Chapter II: Yellow (2)

_W. mollis_, Gray, or "Indian wheat," is very abundant in the Sierras, growing all through the open woods, and covering great tracts of dry gravelly soil. Its large, coarse, somewhat woolly radical leaves stand erect and clustered, usually having a flower-stalk or two in their midst, bearing some smaller leaves, and several yellow flower-heads, which resemble small sunflowers with yellow centers. It has a strong odor, and gives a characteristic smell to the region where it grows. The common name, "Indian wheat," has been bestowed upon it not because it in the least resembles wheat, but because the Indians gather the seed in great quantities and grind it into a flour.

CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM.

_Fremontia Californica_, Torr. Hand-tree Family.

Shrubs or trees from two to twenty feet high.
_Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; round-cordate to round-ovate;
moderately three- to five-lobed or cleft; woolly or whitish
beneath; the larger two inches wide.
_Flowers._--Short-peduncled on very short lateral branches;
numerous; one to three inches across; having three to five
small bractlets. _Calyx._--Corolla-like; brilliant gold,
five-cleft nearly to the base; the lobes having a rounded,
hairy pit at base. _Corolla._--Wanting. _Filaments._--United to
their middle; each bearing a linear, adnate, curved, two-celled
anther. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style filiform. _Hab._--Dry
Sierra foothills, from Lake County southward.

No more beautiful sight is often seen than a slope covered with the wild slippery-elm in blossom. The bushes are almost obscured from view by the masses of large golden flowers. This shrub takes on various forms; sometimes sending out in every direction long slender branches, which are solid wreaths of the magnificent blooms; and again assuming a more erect, treelike habit. It has been hailed with delight in the gardens of our Southern States, and heartily welcomed in France and England. Why do not _we_ honor it with a place in our own gardens, instead of giving room to so many far less beautiful exotics?

It flowers in early summer, and its season of bloom is said to last only about two weeks, but the brilliant hibiscus-like blossoms, drying upon their stems, maintain for a long time a semblance of their first beauty. The branches are tough and flexible, and are often cut for whips by teamsters. Among the mountaineers it is generally known as "leatherwood." But this name properly belongs to another entirely different plant, _Dirca palustris_.

The bark of the _Fremontia_ so closely resembles that of the slippery-elm in taste and other qualities, that it is difficult to distinguish between them; and it is used in the same manner for making poultices.

We are told that this shrub thrives best upon a disintegrated granite soil, and reaches its finest development upon the arid slopes bordering such rainless regions as the Mojave Desert. It was first discovered by General Fremont when crossing the Sierras, about half a century ago, and was named in his honor. It is closely related to the mallows.

DODDER. LOVE-VINE. GOLDEN-THREAD.

_Cuscuta_, Tourn. Morning-Glory Family.

Leafless plants with filiform, yellow or orange-colored stems;
germinating in the soil; soon breaking off and becoming
parasitic upon other plants. _Flowers._--Small; white; densely
clustered. _Calyx._--Usually five-cleft or parted.
_Corolla._--Tubular or campanulate; four- or five-toothed or
lobed. _Stamens._--On the corolla, alternate with its lobes.
Filaments with fringed scales below. _Ovary._--Globose;
two-celled. Styles two.

. . . "while everywhere
The love-vine spreads a silken snare,
The tangles of her yellow hair."

Though popularly known as the love-vine, because of its clinging habit, it must be confessed that this pernicious plant in no respect merits the title. On the other hand, it might with propriety be called the octopus of the plant world. If you break a branch from a plant which has become its victim, you can see how it has twined itself about it, drawing its very life-blood from it at every turn, by means of ugly, wartlike suckers.

It is no wonder, however, that people are generally deceived as to the moral character of this plant--for it is indeed a beautiful sight, when it spreads its golden tangle over the chamisal, wild buckwheat, and other plants, often completely hiding them from view.

We have a number of species. _C. salina_ often covers our salt marshes with brilliant patches of orange.

LARGE YELLOW LUPINE.

_Lupinus arboreus_, Sims. Pea Family.

Shrubby; four to ten feet high. _Flowers._--Large; in a loose,
whorled raceme; sulphur-yellow; very fragrant.
_Leaflets._--Four to eleven; generally about nine; narrowly
lanceolate; nine to twenty lines long. _Pods._--Two to three
inches long; ten- to twelve-seeded; silky pubescent. (See
_Lupinus_.) _Hab._--Common from the Sacramento to San Diego.

The large yellow lupine is a common plant upon our wind-swept mesas, growing in sandy soil. Its shrubby form, somewhat silvery foliage, and large canary-colored, very fragrant flowers make it always a conspicuous and beautiful plant.

This species, together with _L. albifrons_, have been found most useful in anchoring the shifting sands of the dunes near San Francisco. It was accidentally discovered in a deep cutting that these lupines sent their roots down sometimes twenty feet, and the idea was conceived of making use of them in the above manner. Barley, which grows more rapidly than the lupine, was sown to protect the plants while very young. In a single year the lupines covered the sands with a dense growth, two or three feet high, sufficient to prevent them from shifting during the severest storms, and to allow of the subsequent planting of various pines, willows, and other trees. Thus the way was prepared for one of the most beautiful of pleasure-grounds--the Golden Gate Park of San Francisco which can hardly be rivaled anywhere for natural situation and diversity of scene.

One of our handsomest species is _L. Stiveri_, Kell., found in the Yosemite. Its blossoms have yellow standards and rose-colored wings.

ST. JOHN'S-WORT.

_Hypericum concinnum_, Benth. St. John's-wort Family.

