sometimes cleft before and behind and the divisions again cleft. Corolla.—Tubular; the upper lip, or galea, little or not at all longer than the lower; small in comparison with the large, inflated, one- to three-saccate lower one, which usually bears more or less conspicuous teeth. Stamens.—Four; inclosed in the upper lip. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long. Stigma capitate. Fruit.—A capsule.

The genus Orthocarpus is mainly Californian, comprising within our borders something less than twenty species. Most of them are to be found from San Francisco northward and in the mountains.

They are closely related to the Castilleias, and resemble them closely in habit. The difference between the two genera lies in the relative sizes of the upper and lower lips of the corolla. In Castilleia the upper lip is the larger and more prominent; while in Orthocarpus the lower is much more conspicuous, often consisting of three inflated sacs.

The species are quite difficult of determination.

"Owl's clover" is a common English name for the plants of this genus.

Pentstemon, Mitchell. Figwort Family.

Perennial herbs, or rarely shrubby. Leaves.—Opposite, rarely whorled; the upper sessile or clasping; the floral gradually or abruptly reduced to bracts. Flowers.—Usually red, blue, purple, or white, rarely yellow; in raceme-like panicles. Calyx.—Five-parted. Corolla.—With a conspicuous and mostly elongated or ventricose tube; the throat swelling out on the lower if on either side; the limb more or less bilabiate, with the upper lip two-lobed and the lower three-cleft, recurved, or spreading. Stamens.—Four perfect; a fifth with a bearded filament only. Anther cells mostly united or running together at the summit. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long. Stigma entire.

The name Pentstemon is from two Greek words, signifying five and stamen. It was bestowed upon this genus because the fifth stamen is present, though sterile.

The genus is a large one, comprising seventy species, most of which are North American, though a few are Mexican. It is most abundantly represented in the Pacific States and the States west of the Mississippi. California has over twenty species, many of them very beautiful, a number of them being in cultivation.

"Beard-tongue" is the common English name for the plants of this genus.

From so many charming species it has been very difficult to select; and if the reader finds some beautiful flower of this genus which is unnamed in these pages, he is advised to consult the technical botanies.

Calochortus, Pursh. Lily Family.

Stem.—Branching; from a membranous-coated, sometimes fibrous-coated corm. Leaves.—Few; linear-lanceolate; the radical one or two much larger than those of the flexuous or erect stem. Flowers.—Few to many; showy; terminal or axillary, or umbellately fascicled. Perianth.—Deciduous; of six more or less concave segments; the three outer lanceolate, greenish, more or less sepal-like; the inner (petals) mostly broadly cuneate-obovate, usually with a conspicuous glandular pit toward the base, which is apt to be hidden by long hairs. Stamens.—Six. Anthers erect; basifixed. Ovary.—Three-celled; three-angled. Stigmas three; sessile; recurved. Capsule.—Three-angled or winged.

The Calochorti are the most widely diffused of all the liliaceous plants of the Pacific Coast, and comprise some of the most beautiful flowers in the world. "On the north they reach British America; one species is to be found as far east as Nebraska; and several are natives of Northern Mexico; and within these limits no considerable section of country is destitute of some species."[1] They are so closely allied to the true tulips that the common designation of them as "tulips" is not at all amiss.

The name Calochortus signifies beautiful grass. The members of the genus fall naturally into three general groups:—

First—The Globe Tulips, which have flexile stems, sub-globose, nodding flowers, and nodding capsules. Of these there are three—C. albus, C. pulchellus, and C. amœnus.

Second—The Star Tulips, having low, flexile stems, erect, starlike flowers, with spreading petals, and nodding capsules. They comprise C. Benthami, C. Maweanus, C. cœruleus, C. apiculatus, C. elegans, C. Tolmei, C. umbellatus, etc.

Third—The Mariposa Tulips, which are usually tall, fine plants, with stiff, erect stems, having erect, cup-shaped or open-campanulate flowers, usually large and handsome, followed by erect capsules.

They have a few narrow, grasslike, radical leaves, which have usually dried away by the time of flowering, which is in early summer, after the ground has become dry and hard. These inhabit our dry, open hillsides and grassy slopes, loving a stony, clayey, sandy, or volcanic soil. They comprise over thirty different known forms, and others are constantly being discovered.

They have a tendency to hybridize, and the various forms sport and vary, and run into one another in such a wonderful manner that the exact determination of all the species is an impossible task to all but a few experts—and even they are not certain about them all yet. We have given only a few of the commonest or best-characterized species.

Mariposa is the Spanish word meaning butterfly, and was applied on account of the marvelous resemblance of the markings of the petals of some of the forms to the wings of that insect.

