Chapter III: Preface (2)

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 Compositae 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

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 Compositae 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_:--

ANAGALLIS ARVENSIS--Pimpernel.

BRODIAEA LACTEA--White Brodiaea.

CALOCHORTUS WEEDII--Mariposa Tulip.

CUSCUTA--Dodder.

ERIOGONUM URSINUM.

ERYSIMUM GRANDIFLORUM--Cream-colored Wallflower.

ESCHSCHOLTZIA CALIFORNICA--California Poppy.

FLOERKIA DOUGLASII--Meadow-Foam.

HEMIZONIA LUZULAEFOLIA--Tarweed.

HOSACKIA BICOLOR.

MELILOTUS ALBA--White Sweet Clover.

PTEROSPORA ANDROMEDEA--Pine-Drops.

VERBASCUM BLATTARIA--Moth-Mullein.

_Described in the Pink Section_:--

APOCYNUM CANNABINUM--American-Indian Hemp.

DODECATHEON CLEVELANDI--Shooting-Stars.

GILIA ANDROSACEA.

LEWISIA REDIVIVA--Bitter-Root.

OXALIS OREGANA--Redw'd-Sorrel.

PHLOX DOUGLASII--Alpine Phlox.

RHUS INTEGRIFOLIA--Lemonade-Berry.

RHUS LAURINA--Sumach.

SILENE GALLICA.

TRIENTALIS EUROPAEA--Star-Flower.

_Described in the Blue and Purple Section_:--

BRODIAEA LAXA--Ithuriel's Spear.

CALOCHORTUS CATALINAE--Catalina Mariposa Tulip.

CALOCHORTUS MAWEANUS--Cat's-Ears.

CALOCHORTUS UMBELLATUS--White Star-Tulip.

CEANOTHUS DIVARICATUS--Wild Lilac.

CEANOTHUS THYRSIFLORUS--California Lilac.

COLLINSIA BICOLOR--Collinsia.

DELPHINIUM.

FRITILLARIA LILIACEA--White Fritillary.

IRIS DOUGLASIANA--Douglas Iris.

IRIS MACROSIPHON-Ground Iris.

POLYGALA CORNUTA.

SCUTELLARIA CALIFORNICA--White Skullcap

TRILLIUM SESSILE--Calif. Trillium.

_Described in the Red Section_:--

GILIA AGGREGATA--Scarlet Gilia.

AQUILEGIA COERULEA.

_Described in the Miscellaneous Section_:--

CEPHALANTHERA OREGANA--Phantom Orchis.

CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--California Lady's Slipper.

CYPRIPEDIUM MONTANUM--Mountain Lady's Slipper.

PROSARTES MENZIESII--Drops of Gold.

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."

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.

It has sometimes been called "soap-plant"; but this name more appropriately belongs to _Chlorogalum_. It somewhat resembles the Star of Bethlehem of Eastern gardens. The fact that it grows in boggy places has given rise to the name of "water-lily" in certain localities; but this ought to be discountenanced, as it bears not the slightest resemblance to the magnificent water-lily of Eastern ponds.

Another species--_Z. venenosus_, Wats.--is found from Monterey and Mariposa Counties to British Columbia. This may be distinguished from the above by its narrow leaves--only two or three lines wide,--usually folded together, and by its smaller flowers, with perianth segments only two or three lines long; and also by the fact that the stamens equal the segments in length. The bulb is poisonous, and our Northern Indians call it "death camass," while the farmers in the Sierras call it "Lobelia," not because of any resemblance to that plant, but because its poisonous effects are similar to those of the latter. It is fatal to horses, but hogs eat it with impunity, from which it is also known as "hogs' potato." It is found in moist meadows or along stream-banks, in June and July.

POISON-OAK.

_Rhus diversiloba_, Torr. and Gray. Poison-Oak or Cashew Family.

_Shrubs._--Three to fifteen feet high. _Leaflets._--One to four
inches long. _Flowers._--Greenish white; small. _Sepals and
Petals._--Usually five. _Stamens._--As many or twice as many as
the petals. _Ovary._--One-celled. Styles three: distinct or
united. _Fruit._--A small, dry, striate, whitish drupe.
_Hab._--Throughout California.

The presence of the poison-oak in our woods and fields makes these outdoor haunts forbidden pleasures to persons who are susceptible to it. It is closely allied to the poison-ivy of the Eastern States, and very similar in its effects. It is a charming shrub in appearance, with beautiful glossy, shapely leaves; and in early summer, when it turns to many shades of scarlet and purple-bronze, it is especially alluring to the unsuspecting. It is quite diverse in its habit, sometimes appearing as an erect shrub, and again climbing trees or rock surfaces, by means of small aerial rootlets, to a considerable height. Horses eat the leaves without injury; and the honey which the bees distill from its small greenish-white flowers is said to be excellent.

Many low plants seek the shelter of these shrubs, and some of our loveliest flowers, such as Clarkias, Godetias, Collinsias, Brodiaeas, and larkspurs, seem to realize that immunity from human marauders is to be had within its safe retreat.