_Stems._--Three to eighteen inches high; branching from a woody
base. _Leaves._--Opposite; often in four ranks; linear to
oblong; six lines to an inch or more long; usually folded;
translucently dotted. _Flowers._--Golden yellow; over an inch
across. _Sepals._--Five. _Petals._--Five; margins black-dotted.
_Stamens._--Numerous; in three bunches. _Ovary._--Usually
three-celled. Styles three. _Hab._--Central California.

Just as spring is merging into summer, we may look for the bright golden flowers of our common St. John's-wort. The numerous stamens give these blossoms a feathery appearance, and the leaves often group themselves characteristically in four ranks upon the stems.

All the plants of the genus are known as St. John's-wort, because certain of the species were supposed to flower upon the anniversary of this saint. Perhaps there are no other plants around which tradition has thrown such a glamour. Mr. Dyer says, in his interesting book, "The Folk-Lore of Plants," that the St. John's-wort was supposed to be an excellent amulet against lightning, and that it had the magic property of revealing the presence of witches; whence in Germany it was extensively worn on St. John's Eve, when the air was supposed to be peopled with witches and evil spirits, who wandered abroad upon no friendly errands. In Denmark it is resorted to by anxious lovers who wish to divine their future.

GOLDEN DICENTRA.

_Dicentra chrysantha_, Hook. and Arn. Bleeding-heart Family.

_Stems._--Glaucous and smooth; two to five feet high.
_Leaves._--The larger ones a foot long or more; finely
dissected into small linear lobes. _Flowers._--Erect; yellow;
six to nine lines long; in a loose terminal panicle a foot or
two long. _Sepals._--Two; small; caducous.
_Corolla._--Flattened and cordate; of two pairs of petals; the
outer larger, saccate at base, and with spreading tips; the
inner much narrower, spoon-shaped, their tips cohering and
inclosing the anthers and stigma. _Stamens._--Six.
_Ovary._--One-celled. Style slender. Stigma two-lobed.
_Hab._--Dry hills, Lake County to San Diego.

The arrangement of the essential organs in the genus _Dicentra_ is very curious and interesting. The six stamens are borne in two companies of three each, which stand in front of the outer petals, and have their filaments more or less united at the base. The central stamen in each group has a two-celled anther, while its neighbor on either hand has but a one-celled anther. The stigma-lobes often bend downward prettily, like the flukes of a little anchor.

To this genus belongs the beautiful Oriental bleeding-heart of the garden; and we have two or three interesting native species.

_D. chrysantha_ is usually a somewhat coarse plant, lacking the grace of _D. formosa_, the Californian bleeding-heart. The pale leaves, which are minutely and delicately dissected, are suggestive of the fronds of certain Japanese ferns. But the flower-stalks are often stiff and sparsely flowered, and the blossoms, which are erect, not pendulous, have an over-powering narcotic odor, much like that of the poppy. These plants may be found upon dry hillsides or in sandy washes in early summer, where the brilliant yellow blossoms are quite conspicuous. One view of these flowers is not unlike the conventionalized tulip.

This species is said to thrive well in cultivation and make a very effective plant when grown in rich garden soil.

CALIFORNIAN DANDELION.

_Troximon grandiflorum_, Gray. Composite Family.

Herbs with woody tap-root and milky juice. _Leaves._--All
radical; lanceolate or oblanceolate; mostly laciniately
pinnatifid. _Scapes._--One to two and one half feet high.
_Heads._--Solitary; two inches or so across; of strap-shaped
yellow rays only. _Involucre._--Of several series of imbricated
scales, the outer foliaceous and loose. _Receptacle._--Mostly
naked; pitted. _Akenes._--Two lines long; tapering into a
filiform beak six or eight lines long, surmounted by a tuft of
silk. _Hab._--Washington to Southern California near the Coast.

The common dandelion of the East has found its way into our lawns, but it never adapts itself as a wild plant to the vicissitudes of our dry summer climate. Nature has given us a dandelion of our own, of a different genus, which is quite as beautiful, though its flowers are not so vivid a gold. They are larger than those of the Eastern plant, and are borne upon taller stems. In early summer the large, ethereal globes of the ripened seed are conspicuous objects, hovering over our straw-tinted fields.

Mr. Burroughs writes of the dandelion:--"After its first blooming, comes its second and finer and more spiritual inflorescence, when its stalk, dropping its more earthly and carnal flower, shoots upward and is presently crowned by a globe of the most delicate and aerial texture. It is like the poet's dream, which succeeds his rank and golden youth. This globe is a fleet of a hundred fairy balloons, each one of which bears a seed which it is destined to drop far from the parent source."

If gathered just before they open and allowed to expand in the house, these down-globes will remain perfect for a long time and make an exquisite adornment for some delicate vase.

We have several other species of _Troximon_, but this is our finest.

* * * * *

_Hosackia bicolor_, Dougl. Pea Family.

Smooth throughout; erect; two feet high. _Leaves._--With rather
large, scarious, triangular stipules; pinnate.
_Leaflets._--Five to nine; obovate or oblong; six to twelve
lines long. _Peduncles._--Three- to seven-flowered; naked or
with a small scarious, one- to three-leaved bract.
_Flowers._--Seven lines long. _Calyx-teeth._--Triangular; half
as long as the tube. _Standard._--Yellow; wings and keel white.
_Stamens._--Nine united; one free. _Pod._--Linear; nearly two
inches long; acute. _Hab._--Middle California to the State of
Washington.

The yellow and white blossoms of this pretty _Hosackia_ are quite showy, and are usually found upon low ground near the seaboard.

Another similar species, also having a yellow standard and white wings and keel, is _H. Torreyi_, Gray. This is more or less silky pubescent; its wings are not spreading, its leaflets are narrower, and the bract of the umbel is sessile. This is found along shaded stream-banks both in the higher Coast Ranges and in the Sierras, and blooms in summer.