FOOTNOTE

[1] Mr. Carl Purdy.

INTRODUCTORY

Situated on the western verge of the continent, so far removed from the other parts of our country, not only by great distance, but by those mighty natural barriers that traverse the continent from north to south, California is eminently individual in her natural features. Stretching through nine and one half degrees of latitude, with a sea-coast of seven hundred miles, and several ranges of fine and lofty mountains, there is probably not another State in the Union that has so wonderful a diversity of climate and vegetation. Her shores, bathed by the warm Japan Current, or Ku-ro Si-wa, which is deflected southward from Alaska, are many degrees warmer than their latitude alone would warrant.

Her general topography is simple and readily understood. The Sierra Nevada, or "snowy range," upon the eastern boundary, with its granite summits and its shoulders clothed with successive belts of majestic coniferous forests, with an occasional snow-peak towering above the range, forms the eastern wall of the great Central Valley, which is inclosed upon the west by the Coast Range, less in height than the Sierra, but equally beautiful, less forbidding, more companionable. The great Central Valley, four hundred and fifty miles long, is drained by two rivers, which meet in its center and break through the Coast Range, delivering their waters to the ocean through the Golden Gate. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers receive many important tributaries from the east, fed by the melting snows of the Sierras, and flow through one of the most fertile regions of the world.

The Sierras may be divided into five different belts, of varying altitudes along the length of the range, beginning with the foothill region, which may be termed the chaparral region. This is succeeded by the yellow-pine belt, above which is the sugar-pine, or upper forest, belt, which is in turn succeeded by the sub-alpine, while the alpine dominates all.

The Coast Range is channeled on both sides by many beautiful wooded cañons, affording homes for some of our loveliest flowers. Mr. Purdy writes of it: This "is not a continuous range, but a broken mass of parallel ridges from forty to seventy miles wide, with many other chains transverse to the general trend of the range, and inclosing numerous valleys, large and small, of widely different altitudes. In the Coast Range there is no warm belt, but isolated warm spots. Climate here can only be ascertained by experience. The geological formation of the ranges and the character of soils constantly vary, and often widely at short intervals. Hence the flora of this region is particularly interesting. It is hardly probable there is a more captivating field for the botanist in the world."

In the north and the south the two great ranges meet in some of the noblest snow-peaks on the continent. Below their southern junction, to the eastward, lies an arid desert region, and above their northern junction extends a dry and elevated plateau to the northeast. Thus there arises a great diversity of natural condition. As all living organisms are greatly influenced by their environment, the flora naturally distributes itself along the lines of climatic variation. Thus we have alpine species on the snowy heights of the Sierras, and sub-alpine forms luxuriating in the meadows fed from their snows; inland species in the Central Valley, and following some distance up its eastern and western walls; the leathery and hardy forms of the wind-swept coast; the curious prickly races of arid regions; delicate lovers of the cool and shaded brook; dwellers in marshes and on lake borders; denizens of dry, rocky hill-slopes, exposed to the glare of the sun; and inhabiters of shaded woods. It may be said that the most characteristically Western plants of our flora are to be found in the Central Valley, in the lower belts of the Sierras, and in the valleys of the Coast Range, many of which extend beyond our borders, both northward and southward. Many of our alpine species are common to the East, and our maritime flora is of necessity somewhat cosmopolitan, containing many introduced species from various parts of the world.

The climate of California is divided into two seasons—the wet and the dry,—the former extending from October to May, the latter occupying the remaining months of the year. And this climatic division coincides almost exactly with the area of the State. Of course, these dates are not absolute, as showers may occur beyond their limits.

It will be readily seen that the rainy season, or the winter, so-called, is the growing time of our year—the time when the earth brings forth every plant in his kind. On the other hand, the summer is the time of rest. Most of the plant-life having germinated after the first moisture of the fall, grows luxuriantly during the showery months of winter, blossoms lavishly in the balmy sunshine of early springtime, produces seed in abundance by early summer, and is then ready for its annual rest. Instead of shrouding the earth in snow during our period of plant-rest, as she does in more rigorous climes, Nature gently spreads over hill and valley a soft mantle of brown.

When the first shrill notes of the cicada are heard in late spring, we awake to a sudden realization that summer is at hand, and, looking about us, we see that the flowers have nearly all vanished; hill and valley no longer glow with great masses of color; only a few straggling species of the early summer remain; but they too are soon gone, and soft browns and straw-colors prevail everywhere. It is then that the deep, rich greens of our symmetrically rounded Live-Oaks, so characteristic of this region, show in fine contrast against this delicate background, forming a picture that every Californian dearly loves; the Madroño and the Laurel spread their canopies of grateful shade; while the Redwood affords cool retreats from the summer sun. Then our salt marshes, as though realizing the need of refreshing verdure, put on their most vivid greens; and our chaparral-covered hill-slopes make walls of bronze and olive.