The remedies for oak-poisoning are numerous; and it may not be out of place to mention a few of them here. Different remedies are required by different individuals. Any of the following plants may be made into a tea and used as a wash: Grindelia, manzanita, wild peony, California holly, and _Rhamnus Purshiania_, or _Californica_. Hot solutions of soda, Epsom salts, or saltpeter are helpful to many, and the bulb of the soap-root,--_Chlorogalum pomeridianum_--pounded to a paste and used as a salve, allowing it to dry upon the surface and remain for some hours at least, is considered excellent. In fact, any pure toilet soap may be used in the same manner.

WAKE-ROBIN.

_Trillium ovatum_, Pursh. Lily Family.

_Rootstock._--Thickened. _Stem._--Erect; stout; a foot or more
high; bearing at summit a whorl of three sessile leaves.
_Leaves._--Rhomboidal; acuminate; netted-veined; five-nerved;
two to six inches long. _Flower._--Solitary; pure white,
turning to deep rose; peduncle one to three inches long.
_Sepals._--Three; herbaceous. _Petals._--One or two inches
long. _Stamens._--Six. _Ovary._--Three-celled. Stigmas three;
sessile. _Capsule._--Broadly ovate: six-winged. _Hab._--The
Coast Ranges, from Santa Cruz to British Columbia.

The wake-robin is in the vanguard of our spring flowers, and a walk into some high, cold cañon while the days are still dark and short will be amply rewarded by the finding of its white and peculiarly pure-looking blossoms standing upon the bank overlooking the streamlet. The blossoms remain unchanged for a time, and then, as they fade, turn to a deep purplish rose-color.

Our wake-robin so closely resembles _T. grandiflorum_, Salisb., of the Eastern States, that it seems a pity it should have been made into a different species.

BEACH-STRAWBERRY.

_Fragaria Chilensis_, Ehrhart. Rose Family.

_Hab._--The coast, from Alaska to San Francisco and southward.

This beautiful strawberry is found growing near the seashore, where its large, delicious berries are often buried beneath the shifting sand, becoming bleached in color. It sometimes covers acres with its thick, shining, dark-green leaves, among which are sprinkled its large pure-white flowers, an inch or more across.

The wood-strawberry--_F. Californica_--is very common in the Coast Ranges; but for the most part it is dry and flavorless.

=MANZANITA. BEARBERRY.=

_Arctostaphylos manzanita_, Parry. Heath Family.

Shrubs three to twenty-five feet high, with purple-brown bark.
_Leaves._--Pale. _Flowers._--White or pinkish; in crowded
clusters. _Corolla._--Four or five lines long; campanulate.
_Stamens._--Ten; filaments dilated and bearded at base; anthers
two-celled, opening terminally, each cell furnished with a long
downward-pointing horn. _Ovary._--Globose; five to ten-celled.
Style simple. _Fruit._--Six lines in diameter, containing
several bony nutlets. _Syn._--_Arctostaphylos pungens_, HBK.
_Hab._--Throughout the State.

Of all our shrubs, the manzanita is the most beautiful and the best known. Sometimes as early as Christmas it may be found in full bloom, when its dense crown of pale foliage, surmounting the rich purple-brown stems, is thickly sown with the little clusters of fragrant waxen bells. After the blossoms have passed away, the shrubs put forth numerous brilliant scarlet or crimson shoots, which at a little distance look like a strange and entirely new kind of blossoming. The manzanita is closely allied to the madroño, and resembles it in many ways, particularly in the annual peeling of its rich red bark and in the form of its flowers.

The Greek generic name, translated into English, becomes "bearberry." The pretty Spanish name--from _manzana_, apple, and the diminutive, _ita_,--was bestowed by the early Spanish-Californians, who recognized the resemblance of the fruit to tiny apples.

We have a dozen or more species of _Arctostaphylos_, but _A. manzanita_ is the commonest of them all. It varies greatly in size and habit. In localities most favorable it becomes a large, erect shrub, with many clustered trunks, while in the Sierras it finds but a precarious footing among the granite rocks, often covering their surfaces with its small tortuous, stiff branches. The leaves, by a twisting of their stalks, assume a vertical position on the branches, a habit which enables many plants of dry regions to avoid unnecessary evaporation.

The largest manzanita known is upon the estate of Mr. Tiburcio Parrott, in St. Helena, Napa County, California. It is thirty-five feet high, with a spread of branches equal to its height, while its trunk measures eleven and a half feet in circumference at the ground, soon dividing into large branches. It is a veritable patriarch, and has doubtless seen many centuries. According to an interesting account in "Garden and Forest," it once had a narrow escape from the ax of a woodman. A gentleman who was a lover of trees, happening to pass, paid the woodman two dollars to spare its life.

Years ago no traveler from the East felt that he could return home without a manzanita cane, made from as straight a branch as could be secured.

The berries of this shrub are dry and bony and quite unsatisfactory. They are, however, pleasantly acid, and have been put to several uses. It is said that both brandy and vinegar are made from them, and housewives make quite a good jelly from some species. Bears are fond of the berries, and the Indians eat them, both raw and pounded into a flour, from which mush is made. The leaves made into a tincture or infusion are now an officinal drug, valued in catarrh of the throat or stomach.