_H. gracilis_, Benth., with the standard yellow and the widespreading wings and shorter keel of rose-color, occurs in moist meadows along the coast from Monterey to the Columbia. It blooms by the middle of April.

_H. crassifolia_, Benth., a very large species, two or three feet high, with greenish-yellow or purplish flowers, is abundant in the Yosemite Valley about the borders of meadows. It is also common in the foothill region.

SKUNK-CABBAGE.

_Lysichiton Camtschatcensis_, Schott. Arum Family.

_Rootstock._--Thick; horizontal. _Leaves._--All radical;
oblong-lanceolate; acute; one to three feet or more long; three
to ten inches broad; narrowed to a short petiole or sessile.
_Flowers._--Small, crowded on a spadix, at the summit of a
stout peduncle becoming six to twelve inches long.
_Spadix._--With an erect, spoon-shaped spathe, one and one-half
to two feet long; bright yellow. _Perianth._--Four-lobed.
_Stamens._--Four. Filaments short, flat. _Ovary._--Conical;
two-celled. Stigma depressed. _Fruit._--Fleshy, coalescent and
sunk in the rachis. _Hab._--Peat bogs; from Mendocino County
northward to Alaska; also, perhaps, in the Rocky Mountains.

In our northwestern counties, before the frost is entirely out of the ground, the leaves of the skunk-cabbage may be seen pushing their way up through the standing water of marshy localities. They soon attain a great size, and resemble the leaves of the banana-tree. They are of a rich velvet-green, slightly mottled, and are said to rival some of the tropical productions of our greenhouses.

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the disagreeableness of these leaves. I suspect the odor lies mostly in the slimy, soapy sap, and is not very noticeable if they are not bruised or cut.

When the plants are in bloom, in May and June, they are very handsome, the large spoon-shaped, golden spathes being conspicuous at some distance. As this spathe withers away, the flower-stalk continues to grow, and its little greenish-yellow blossoms become brown.

The peppery root is highly esteemed for medicinal purposes, and is gathered and made into a salve, which is considered a specific for ringworm, white swelling, inflammatory rheumatism, etc. The root is said to enter largely into the composition of a patent medicine called "Skookum."

Mr. Johnson, of the U.S. Forestry Department in Oregon, tells me that the bears are very fond of this root, and dig industriously for it, often making a hole large enough to bury themselves, and he mentions having seen whole fields plowed up by them in their search for it.

This plant belongs to the same family as the skunk-cabbage of the East and the calla-lily. It has been found in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

BLAZING-STAR.

_Mentzelia laevicaulis_, Torr. and Gray. Loasa or Blazing-star Family.

_Stems._--Stout; two or three feet high; white.
_Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate; sinuate-toothed; two
to eight inches long. _Flowers._--Sessile, on short branches;
light yellow or cream-color; three or four inches across.
_Calyx-tube._--Cylindrical; naked; limb five-cleft nearly to
the base. _Petals._--About ten; oblanceolate; acute.
_Stamens._--Numerous on the calyx; almost equaling the petals.
_Ovary._--One-celled; truncate at summit. Style three-cleft.
_Capsule._--Fifteen lines long. _Hab._--San Diego to the
Columbia River, and eastward to Wyoming.

After most other flowers have departed, the magnificent blossoms of the _Mentzelia_ come forth. It seems as though they had waited for the firmament to be clear of other stars before bursting upon the sight. Their enormous blossoms are crowned by the soft radiance of the long stamens, "like the lashes of light that trim the stars."

These plants are furnished with barbed hairs, which cause them to cling to whatever they come in contact with. They are of tall and spreading habit, and are often found in the dry beds of streams, where their flowers open in the daytime--unlike those of _M. Lindleyi_, which open at night.

_M. Lindleyi_, Torr. and Gray, is one of the most brilliantly radiant of all our flowers. Its charming blossoms, which open on the edge of evening, are of a delicate silken texture, and of the richest gold. When the flowers first open, the stamens lie flat upon the petals; but they gradually rise up, forming a large tuft in the center of the flower. The faded sepals crown the long seed-vessel, like the flame of the conventional torch seen in old pictures. This grows in the Monte Diablo Range; and Niles and Alum Rock are convenient places to find it. It is cultivated in Eastern gardens under the name of _Bartonia aurea_.

STONECROP.

_Sedum spathulifolium_, Hook. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.

_Leaves._--Alternate; fleshy; spatulate; six to ten lines long;
sessile; crowded in rosettes at the ends of the decumbent
branches. _Scapes._--Four to six inches high. _Flowers._--In
compound, one-sided, loose cymes; their parts four or five;
pale-yellow. _Sepals._--United at base. _Petals._--Lanceolate;
three lines long. _Stamens._--Twice the number of the petals.
_Pistils._--Equaling the number of the petals; attenuate into
the short styles. _Ovaries._--One-celled. _Hab._--Middle
California to Vancouver Island.

Blooming somewhat earlier than the "hen-and-chickens," but in similar situations, the stonecrop often clothes rock-masses with beautiful color. The common name, "orpine," was given on account of the yellow, or orpine, flowers; and the name "stonecrop," from its always growing in stony places.

PRICKLY-PEAR. TUNA.

_Opuntia Engelmanni_, Salm. Cactus Family.

Erect, bushy, spreading shrubs without leaves, with flattened
stems produced in successive, compressed oval Joints.
_Joints._--Six to twelve inches long; studded sparsely with
bundles of stout spines. _Flowers._--Solitary; sessile; yellow
or red; about three inches across. _Sepals_, petals, and
stamens numerous in many series, their cohering bases coating
the one-celled ovary and forming a cup above it.
_Petals._--Spreading. Style one, with several stigmas.
_Fruit._--Purple; oval; pulpy; juicy; two inches long.
_Hab._--Southern California, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc.