Perhaps no coniferous forests in the world are so beautiful or so attractive as the Redwood forests of our Coast Ranges; and they play so important a part in the distribution of our plants, it will not be out of place to devote a little space to them here.

The main Redwood belt is of limited range, extending along the Coast from Monterey County to Humboldt County, and nowhere exceeding twenty miles in breadth. Straggling trees may be found beyond these limits, but nowhere a forest growth or trees of great size. In its densest portion, the stately and colossal trees are too close together to permit of a wagon passing between them.

Mr. Purdy writes: "The Redwood is not only a lover of moisture, but to an extent hardly to be believed, unless seen, a condenser and conserver of moisture. Their tops reach high into the sea of vapor, and a constant precipitation from them, like rain, takes place. The water stands in puddles in the roads under them. This causes the densest of undergrowth; hazels, huckleberries, various Ceanothi, ferns of large size and in greatest profusion, large bushes of rhododendron, and numerous other plants make the forest floor a perfect tangle in moister portions."

Many charming plants find their homes amid the cool shade of these noble trees. Trillium, and scoliopus, and dog's-tooth violets vie with clintonias and vancouverias in elegance and grace, while little creeping violets, and the lovely redwood-sorrel, and the salal make charming tapestries over the forest floor about these dim cathedral columns.

On the other hand, the open forest belts of the Sierras, which are of far greater extent, present another and quite different flora from that of the Coast Range and the Redwood belt. There may be found many interesting plants of the Heath family—cassiope, bryanthus, chimaphila, ledum, various pyrolas, and the snow-plant; there the aconite, false hellebore, eriogonums and gentians, and new and beautiful pentstemons and Mimuli and lilies deck the meadows and stream-banks.

After the season of blossoming is over in the lowlands, we may pass on up into the mountains and live again through a vernal springtime of flowers.

Perhaps in no country in the world does the arrival of the spring flowers "so transform the face of Nature as in California." The march of civilization has brought changes in its wake; the virgin soil has been broken and subdued into grainfields and vineyards; still enough of the lavish blossoming is left us to appreciate Mr. Muir's description of the face of the country as it appeared years ago. He says: "When California was wild, it was one sweet bee-garden throughout its entire length, north and south, and all the way across from the snowy Sierra to the ocean.... The Great Central Plain ... during the months of March, April, and May was one smooth, continuous bed of honey-bloom, so marvelously rich that in walking from one end of it to the other, a distance of four hundred miles, your foot would press about a hundred flowers at every step. Mints, gilias, nemophilas, castilleias, and innumerable Compositæ were so crowded together, that had ninety-nine per cent of them been taken away, the plain would still have seemed to any but Californians extravagantly flowery. The radiant, honeyful corollas, touching and overlapping and rising above one another, glowed in the living light like a sunset sky—one sheet of purple and gold.... Sauntering in any direction, hundreds of these happy sun-plants brushed against my feet at every step and closed over them as if I were wading in liquid gold. The air was sweet with fragrance, the larks sang their blessed songs, rising on the wing as I advanced, then sinking out of sight in the polleny sod; while myriads of wild bees stirred the lower air with their monotonous hum—monotonous, yet forever fresh and sweet as everyday sunshine."

PRELUDE

[a]O Land of the West]! I know How the field-flowers bud and blow, And the grass springs and the grain To the first soft touch and summons of the rain! O, the music of the rain! O, the music of the streams!

Ina D. Coolbrith

Toward the end of our long cloudless summer, after most other flowers have stolen away, Mother Nature marshals her great order of Compositæ for a last rally; and they come as welcome visitants to fill the places of our vanished summer friends.

Asters and goldenrods, grindelias, lessingias, and the numerous tarweeds, with their cheerful blossoms, relieve the sober browns of sun-dried hill-slopes and meadows, or fringe with color our roadsides and salt marshes.

But even these late-comers weary after a time, and one by one disappear, till there comes a season when, without flowers, Nature seems to be humbled in sackcloth and ashes. The dust lies thick upon roadside trees, a haze hangs like a veil in the air, and the sun beats down with fierce, continued glare.

As this wears on day after day, a certain vague expectancy creeps gradually over the face of things—a rapt, mysterious aspect, foreboding change. One day there is a telltale clarity in the atmosphere. Later, the sky darkens by degrees, and a dull, leaden hue spreads over the vault of heaven. Nature mourns, and would weep. Her heart is full to bursting; still the tears come not. The winds spring up and blow freshly over the parched land. A few hard-wrung drops begin to fall, and at length there closes down a thoroughgoing shower. The flood-gates are opened at last; the long tension is over, and we breathe freely once more.