From Monterey to San Diego is found _A. glauca_, Lindl., the great-berried manzanita. It closely resembles the above, but its berries are three fourths of an inch in diameter.

Of the same range as the last is _A. bicolor_, Gray, whose leaves are of a rich, shining green above and white and woolly beneath. Its berries are the size of a pea, yellowish at first, and turning red later.

CALIFORNIAN SAXIFRAGE.

_Saxifraga Californica_, Greene. Saxifrage Family.

_Leaves._--Few; all radical; oval; one to two inches long, on
broad petioles six to twelve lines long. _Scape._--Six to
eighteen inches high. _Flowers._--White or rose; four or five
lines across. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft, with reflexed lobes.
_Petals._--Borne on the calyx. _Stamens._--Ten.
_Ovaries._--Two; partly united. Styles short. Stigmas capitate.
_Syn._--_S. Virginiensis_, Michx. _Hab._--Throughout the State.

In the rich soil of cool northward slopes, or on many a mossy bank amid the tender young fronds of the maidenhair, may be found the delicate clusters of our little Californian saxifrage. The plants are small, with but a few, perhaps only one or two, oval, rather hairy leaves, lying upon the ground, and a slender red scape upholding the dainty cluster of small white flowers. The tips of the calyx-lobes are usually red, and the wee stamens are pink.

We have several species of saxifrage, most of which are plants of exceeding delicacy and grace, and with small flowers.

MINER'S LETTUCE. INDIAN LETTUCE.

_Montia perfoliata_, Howell. Purslane Family.

Smooth, succulent herbs. _Radical Leaves._--Long-petioled;
broadly rhomboidal. _Stems._--Simple; six to twelve inches
high, having, near the summit, a pair of leaves united around
the stem. _Flowers._--White. _Sepals._--Two. _Petals._--Five,
minute. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--One-celled Style slender.
Stigma three-cleft. _Syn._--_Claytonia perfoliata_, Don.
_Hab._--Throughout California.

Though our Indian lettuce is closely allied to the Eastern "Spring Beauty," one would never suspect it from its outward appearance and habit. The little flower-racemes look as though they might have pushed their way right through the rather large saucer-like leaf just below them. The succulent leaves and stems are greedily eaten by the Indians, from which it is called "Indian lettuce."

Mr. Powers, of Sheridan, writes that the Placer County Indians have a novel way of preparing their salad. Gathering the stems and leaves, they lay them about the entrances of the nests of certain large red ants. These, swarming out, run all over it. After a time the Indians shake them off, satisfied that the lettuce has a pleasant sour taste equaling that imparted by vinegar. These little plants are said to be excellent when boiled and well seasoned, and they have long been grown in England, where they are highly esteemed for salads.

WOOD ANEMONE. WIND-FLOWER.

_Anemone quinquefolia_, L. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.

_Rootstock._--Horizontal. _Stem._--Six to fourteen inches high.
_Leaves._--Radical leaf remote from the stem; trifid; the
segments serrate. Involucral leaf not far below the flower;
three foliolate. _Sepals._--Petaloid; five or six; usually
bluish outside. _Petals._--Wanting. _Stamens and
Pistils._--Numerous. _Akenes._--Two lines long; twelve to
twenty. _Syn._--_Anemone nemorosa_, L. _Hab._--The Coast
Ranges, in moist shade.

The delicate blossoms of the wood anemone might at first be confounded with those of the toothwort by the careless observer, but a moment's reflection will quickly distinguish them. The anemone is always a solitary flower with many stamens, and its petals are of a more delicate texture. It grows upon wooded banks or cool, shaded flats among the redwoods.

There are many quaint traditions as to the origin of its name, and poets have from early times found something ideal of which to sing in these simple spring flowers.

The generic name has the accent upon the third syllable, but, when Anglicized into the common name, the accent falls back upon the second.

OSO-BERRY.

_Nuttallia cerasiformis_, Torr. and Gray. Rose Family

Deciduous shrubs; two to fifteen feet high. _Leaves._--Broadly
oblanceolate; two to four inches long; narrowed into a short
petiole. _Flowers._--White; in short terminal racemes;
dioecious; three to eleven lines across. _Calyx._--Top-shaped,
with five-lobed border. _Petals._--Five; inserted with ten of
the stamens on the calyx; broadly spatulate.
_Stamens._--Fifteen. _Ovaries._--Five. Styles short.
_Fruit._--Blue-black, oblong drupes; six to eight lines long.
_Hab._--Chiefly the Coast Ranges from San Luis Obispo to Fraser
River.

About the same time that the beautiful leaves of the buckeye are emerging from their wrappings, we notice in the woods a shrub which has just put forth its clusters of bright-green leaves from buds all along its slender twigs. Amid their delicate green hang short clusters of greenish-white flowers. These blossoms have a delicious bitter fragrance, redolent of all the tender memories of the springtime.

This shrub is usually mistaken for a wild plum; and the illusion is still further assisted when the little drupes, like miniature plums, begin to ripen and hang in yellow and purple clusters amid the matured leaves.

WILD DATE. SPANISH BAYONET.

_Yucca Mohavensis_, Sargent. Lily Family.