The genus _Opuntia_ is divided into two sections, consisting respectively of flat-stemmed and cylindrical-stemmed plants, the former commonly known as "prickly-pear," or "tuna," the latter as _Cholla cactus_.

Of the former, _O. Engelmanni_ is our commonest wild species. It is the one seen from the car-windows growing in great patches upon the Mojave Desert, and it is abundant upon dry hills all through the south. There are two varieties of it--_var. occidentalis_, Engelm., the form prevalent in the interior, and _var. littoralis_, Engelm., found upon the sea-coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

These plants have a very leathery, impermeable skin, from which evaporation takes place but slowly, which enables them to inhabit arid regions. The fruit is sweet and edible, and the Indians, who are especially fond of it, dry large quantities for winter use. They make of the fresh fruit a sauce, by long-continued boiling, which they regard as especially nutritious and stimulating after it is slightly fermented. They also roast the leaves in hot ashes and eat the slimy, sweet substance which is left after the outer skin and thorns have been removed.

Cattle-men of the southern plains plant the different species as hedges about their corrals, and feed the succulent joints to their stock after burning off the spines.

Several Mexican species were planted in the early days about the Missions by the Padres, as defensive hedges, and remnants of these redoubtable fortifications, ten to fifteen feet high, are still to be seen stretching for miles through our southern fields.

In Mexico the _Opuntia tuna_ is largely cultivated for the rearing of cochineal insects.

VENEGASIA.

_Venegasia carpesioides_, DC. Composite Family.

Several feet high; leafy to the top. _Leaves._--Alternate;
slenderly petioled; cordate or ovate-deltoid; crenate; two to
four inches long; thin. _Flower-heads._--Large; two-inches
across, including the rays; yellow; slender-peduncled; composed
of ray- and disk-flowers. _Rays._--Over an inch long; six lines
wide; two- or three-toothed; fertile; about fifteen.
_Involucre._--Broad; of many roundish-green scales; becoming
scarious inward. _Hab._--Santa Barbara and southward.

This plant, with its ample thin leaves and large yellow flowers, would arrest the attention anywhere. It often grows under the shade of trees in cool cañons, where its blossoms brighten the twilight gloom. It is an admirable plant, and has but one drawback--its rather unpleasant odor. It is the only species of the genus which was named in honor of an early Jesuit missionary, Michael Venegas. It is especially abundant and beautiful about Santa Barbara.

FALSE PIMPERNEL.

_Hypericum anagalloides_, Cham. and Schlecht. St. John's-wort Family.

_Stems._--Numerous; weak; low; spreading; rooting at the
joints. _Leaves._--Two to six lines long; oblong to round;
clasping. _Flowers._--Three or four lines across;
salmon-colored. _Stamens._--Fifteen to twenty.
_Capsule._--One-celled. _Hab._--Lower California to British
Columbia, eastward into Montana.

In moist places the prostrate stems of this little plant often make dense mats.

Its specific name indicates its resemblance to the Anagallis, or pimpernel. In fact, one might easily imagine it a pimpernel with salmon-colored flowers.

CANCER-ROOT. NAKED BROOM-RAPE.

_Aphyllon fasciculatum_, Gray. Broom-rape Family.

Leafless parasitic plants. _Stems._--Scaly; thickened and
knotty below, and bearing on their summits few or many
clustered, one-flowered peduncles of about the same length.
_Flowers._--Yellowish; sometimes purplish or reddish outside.
_Calyx._--Slenderly five-toothed. _Corolla._--Tubular; over an
inch long, with five spreading lobes; somewhat bilabiate.
_Stamens._--Four; in pairs; included. _Ovary._--One-celled.
Style slender. Stigma two-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout California,
eastward to Lake Superior.

There are about half a dozen species of cancer-root known upon our Coast, all strange-looking, leafless plants, of very doubtful moral character--for I fear it must be confessed they are thieves. Stealthily sending their roots down and imbedding them in the roots of their victims, they draw from them the nourishment needed for their sustenance. But they have been overtaken by the proper retributive punishment--for having no longer any need of organs for the elaboration of nourishment, they are denied green leaves, the most beautiful adornment of many plants; and even the flowers of some of them seem to us to have a sickly, unwholesome hue. However, it must be acknowledged that these plants are quite interesting, despite their evil ways.

_A. fasciculatum_ usually blooms in early summer, on dry, rocky hills, and is parasitic upon the roots of sagebrush, wild buckwheat, etc.

YELLOW MARIPOSA TULIP.

_Calochortus luteus_, Dougl. Lily Family.

_Stems._--Four to twelve inches high; bearing a single bulblet
inclosed in the stem-sheath. _Leaves._--Very narrow; one to
three lines wide. _Flowers._--Erect; cup-shaped; yellow; small;
not oculated, but the petals striated with brown lines,
especially on the middle third. _Gland._--Transversely oblong
to lunate; densely hairy with orange-colored ascending hairs,
with scattered spreading hairs about it. _Capsule._--Broad at
the base; tapering upward. _Hab._--Clay soil; Coast Ranges from
Mendocino County to San Diego.

The typical _C. luteus_, as described above, is the least beautiful of all the Mariposa tulips, being lower of stature and smaller of flower than most of the others; but among its varieties may be found some of the most charming flowers of the genus, the true butterfly-tulips of the early Spanish, often oculated and marked in a wonderful manner. In color and marking they often run closely into forms of _C. venustus_, the only constant characters by which to distinguish them being found in the shape of the gland and the capsule and the character of the soil in which they grow.