During this first autumn rain, those of us who are so fortunate as to live in the country are conscious of a strange odor pervading all the air. It is as though Dame Nature were brewing a vast cup of herb tea, mixing in the fragrant infusion all the plants dried and stored so carefully during the summer.

When the clouds vanish after this baptismal shower, everything is charmingly fresh and pure, and we have some of the rarest of days. Then the little seeds, harbored through the long summer in Earth's bosom, burst their coats and push up their tender leaves, till on hillside and valley-floor appears a delicate mist of green, which gradually confirms itself into a soft, rich carpet—and all the world is in verdure clad. Then we begin to look eagerly for our first flowers.

FLOWER DESCRIPTIONS

A FANCY

I think I would not be A stately tree, Broad-boughed, with haughty crest that seeks the sky. Too many sorrows lie In years, too much of bitter for the sweet: Frost-bite, and blast, and heat, Blind drought, cold rains, must all grow wearisome, Ere one could put away Their leafy garb for aye, And let death come.

Rather this wayside flower! To live its happy hour Of balmy air, of sunshine, and of dew. A sinless face held upward to the blue; A bird-song sung to it, A butterfly to flit On dazzling wings above it, hither, thither,-- A sweet surprise of life,--and then exhale A little fragrant soul on the soft gale, To float--ah! whither?

--INA D. COOLBRITH.

White or occasionally or partially white flowers not described

in the White Section.

Described in the Yellow Section:—

Described in the Pink Section:—

Described in the Blue and Purple Section:—

Described in the Red Section:—

Described in the Miscellaneous Section:—

TOOTHWORT. PEPPER-ROOT. SPRING-BLOSSOM.

Dentaria Californica, Nutt. Mustard Family.

Roots.—Bearing small tubers. Stems.—Six inches to two feet high. Root-leaves.—Simple and roundish or with three leaflets. Stem-leaves.—Usually with three to five pinnate leaflets, one to three inches long. Flowers.—White to pale rose-color. Sepals and Petals.—Four. Stamens.—Four long and two short. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style simple. Pod.—Slender; twelve to eighteen lines long. Syn.—Cardamine paucisecta, Benth. Hab.—Throughout the Coast Ranges.

What a rapture we always feel over this first blossom of the year! not only for its own dear sake, but for the hopes and promises it holds out, the visions it raises of spring, with flower-covered meadows, running brooks, buds swelling everywhere, bird-songs, and the air rife with perfumes.

It is like the dove sent forth from the ark, this first tentative blossom, this avant courier of the great army of Crucifers, or cross-bearers, so called because their four petals are stretched out like the four arms of a cross.

It is usually in some sheltered wood that we look for this first shy blossom; but once it has proved the trustworthiness of the skies, it is followed by thousands of its companions, who then come out boldly and star the meadows with their pure white constellations.

The Latin name of this genus (from the word dens, a tooth), translated into the vernacular, becomes toothwort, the termination wort signifying merely plant or herb.

It was so named because of the toothed rootstocks of many species.

The little tubers upon the root often have a pungent taste, from which comes one of the other common names—"pepper-root." Various other names have been applied to these flowers, such as "lady's smocks" and "milkmaids."

[TOOTHWORT—Dentaria Californica.]

ZYGADENE.

Zygadenus Fremonti, Michx. Lily Family.

Bulb.—Dark-coated. Leaves.—Linear; a foot or two long; deeply channeled. Scape.—Three inches to even four feet high. Flowers.—White. Perianth Segments.—Six; strongly nerved; bearing at base yellow glands; inner segments clawed. Stamens.—Six; shorter than the perianth. Ovary.—Three-celled. Styles three; short. Capsule.—Three-beaked. Hab.—Coast Ranges, San Diego to Humboldt County.

The generic name, Zygadenus, is from the Greek, and signifies yoked glands, referring to the glands upon the base of the perianth segments.

We have several species, the most beautiful and showy of which is Z. Fremonti. This is widely distributed, and grows in very different situations. In our central Coast Range its tall stems, with their lovely clusters of white stars, make their appearance upon rocky hill-slopes with warm exposure, in the shelter of the trees, soon after the toothwort has sprinkled the fields with its white bloom. In the south it rears its tall stems upon open mesas, unprotected by the shelter of friendly tree or shrub, and in some localities it makes itself at home in bogs. It is possible that the future may reveal the presence of more than one species.