_Trunk._--Usually simple; rarely exceeding fifteen feet high;
six or eight inches in diameter; naked, or covered with
refracted dead leaves, or clothed to the ground with the living
leaves. _Leaves._--Linear-lanceolate; one to three feet long;
one or two inches wide; rigid; margins at length bearing coarse
recurved threads. _Flowers._--In short-stemmed or sessile,
distaff-shaped panicles, a foot or two long; pedicels
eventually drooping, twelve to eighteen lines long.
_Perianth._--Broadly campanulate. _Segments._--Six; thirty
lines long; six to twelve wide. _Stamens._--Six; six to nine
lines long; filaments white, club-shaped. _Ovary._--Oblong;
white; an inch or two long, including the slender style.
Stigmas three. _Fruit._--Cylindrical; three or four inches
long; pendulous, pulpy. _Syn._--_Yucca baccata_, Torr.
_Hab._--Southern California, from Monterey to San Diego; coast
and inland.

The genus _Yucca_ comprises sixteen or eighteen species, and reaches its greatest development in Northern Mexico. Three species are to be found within our borders, two of which are arborescent, _Y. arborescens_, and _Y. Mohavensis_. Considerable confusion has hitherto reigned among the species, but they are now better understood.

They are all valuable to our Indians as basket and textile plants, and are useful to them in many other ways.

Owing to the structure of the flowers, self-fertilization seems impossible, and scientists who have made a study of the subject say that these plants are dependent upon a little white, night-flying moth to perform this office for them. This little creature goes from plant to plant, gathering the pollen, which she rolls up into a ball with her feet. When sufficient has been gathered, she goes to another plant, lays her egg in its ovary, and before leaving ascends to the stigma and actually pushes the pollen into it, seeming to realize that unless she performs this last act, there will be nothing for her progeny to eat. This seems an almost incredible instance of insect intelligence; but it is a well-authenticated fact.

_Yucca Mohavensis_, commonly called "wild date," or "Spanish bayonet," is more widely distributed within our borders than either of our other species. Its large panicle of overpoweringly fragrant white waxen bells is a striking object wherever seen. On the coast this yucca is often stemless, but in the interior, where it is more abundant, it rises to a considerable height, and culminates upon the Mojave Desert, where the finest specimens are found.

The fruit, which ripens in August and September, turns from green to a tawny yellow, afterward becoming brownish purple, and eventually almost black. This has a sweet, succulent flesh, and, either fresh or dried, is a favorite fruit among the Indians. Dr. Palmer writes that this is one of the most useful plants to the Indians of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California. They cut the stems into slices, beat them into a pulp, and mix them with the water in washing, as a substitute for soap.

The leaves are parched in ashes, to make them pliable, and are afterward soaked in water and pounded with a wooden mallet. The fibers thus liberated are long, strong, and durable, and lend themselves admirably to the weaving of the gayly decorated horse-blankets made by the tribes of Southern California. They also make from it ropes, twine, nets, hats, hair-brushes, shoes, mattresses, baskets, etc.

FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL.

_Smilacina sessilifolia_, Nutt. Lily Family.

_Rootstock._--Slender; branching; creeping; scars not
conspicuous. _Stem._--About a foot long (sometimes two);
usually zigzag above; leafy. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile;
lanceolate; two to six inches long; shining above; spreading in
a horizontal plane. _Flowers._--White; few; in a simple
terminal raceme, on pedicels two to seven lines long.
_Perianth._--Of six, distinct, spreading segments.
_Segments._--One and one half to four lines long; lanceolate.
_Stamens._--Six; half the length of the segments.
_Ovary._--Three-celled. Style short. _Berry._--Nearly black;
three to five lines through. _Hab._--Monterey to British
Columbia.

The False Solomon's Seal is one of the prettiest plants in our woods in March, and in many places it almost hides the ground from view. It has a graceful, drooping habit that shows its handsome, spreading leaves to full advantage, and its few delicate little white blossoms are a fitting termination to the pretty sprays.

_S. amplexicaulis_, Nutt., is a very handsome, decorative plant, with fine, tall, leafy stem, and large, feathery panicle of tiny white flowers. The broadened white filaments are the most conspicuous part of these blossoms, which are less than a line long. The berries are light-colored, dotted with red or purple.

MIST-MAIDENS.

_Romanzoffia Sitchensis_, Bongard. Baby-eyes or Water leaf Family.

_Leaves._--Six to eighteen lines across; smooth.
_Flowers._--White, pink, or purple. _Calyx._--Deeply
five-parted. _Corolla._--Funnel-form; five-lobed; four lines
long. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--Two-celled. _Hab._--Coast
Ranges, from Santa Cruz northward.

In appearance these delicate herbs resemble the saxifrages, and they affect much the same sort of places, decking mossy banks and stream borders with their beautiful scalloped leaves and small white flowers.

The genus was named in honor of Nicholas Romanzoff, a Russian nobleman, who, by his munificence, enabled some noted botanists to visit this coast early in the century.

STRAWBERRY CACTUS. CALIFORNIAN FISH-HOOK CACTUS. LLAVINA.

_Mamillaria Goodridgii_, Scheer. Cactus Family.