There are two well-marked varieties--_citrinus_ and _oculatus_--besides numerous other forms, where the species seems to have run riot in color and marking. The _var. citrinus_ is a strong, vigorous-growing plant, with flowers of a deep lemon-yellow, with a large, distinct, very dark maroon eye on each petal. It is exceedingly beautiful.

SILVER-WEED. CINQUEFOIL.

_Potentilla Anserina_, L. Rose Family.

_Stems._--Prostrate. _Leaves._--All radical; a foot or so long;
pinnate, with seven to twenty-one leaflets with smaller ones
interposed. _Leaflets._--Sessile; oblong; toothed; shining
green; silvery beneath. _Flowers._--Bright yellow;
long-peduncled; solitary; an inch across. _Sepals._--Five; with
five bractlets between. _Petals._--Five. _Stamens._--Twenty to
twenty-five. _Pistils._--Numerous; on a hairy receptacle.
_Hab._--Throughout North America.

The bright golden blossoms of the silver-weed are common in moist places, haunting stream-banks, lingering about stagnant ponds, or even pushing their way up amid the grasses of our salt marshes. The white under-surfaces of the leaves are responsible for one of the common names of this plant.

_P. glandulosa_, Lindl., is found upon dry hillsides. It is one or two feet high, and is an ill-smelling, somewhat sticky plant, with glandular hairs. The stems are leafy, and the small flowers, like pale-yellow strawberry-blossoms, are produced in loose clusters. The corolla scarcely exceeds the calyx. The leaves, which have from five to nine leaflets, have not the silvery under-surface of those of _P. Anserina_.

COMMON EVENING PRIMROSE.

_OEnothera biennis_, L. Evening-Primrose Family.

_Stems._--Stout; usually simple; one to five feet high; more or
less hairy. _Leaves._--Mostly sessile; lanceolate to oblong;
two to six inches long; denticulate. _Flowers._--Golden yellow;
in a leafy spike; erect in the bud. _Calyx-tube._--Twelve to
thirty lines long. _Petals._--Six to nine lines long.
_Stigma-lobes._--Linear. _Capsule._--An inch or less long. (See
_OEnothera_.) _Hab._--Throughout the United States.

The common evening primrose is a very widespread plant in the United States, and it has long been in cultivation in Europe. Its flowers open suddenly at night, and, according to tradition, with a popping noise. Referring to this, the poet Keats speaks of--

"A turf of evening primroses,
O'er which the mind may hover till it dozes;
O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep,
But that 'tis ever startled by the leap
Of buds into ripe flowers."

These blossoms are said to be luminous at night, shining by the sunlight they have stored during the daytime.

The young roots, which are edible, are excellent, either pickled or boiled, having a nutty flavor. In Germany and France these are used, either stewed or raw, in salads, like celery; and the young mucilaginous twigs are also used in the same way. A tincture of the whole plant is a valued remedy in medicine for many disorders. Our Californian plants are mostly of the _var. hirsutissima_, Gray, having very large flowers and a hairy capsule.

GUM-PLANT. RESIN-WEED. AUGUST-FLOWER.

_Grindelia cuneifolia_, Nutt. Composite Family.

Bushy; two to four feet high; smooth.
_Leaves._--Cuneate-spatulate to linear-oblong; leathery; three
or four inches long. _Flower-heads._--Solitary; terminating the
branches; yellow; composed of disk- and ray-flowers.
_Rays._--One inch long. _Involucre._--Hemispherical; of
numerous scales, with spreading tips. _Buds_.--Covered with a
milky gum. _Syn._--_Grindelia robusta, var. angustifolia_,
Gray. _Hab._--From Santa Barbara northward.

The _Grindelias_ are especially characteristic of the region west of the Mississippi River, and are all known as "gum-plant," or "resin-weed," owing to the balsamic exudation which is found mostly upon the flower-heads. We have several species, all of which are rather difficult of determination.

Before the occupation of California by the whites, the value of these plants was known to the Indians, who used them in pulmonary troubles, and as a wash in cases of oak-poisoning or other skin-diseases. They are now made into a drug by our own people, who use them in the same manner as the aborigines.

By the middle of August our salt marshes are gay with the bright yellow flowers.

Every year men are sent out to gather the plant. Only about five or six inches of the tops of the branches are cut, as the resin is found mostly there in the form of a white gum. Tons of these shoots are shipped East annually, to be returned to us later in the form of the medicine called "grindelia."

_Grindelia hirsutula_, Hook. and Arn., is a pretty species, flowering in early summer upon hill-slopes. This may be known by its reddish stems and more slender and fewer ray-flowers.

SULPHUR-FLOWER.

_Eriogonum umbellatum_, Torr. Buckwheat Family.

_Leaves._--All radical; obovate to oblong-spatulate; two inches
or less long; mostly smooth above; sometimes woolly below.
_Scapes._--Three to twelve inches high.
_Flowers._--Sulphur-yellow; two or three lines long; many
contained in each little top-shaped involucre, on threadlike
stems. _Involucres._--Two lines or so long; deeply cleft, the
lobes becoming reflexed. _Perianth._--Six-parted.
_Stamens._--Nine. _Ovary._--Triangular; one-celled.
_Styles._--Three. Stigmas capitate. _Hab._--Mountains of Middle
and Northern California, and eastward.

Large companies of the sulphur-flower may be seen in the Sierras in July and August, where it covers open, dry, rocky slopes, making brilliant masses of color.

Growing with this is often found another species--_E. ursinum_, Wats.--with flowers of a beautiful translucent cream-color, often tinged with pink.

WILD BOUVARDIA.

_Gilia grandiflora_, Gray. Phlox or Polemonium Family.