Oval, fleshy, leafless plants; mostly single, though sometimes
clustered; three to five inches long; covered with prominences
or tubercles. _Tubercles._--Each bearing a flat rosette of
short, whitish spines, with an erect, dark, fish-hook-like
central one. _Flowers._--Small; greenish-white. _Outer
Sepals._--Fringed. _Petals._--About eight; awned.
_Stamens._--Numerous. _Ovary._--One-celled. Stigmas five or
six. _Fruit._--Scarlet; an inch long. _Hab._--San Diego and
neighboring islands, and southward.

The dry hill-slopes about San Diego afford the most interesting field accessible to civilization, _i.e._ within our boundaries, for the gathering and study of the cacti.

Nestling close to the ground, usually under some shrub or vine, you will find the little fish-hook cactus, one of the prettiest and most interesting of them all. Its oval form bristles with the little dark hooks, each of which emanates from a flat star of whitish spines.

The flowers may be found in April or May, but it is more noticeable when in fruit. The handsome scarlet berries, like old-fashioned coral eardrops, protruding from among the thorns, are easily picked out, and they very naturally find their way to one's mouth. Nor is one disappointed in the expectation raised by their brilliant exterior--for the flavor is delicious, though I cannot say it resembles that of the strawberry, as some aver. To me it is more like a fine tart apple.

THIMBLE-BERRY.

_Rubus Nutkanus_, Mocino. Rose Family.

_Stems._--Three to eight feet high. _Leaves._--Palmately and
nearly equally five-lobed; cordate at base; four to twelve
inches broad; the lobes acute; densely tomentose beneath.
_Flowers._--Few; clustered; white, sometimes pale rose; an inch
or two across, with rounded petals. _Stamens and
Pistils._--Numerous. _Fruit._--Large; red; "like an inverted
saucer;" sweet and rather dry. _Hab._--Monterey to Alaska.

The thimble-berry is unequaled for the canopy of pure light-green foliage which it spreads in our woods. It would take the clearest of water-colors to portray its color and texture. The large white flowers, with their crumpled petals, are deliciously fragrant, but with us are never followed by an edible fruit, probably owing to the dryness of our summer climate. In Oregon and northward the berries are said to be luscious. There the bushes grow in the fir forests, where they seem most at home.

_Rubus spectabilis_, Pursh., the salmon-berry, has leaves with three leaflets, and large solitary, rose-colored flowers, which are followed by a salmon-colored berry. These shrubs are exceedingly beautiful when in full bloom.

COMMON WILD PEA.

_Lathyrus vestitus_, Nutt. Pea Family.

_Stems._--One to ten feet high; slender; not winged.
_Leaves._--Alternate; with small semi-sagittate stipules;
pinnate, with four to six pairs of leaflets; tendril-bearing at
the summit. _Leaflets._--Ovate-oblong to linear; six to twelve
lines long; acute. _Flowers._--White, pale rose or violet;
seven to ten lines long. _Lower Calyx-teeth._--About equaling
the tube. _Corolla._--Papilionaceous; the standard veined with
purple in the center. _Stamens._--Nine united; one free.
_Ovary._--Flattened; pubescent. Style hairy down the inner
side. (See _Leguminosae_.) _Hab._--Sonoma County to San Diego.

The genus _Lathyrus_, which contains the beautiful sweet pea of the garden, affords us several handsome wild species, but most of them are difficult of determination, and many of them are as yet much confused. This genus is quite closely related to _Vicia_, but, in general, the leaflets are broader, the flowers are larger, and the style is hairy down the inner side as well as at the tip.

_Lathyrus vestitus_ is the common wild pea of the south. It is quite plentiful, and clambers over and under shrubs, hanging out its occasional clusters of rather large pale flowers.

_L. Torreyi_, Gray, found from Santa Clara County to Napa in dry woods, is a slender plant, having from one to three small white or pinkish flowers. It is remarkable for and easily distinguished by its very fragrant foliage.

WILD CUCUMBER. BIG-ROOT. CHILICOTHE.

_Echinocystis fabacea_, Naudin. Gourd Family.

Tendril-bearing vines, ten to thirty feet long.
_Root._--Enormous; woody. _Leaves._--Palmately five- to
seven-lobed; three to six inches broad. _Flowers._--Yellowish
white; monoecious. _Calyx-tube._--Campanulate; teeth small or
none. _Corolla._--Five- to seven-lobed; three to six lines
across. _Staminate Flowers._--Five to twenty in racemes; their
stamens two and a half, with short connate filaments and
somewhat horizontal anthers. _Pistillate Flowers._--Solitary;
from the same axils as the racemes. _Ovary._--Two- to
four-celled. _Fruit._--Two inches long; prickly.
_Syn._--_Megarrhiza Californica_, Torr. _Hab._--Near the coast,
from San Diego to Point Reyes.

The wild cucumber is one of our most graceful native vines. It drapes many an unsightly stump, or clambers up into shrubs, embowering them with its pretty foliage. Seeing its rather delicate ivy-like habit above ground, one would never dream that it came from a root as large as a man's body, buried deep in the earth. From this root, it has received two of its common names, "big-root" and "man-in-the-ground." Sometimes this may be seen upon the ocean beach or rolling about in the breakers, where it has been liberated by the wearing away of the cliffs. It is intensely bitter.