_Stems._--Erect; a foot or two high. _Leaves._--Two or three
inches long; linear or oblong-lanceolate; sessile.
_Flowers._--Salmon-color; crowded at the summit of the stem.
_Calyx._--With obconic tube and broad, obtuse lobes.
_Corolla._--Narrowly funnel-form, with tube an inch long, and
five-lobed border almost as broad. (See _Gilia_.)
_Hab._--Widely distributed.

This plant was formerly placed in the genus _Collomia_; but that genus was not well founded, and all its species have now been transferred to _Gilia_. From the resemblance of its showy buff or salmon-colored flowers to the _Bouvardias_ of our gardens, these plants are popularly known as "wild Bouvardia." The blossoms are found in early summer, and grow usually in dry places, exposed to the sun.

LITTLE ALPINE LILY.

_Lilium parvum_, Kell. Lily Family.

_Bulbs._--Small; of short, thick, jointed scales.
_Stem._--Slender; eighteen inches to six feet high.
_Leaves._--Scattered, or in whorls; two to five inches long; an
inch or less broad; rich green. _Flowers._--Orange-vermilion,
dotted with purple; two to fifty; scattered or somewhat
whorled. _Capsule._--Sub-spherical; six to nine lines long.
_Hab._--The High Sierras, from Yosemite Valley to Lake Tahoe.

Passing from the parched and dusty plains of our central valleys in July and August, we are transported as though upon the magic tapestry of Prince Houssain into a heavenly region of springtime, where the streams, fed by the snow lying in shadowy mountain fastnesses, gush through plushy emerald meadows, starred with millions of daisies and bordered by luxuriant tangles of larkspurs, columbines, monk's-hoods, lupines, and a thousand other charming plants--a veritable flower-lover's paradise.

Here from the thickets, standing with their roots in the rich, loamy soil of the brookside, gleam the small orange blossoms of the little alpine lily--little only in flower, for the slender stems often rise to a height of six feet, producing several whorls of rich green leaves. These lilies are but an inch or an inch a half long, with their perianth-segments yellow or orange below and deeper orange-vermilion above, their tips only being rolled backward.

GOLDEN YARROW.

_Eriophyllum confertiflorum_, Gray. Composite Family.

White-woolly plants, at length smooth. _Stems._--A foot or two
high. _Leaves._--Cuneate in outline; divided into three to
seven narrow linear divisions. _Flowers._--Golden yellow; in
densely crowded flat-topped clusters. _Heads._--Small; of
disk- and ray-flowers. _Rays._--Four or five; broadly oval or
roundish. _Involucre._--Oval; of about five thin bracts; two
lines long. _Hab._--From San Francisco to the Sierras, and
southward to San Diego.

In early summer many a dry, rocky hill-slope is ablaze with the brilliant flowers of the golden yarrow. The brown-mottled butterfly may often be seen hovering over it, or delicately poising upon its golden table, fanning his wings.

_E. caespitosum_, Dougl., is a very handsome species with solitary golden flower-heads an inch or so across. Its leaves are broader and not so finely divided, and some of the upper ones are linear and entire. This is found throughout California.

TARWEED. WILD COREOPSIS.

_Madia elegans_, Don. Composite Family.

Usually viscid throughout. _Stems._--Three to six feet high.
_Leaves._--Crowded at the base of the stem; six to ten inches
long; small above. _Flower-heads._--Of both ray- and
disk-flowers. _Rays._--Twelve to fifteen; one inch long;
three-lobed at the apex; yellow, sometimes with a dark-red
base. _Involucre._--With one series of scales, each clasping a
ray. _Hab._--Throughout California, and in Oregon and Nevada.

This is one of the most beautiful of all our tarweeds. Its golden, Coreopsis-like flowers open after sunset, and close at the first warmth of the morning rays.

All the _Madias_ are used medicinally by old Spanish settlers.

_Madia sativa_, Molina, is one of our most troublesome species, because its viscid secretion is so very abundant. The plants are tall, but the flowers are inconspicuous, owing to the smallness or absence of the rays. It is native of Chile as well as of California.

An oil of excellent quality was made from its seeds in that country before the olive was so abundant.

LEOPARD-LILY. TIGER-LILY.

_Lilium pardalinum_, Kell. Lily Family.

Bulbs consisting of forking rhizomes, covered with small, erect
imbricated scales; often forming matted masses. _Stems._--Three
to ten feet high. _Leaves._--Usually whorled, with some
scattered above and below; lanceolate; three to seven inches
long. _Flowers._--Few to many; long-pediceled. _Perianth
segments._--Six; two or three inches long; six to nine lines
wide; strongly revolute; with orange base and reddish or
scarlet tips; spotted or dotted with purple on the lower half.
_Stamens._--Six. Anthers versatile. _Ovary._--Three-celled.
Style club-shaped. Stigma capitate. _Capsule._--Eighteen lines
or more long.

_Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Santa Barbara County
to British Columbia, and eastward.

No more magnificent sight could be imagined than a cañon-side covered with a mass of these red and gold blossoms nodding on their tall stems. The plants often grow in clumps and colonies of several hundred, and are always found in the rich soil of stream-banks or of wet, springy places. Most of us have been familiar with these spotted beauties from our childhood, with their delicately swinging anthers full of cinnamon-colored pollen.

A friend writing us from near Mt. Shasta, one July, said: "I wish you could have seen the _grove_ of tiger-lilies we saw near the place where we rested and lunched. They sprang from a velvet bed of mosses and ferns, under the shadow of a great rock, that towered at least a hundred feet above them. Out of the rock sprang two streams of living water, ice-cold, which crossed the trail and dashed over a rock below. Upon one plant we counted twenty-five buds and blossoms, while a friend counted thirty-two upon another."

Under extraordinarily favorable conditions, this lily has been known to reach a height of ten feet.