The seeds have a very interesting method of germinating. The two large radical leaves remain underground, sending up the terminal shoot only. They are so tender and succulent that they would be eaten forthwith, if they showed themselves above the ground. An oil expressed from the roasted seeds has been used by the Indians to promote the growth of the hair.

Authorities have differed about the classification of these plants, and they have been variously called _Megarrhiza, Micrampelis_, and _Echinocystis_, the latter being latest approved. We have several species. One common in the South is _E. macrocarpa_, Greene. This has a large oval, prickly ball, four inches or so long. When mature, this opens at the top, splitting into several segments, which gradually roll downward, like the petals of a beautiful white lily, showing their pure-white inner surfaces and leaving exposed the four cells in the center, with lacelike walls, in which nestle the large, handsome dark seeds. These seeds are often beautifully mottled and colored, and in the early days served the Spanish-Californian children for marbles.

WHITE LAYIA. WHITE DAISY.

_Layia glandulosa_, Hook. and Arn. Composite Family.

_Stems._--Six to twelve inches high; loosely branching; hairy;
often reddish. _Leaves._--Sessile; linear; the upper all small
and entire; the lower often lanceolate and incised pinnatifid.
_Heads._--Usually large and showy. _Ray-flowers._--Bright, pure
white, sometimes rose-color; eight to thirteen; three-lobed; an
inch or less long; six lines wide. _Disk-flowers._--Golden
yellow; five-toothed. Each scale of the involucre clasping a
ray-flower. _Hab._--Columbia River to Los Angeles.

These white daisies, as they are commonly called in the south, cover the fields and plains in early spring, jostling one another in friendly proximity and stretching away in an endless perspective. They are of a charming purity, and to me are more attractive than their sisters, the tidy-tips.

They love a sandy soil, and I have seen them flourishing in the disintegrated granite of old river-beds, where the dazzling whiteness of the stones was hardly distinguishable from the blossoms. The involucre is thickly studded with curious little glands, resembling small glass-headed pins.

BED-STRAW. GOOSE-GRASS. CLEAVERS.

_Galium Aparine_, L. Madder Family.

Climbing by the prickly stem-angles and leaf-margins.
_Stems._--Weak; one to four feet long. _Leaves._--In whorls of
six to eight; linear oblanceolate; one inch long.
_Peduncles._--Elongated; one- to two-flowered.
_Flowers._--Minute; one line across; greenish-white.
_Calyx-tube._--Adnate to the ovary; limb obsolete.
_Corolla._--Mostly four-cleft. _Stamens._--Four.
_Ovary._--Two-lobed, two-celled. Styles two, short. Stigmas,
capitate. _Fruit._--Two or three lines across, covered with
hooked bristles. _Hab._--Throughout the State.

All through our moist woodlands, in early spring, the long stems of the bed-straw may be found, running about upon the ground or entangled amid the stems of other plants. The angles of these weak stems and the leaf-margins and midribs are all clothed with small backward-pointing bristles, which make the plants cling to surrounding objects. The flowers are greenish and minute, and are followed by tiny prickly balls.

A cold infusion of this little plant is used as a domestic remedy in cases of fever, where a cooling drink is desired.

The genus has received the common name of "bed-straw," because it was supposed that one of the species, _G. verum_, filled the manger in which was laid the Infant Jesus. There are a dozen or so species in California.

Very conspicuous all through the south is _G. angustifolium_, Nutt., often three feet high, sending up very numerous slender, feathery stems from a woody base. This has its small leaves in whorls of four.

MOUNTAIN HEART'S-EASE.

_Viola Beckwithii_, Torr. and Gray. Violet Family.

_Leaves._--Broadly cordate in outline; three-parted; the
divisions cleft into linear or oblong segments.
_Peduncles._--About equaling the leaves. _Petals._--Four to
seven lines long; very broad; the upper deep purple, the others
lilac, bluish, or white, veined with purple, with a yellowish
base; the lateral bearded; the lowest emarginate.
_Stigma._--Bearded at the sides. _Capsule._--Obtuse. (Otherwise
as _V. pedunculata_.) _Hab._--The Central Sierras.

"By scattered rocks and turbid waters shifting,
By furrowed glade and dell,
To feverish men thy calm, sweet face uplifting,
Thou stayest them to tell

"The delicate thought that cannot find expression--
For ruder speech too fair,--
That, like thy petals, trembles in possession,
And scatters on the air."

The poet, with a delicate insight, has made this mountain flower the reminder to the rugged miner of home and scenes far away. But the vision lasts but for a moment only; then, as he brushes away a tear, his uplifted pick--

"Through root and fiber cleaves--
And on the muddy current slowly drifting
Are swept thy bruised leaves.

"And yet, O poet! in thy homely fashion,
Thy work thou dost fulfill;
For on the turbid current of his passion
Thy face is shining still."

POP-CORN FLOWER.

WHITE FORGET-ME-NOT. NIEVITAS.

Borage Family.

The wild white forget-me-nots are among our most welcome flowers. Though not showy, taken singly, they often cover the fields, presenting the appearance of a light snowfall, from which fact the Spanish-Californians have bestowed the pretty name "nievitas," the diminutive of _nieve_, snow.

Their chief charm often lies in their pure, delightful fragrance, which recalls the days of our careless, happy childhood. Children are keen observers of flowers, and are among their most appreciative lovers, and with them these modest, chaste little blossoms are special favorites.

There are many species, and even genera, and their determination is beset with serious difficulties. It requires endless study and patience to disentangle the facts about any one of them. They are comprised under several genera, _Krynitzkia_, _Plagiobothrys_, _Eritrichium_, _Piptocalyx_, etc. Some have fragrant flowers and some have not. Children of the south call them "pop-corn flowers."

WHIPPLEA.

_Whipplea modesta_, Torr. Saxifrage Family.

Slender, diffuse, hairy undershrubs. _Leaves._--Opposite;
short-petioled; ovate; toothed or entire; an inch or less long;
three-nerved. _Flowers._--White; barely three lines across; in
small terminal clusters. _Calyx._--White; five-cleft.
_Petals._--Five. _Stamens._--Usually ten. Filaments awl-shaped.
_Ovary._--Three- to five-celled, globose. Styles of the same
number. _Hab._--Coast Ranges from Monterey to Mendocino County.

Under the redwoods, or in moist cañons in their vicinity, may be found this pretty undershrub trailing over banks or brushwood. In April its exquisite little clusters of pure white flowers, with a pleasant fragrance, make their appearance, and the plants have then been sometimes mistaken for a species of _Ceanothus_.

WOODLAND STAR OF BETHLEHEM.

_Tellima affinis_, Bolander. Saxifrage Family.

_Stems._--Slender; six to twenty inches high.
_Root-leaves._--Round-reniform; scalloped; rarely an inch
across. _Stem-leaves._--Three to five; ternately cleft;
variously toothed. _Flowers._--White; in a loose raceme; nine
lines across. _Calyx._--Small; campanulate; five-toothed.
_Petals._--Five; wedge-shaped, with three acute lobes.
_Stamens._--Ten. Filaments very short. _Ovary._--One-celled.
Styles, three, short, stout. Stigmas, capitate. _Hab._--Shady
places almost throughout the State.

"Star of Bethlehem" is the common name by which many of our children know this fragile flower. Its slender stems rise from many a mossy bank, upbearing their few delicately slashed, pure-white stars, which seem to shed a gentle radiance about them upon the woodland scene.

WILD BUCKWHEAT.

_Eriogonum fasciculatum_, Bentham. Buckwheat Family.

Shrubby; very leafy. _Leaves._--Alternate; nearly sessile;
narrowly oblanceolate; acute; tomentose beneath; glabrous
above; three to nine lines long; much fascicled.
_Flowers._--White or pinkish; in densely crowded compound
clusters; several perianths contained in the involucres.
_Involucres._--Campanulate; five- or six-nerved and toothed; two
lines high. _Perianth._--Minute; of six nearly equal segments.
(See _Eriogonum umbellatum_.) _Hab._--Santa Barbara and
southward; east to Arizona.

The wild buckwheat is a characteristic feature of the southern landscape. It is a charming plant when in full bloom, and its feathery clusters of pinkish-white flowers show finely against the warm olive tones of its foliage. It is a very important honey plant, as it yields an exceptionally pure nectar and remains in bloom a long time. Growing near the sea, it is often close-cropped and shorn by the wind, and then it quite closely resembles the _Adenostoma_, or chamisal.

Another very widely distributed and common species is _E. nudum_, Dougl. Every one is familiar with its tall, green, naked, rushlike stems, bearing on the ends of the branchlets the small balls of white or pinkish flowers. Its leaves are all radical, smooth green above and densely white-woolly beneath.

SIERRA PLUM. WILD PLUM.

_Prunus subcordata_, Benth. Rose Family.

Trees or shrubs three to ten feet high, with ash-gray bark and
branchlets occasionally spinescent. _Leaves._--Short-petioled;
ovate; sharply and finely serrate; an inch or two long.
_Umbels._--Two- to four-flowered. Pedicels three to six lines
long. _Flowers._--White; six lines across. _Fruit._--Red or
purple; six to fifteen lines long; fleshy; smooth. (Otherwise
as _P. ilicifolia_.) _Hab._--Mostly eastward of the Central
Valley, from San Felipe into Oregon.

The wild plum reaches its greatest perfection in the north, where the shrubs are found in extensive groves covering whole mountain slopes.

The flowers, which are produced before the leaves, from March to May, are white, fading to rose-color. By August and September, the bushes are loaded with the handsome fruit, richly mottled with red, yellow, and purple; and these colors are duplicated in the autumn foliage, which in the North becomes very brilliant.

This fruit is excellent for canning, preserving, and making into jelly. Many families make annual pilgrimages to these wild-plum orchards of the mountains and carry away bushels of the fruit; but even then countless tons of it go to waste.

_P. demissa_, Walpers,--the wild cherry or choke-cherry,--is found upon mountains throughout the State, but less abundantly near the coast. Its small white flowers grow in racemes three or four inches long, and these ripen into the pretty shining black cherries, half an inch in diameter. It often covers acres upon acres of rough land, and commences to bear when but two feet high.