YELLOW POND-LILY.

_Nuphar polysepalum_, Engelm. Water-Lily Family.

_Leaves._--Six to twelve inches long; three fourths as wide;
obtuse; deeply cleft at base; floating or erect.
_Flowers._--Floating; three to five inches across.
_Sepals._--Eight to twelve; petaloid; bright yellow, sometimes
greenish without. _Petals._--Twelve to eighteen; small; about
equaling the stamens, and resembling them.
_Stamens._--Numerous; red; recurved in age; pollen yellow.
_Ovary._--Large; eight- to twenty-celled. Stigma button-shaped;
many-rayed; four lines to an inch across. _Hab._--From Colorado
to Central California, and northward to Alaska.

Most of us are familiar with the yellow water-lily, and have seen its pretty shield-shaped leaves floating upon the surface of some glassy pond, starred with its large, golden flowers. The latter are sometimes five inches across and quite showy. Sometimes entire marshes are covered with the plants. The large seeds are very nutritious, and form an important article of diet among the northern Indians.

HUMBOLDT'S LILY. TIGER-LILY.

_Lilium Humboldtii_, Roezl and Leichtlin. Lily Family.

_Bulbs._--Large; often weighing over a pound; with scales two
or three inches long. _Stems._--Stout; purplish; three or four
feet high; eight- or ten-flowered, or more.
_Leaves._--Wavy-margined; roughish; _Flowers._--Large; six to
eight inches in diameter; golden yellow; spotted with pale
purple, turning to red or brown. _Segments._--Having papillose
prominences near the base. (Otherwise like _L. pardalinum_.)
_Hab._--The foothills of the Sierras; southward to San Diego.

This wonderful lily, at first glance, resembles the common leopard- or tiger-lily--_L. pardalinum_--and it is found sometimes in the same regions as the latter, but never in the same kind of localities. It affects the loose soil of dry, upland woods, but never grows in wet or boggy places. Its flowers are larger than those of _L. pardalinum_, and have more of a golden hue and less of red in them.

By July this lily is in full bloom and a magnificent sight. A plant was once known which had fifty buds and blossoms, thirty of which were open at once!

COMMON SUNFLOWER.

_Helianthus annuus_, L. Composite Family.

Hispid, coarse plants. _Stems._--Several feet high.
_Leaves._--Mostly alternate; petioled; deltoid-ovate to
ovate-lanceolate; acuminate; three to seven inches long;
three-ribbed at base. _Flower-heads._--Large; three or four
inches across, including the rays; solitary; composed of yellow
ray-flowers and purple-brown, tubular disk-flowers.
_Involucre._--Of several series of imbricated, ovate, acuminate
scales. _Disk._--An inch or so across. _Hab._--Throughout
California.

The stately form of the sunflower is a common sight in the south, where whole fields are often covered with the plants. Their season of blossoming is supposed to be in the autumn, but we have seen them blooming just as gayly in March. This wild sunflower of the plains is believed to be the original parent of the large sunflower of our gardens.

Its seeds are used by the Indians as food and in the preparation of hair-oil.

Popular tradition makes this blossom a worshiper of the sun, and it is believed to follow him with admiring glances.

"The lofty follower of the sun,
Sad when he sets, shuts up her hollow leaves,
Drooping all night, and when he warm returns,
Points her enamored bosom to his ray."

Another species--_H. Californicus_, DC.--found from San Francisco Bay southward, along streams, has something the same habit as the above, but may be known from it by its slender, smooth stems, leafy to the top, the long, sprawling, awl-shaped bracts of its involucre, and its more delicate flowers, about two and a half inches across. The disk-corollas are slightly pubescent below. This species has a rather strong balsamic odor.

PINE-DROPS.

_Pterospora andromedea_, Nutt. Heath Family.

_Stems._--One to three feet high. _Bracts._--Crowded at base;
scattered above. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Three lines
long; yellowish. _Stamens._--Ten. Anthers tailed; opening
lengthwise. _Ovary._--Five-celled. Style short. Stigma
five-lobed. _Hab._--Throughout California, and across the
continent.

In our walks in the mountains, we occasionally encounter the flesh-colored wands of this curious plant. The colorless leaves are reduced to mere bracts, and the stems are densely clothed above with the little yellowish waxen bells. The whole plant is very viscid and disagreeable to handle.

Though rare, it is found all across the continent. In the East it grows only under pine-trees, upon whose roots it is supposed to be parasitic, while in California it is said to be found under both oaks and pines.

There is but a single species in this genus. The seed is furnished with a broad membranous wing, which has given rise to the name _Pterospora_, derived from two Greek words, meaning _wing_ and _seed_.

TARWEED.

_Hemizonia luzulaefolia_, DC. Composite Family.

Glandular, strong-scented plants. _Stems._--Loosely branching;
slender; six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Linear; very
small above; elongated and withering early below.
_Flower-heads._--White or light yellow; composed of ray- and
disk-flowers. _Rays._--Six to ten; two to five lines long;
three-lobed. _Scales._--of the involucre each clasping a ray.
_Hab._--Common throughout the western part of the State.

Under the common designation of "tarweed," plants belonging to two different genera--_Madia_ and _Hemizonia_--and comprising thirty or forty species, may be found. They are mostly annuals or biennials, with viscid, heavily scented foliage, which make themselves conspicuous in late summer and through the autumn. The _Hemizonias_ are distinctively Californian; while the _Madias_ we have in common with Chile. Their viscid exudation is particularly ruinous to wool and clothing, but alcohol is a solvent for it, and will generally remove it.