Housewives of our mountain districts make a marmalade of the fruit, which has a peculiarly delicious, tart flavor.

ELLISIA.

_Ellisia chrysanthemifolia_, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.

More or less hairy. _Stems._--Loosely branching; a foot or so
high. _Leaves._--Mostly opposite; auricled at base; twice- or
thrice-parted into many short, small lobes. _Flowers._--In
loose racemes; white; three lines or so across.
_Calyx._--Five-cleft; without appendages at the sinuses; almost
equaling the corolla. _Corolla._--Open-campanulate; having ten
minute scales at base within. _Stamens._--Five.
_Ovary._--One-celled; globose. Style slender; two-cleft.
_Hab._--San Francisco to San Diego.

These little plants, with delicately dissected leaves, are common in moist, shaded localities; but, unfortunately, their foliage has a very strong odor, which just escapes being agreeable. Their general aspect is somewhat similar to that of some of the small species of _Nemophila_; but the lack of appendages upon the calyx reveals their separate identity. It blooms freely from March to June, and is especially abundant southward.

MADROÑO. MADRONE.

_Arbutus Menziesii_, Pursh. Heath Family.

Shrubs or trees. _Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; oblong; entire
or serrulate; four inches or so long. _Flowers._--White; waxen;
in large clusters. _Calyx._--Five-cleft; minute; white.
_Corolla._--Broadly urn-shaped; three lines long; with five
minute, recurved teeth. _Stamens._--Ten; on the corolla.
Filaments dilated; bearded. Anthers two-celled; saccate;
opening terminally; furnished with a pair of reflexed horns
near the summit. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style rather long.
_Fruit._--A cluster of scarlet-orange berries, with rough
granular coats. _Hab._--Puget Sound to Mexico and Texas;
specially in the Coast Ranges.

Captain of the Western wood,
Thou that apest Robin Hood!
Green above thy scarlet hose,
How thy velvet mantle shows;
Never tree like thee arrayed,
O thou gallant of the glade!

When the fervid August sun
Scorches all it looks upon,
And the balsam of the pine
Drips from stem to needle fine,
Round thy compact shade arranged,
Not a leaf of thee is changed!

When the yellow autumn sun
Saddens all it looks upon,
Spreads its sackcloth on the hills,
Strews its ashes in the rills,
Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff,
And in limbs of purest buff
Challengest the somber glade
For a sylvan masquerade.

Where, oh where shall he begin
Who would paint thee, Harlequin?
With thy waxen, burnished leaf,
With thy branches' red relief,
With thy poly-tinted fruit,
In thy spring or autumn suit,--
Where begin, and oh, where end,--
Thou whose charms all art transcend?

--BRET HARTE.

The name "madroño" was applied by the early Spanish-Californians to this tree because of its strong resemblance and close relationship to the _Arbutus unido_, or strawberry-tree of the Mediterranean countries, which was called madroño in Spain.

Our madroño, though but a large shrub in the south, increases in size northward, and reaches its maximum development in Marin County, where there are some superb specimens of it. One tree upon the shores of Lake Lagunitas measures more than twenty-three feet in circumference and a hundred feet in height, and sends out many large branches, each two or three feet in diameter.

A large part of the forest growth on the northern slopes of Mt. Tamalpais is composed of it; and as it is an evergreen, it forms a mountain wall of delightful and refreshing green the year around. The bark on the younger limbs, which is of a rich Indian red, begins to peel off in thin layers about midsummer, leaving a clear, smooth, greenish-buff surface, and strewing the forest floor with its warm shreds, which mingling with the exquisite tones of its ripened leaves, which have fallen at about the same time, make a carpet equal in beauty of coloring to that under the English beeches. It is thoroughly patrician in all its parts. The leaves which are clustered at the ends of the slender twigs are rich, polished green above, and somewhat paler beneath.

In the spring it puts forth great panicles of small, white, waxen bells, which call the bees to a sybaritic feast, and in the autumn it spreads a no less inviting repast in its great clusters of fine scarlet berries for the blue pigeons who visit it in large flocks.

The wood of the madrone is hard and close-grained, of a light brown, shaded with red, with lighter-colored sap-wood. It is used in the manufacture of furniture, but is particularly valuable for the making of charcoal to be used in the composition of gunpowder. The bark is sometimes used in tanning leather.

WILD WHITE LILAC.

_Ceanothus velutinus_, Dougl. Buckthorn Family.

Widely branching shrubs, two to six feet or more high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; roundish, or broadly ovate;
eighteen lines to three inches long; polished, resinous above;
somewhat pubescent beneath; strongly three-nerved.
_Flowers._--White; three lines across; in large, dense,
compound clusters four or five inches long and wide. (See
_Ceanothus_ for flower structure.) _Hab._--Coast Ranges;
Columbia River, southward to San Francisco Bay; also eastward
to Colorado.

Its ample bright-green, highly varnished leaves and large white flower-clusters make this a very beautiful species of _Ceanothus_. The foliage is glutinous with a gummy exudation, which has a rather disagreeable odor. Yet the shrub would be very handsome in cultivation.

WHITE NEMOPHILA.