We wonder how these plants, which flourish in our driest seasons, can extract so much moisture from the parched earth, and of what practical use this resinous secretion can be in their economy. Though some of them are described as having a disagreeable odor, many of them have a very pleasant balsamic fragrance, which gives our summer and autumn atmosphere a peculiar character of its own. Whole fields and hillsides are tinged with their warm olive foliage, or are yellow with their golden flowers, which appear like a fall revival of the buttercups. The flowers open mostly at night or in early morning, closing in bright sunshine.

_Hemizonia luzulaefolia_ is a common species, whose flowers are redolent of the odor of myrrh.

CALIFORNIAN GOLDENROD.

_Solidago Californica_, Nutt. Composite Family.

_Stem._--Rather stout; low or tall. _Leaves._--Oblong, or the upper oblong-lanceolate, and the lower obovate. _Flowers._--In a dense, pyramidal panicle, four to twelve inches long, with mostly erect racemose branches. _Heads._--Three or four lines long; yellow. _Rays._--Small; seven to twelve; about as many as the disk-flowers. _Hab._--Throughout California, to Nevada and Mexico.

Our State is not so rich in goldenrods as New England, yet we have several rather pretty species. _Solidago Californica_ is found upon dry hills, and blooms from July to October. It is said to thrive well under cultivation.

It differs from the "Western goldenrod" in having its flowers in a pyramidal cluster.

MOTH-MULLEIN.

_Verbascum Blattaria_, L. Figwort Family.

_Stem._--Tall and slender. _Leaves._--Alternate; oblong; crenate-toothed; nearly smooth; the upper ovate, acute, clasping. _Flowers._--Yellow or white; purple-tinged; an inch or so across; in a terminal raceme; the pedicels much exceeding the calyx-lobes. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Wheel-shaped, with five rounded, somewhat unequal lobes. _Stamens._--Five. Filaments violet-bearded. Anthers confluently one-celled. Pollen orange-colored, copious. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style slender. _Hab._--The Upper Sacramento Valley, etc.; naturalized from Europe.

The mulleins are natives of Europe, which have found their way across the water to us. Two or three species are now common in some localities. The moth-mullein is so called because its blossoms have the appearance of a number of delicate moths resting upon the stem. This is a tall, green plant.

Another species--_V. Thapsus_, L.--is also quite common. In the Sacramento Valley its tall, woolly tapers may be seen leaning in every direction, giving the fields a disorderly appearance. This plant abounds throughout Europe and Asia, and was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who made lampwicks of its dried leaves and utilized its stalks, dipped in tallow, for funeral torches. In medieval Europe it was called "hag-taper," because it was employed by witches in their incantations. In Europe at the present time it is known as the "American velvet-plant," because of a mistaken idea that it is a native of this country.

WESTERN GOLDENROD.

_Solidago occidentalis_, Nutt. Composite Family.

Smooth throughout. _Stems._--Paniculately branched; two to six
feet high. _Leaves._--Linear; entire; obscurely three-nerved;
two to four inches long; one to three lines wide.
_Flower-heads._--In numerous small, flat clusters, terminating
the slender branchlets; three lines long; yellow.
_Rays._--Sixteen to twenty not surpassing the eight to fourteen
disk-flowers. _Involucre._--Of imbricated scales; the outer
successively shorter. _Hab._--Near the Coast, from Southern
California to British America.

The Western goldenrod, with its slender, willowy stems and small flower-clusters, may be found in wet places in late summer and early autumn. Its blossoms are acacia-scented.

CREOSOTE-BUSH. GOBERNADORA. HIDEONDO.

_Larrea Mexicana_, Moricand. Creosote-Bush Family.

Ill-smelling, resinous shrubs, four to ten feet high; diffusely
branched. _Leaves._--Opposite; with two unequal leaflets.
_Leaflets._--Three to six lines long; pointed; sessile.
_Flowers._--Solitary; yellow. _Sepals._--Five; silky;
deciduous. _Petals._--Five; three or four lines long.
_Stamens._--Ten; on a small ten-lobed disk. Filaments winged
below. _Ovary._--Five-celled; Style slender. _Hab._--Inland
deserts of the southern part of the State.

The most plentiful shrub growing in our southern desert regions is the creosote-bush, so called because its sticky leaves burn with a black smoke and a rank odor, between creosote and carbolic acid.

These shrubs often cover vast tracts of arid soil, and in places are the only growth to be seen. The evergreen foliage is of a warm olive tone, and is borne at the ends of many slender, grayish branches. The small, stemless, opposite leaves, each divided almost to its base into two leaflets, spread butterfly-like upon the slender branchlets. The leaf-nodes are swollen into small, warty prominences, which are especially resinous.

In many localities, especially in Arizona, the branches of this shrub are thickly incrusted with a certain gummy substance, which careful examination has proved to be almost identical with the East Indian shellac of commerce. This is caused by an insect of the genus _Coccus_, who stings the young twigs, at the same time laying its eggs in them, causing them to exude the gum. Could this gum be collected in sufficient quantities, it would doubtless prove a valuable article of commerce, probably not inferior to the East Indian lac. Dr. Edwd. Palmer writes that it is extensively used by our Indians as a cement with which to fasten their flint arrowheads to the shafts, to mend broken pottery, and to make water-tight their baskets, woven of grass and roots. The plant yields a greenish-yellow dye, with which they paint their persons and color their fabrics; but garments so dyed are said to emit a disagreeable odor always upon being heated.

A lotion made by steeping the branches in water is said to be an excellent remedy for sores; while the leaves dried and reduced to powder are effectively used for the same purpose. Some of our pharmacists say that the plant is a valuable remedy for rheumatism.

By the Spanish-Californians this shrub is known as "gobernadora" and "hideondo"; and by the American settlers of the desert it is known by several uncomplimentary names, among them the meaningless one of "greasewood."

It blossoms in early summer.