LARGE WHITE MOUNTAIN DAISY.

PRINCE'S PINE—Chimaphila Menziesii.

In the fall, the dark-green foliage of the groundsel-tree is relieved by its abundant small white flower-clusters. Theflowers of the male shrub are never very beautiful, being usually of a yellowish or dirty white; indeed, so little resembling the other, as to appear like a separate species. But when the white silk down of the female shrub is fully expanded, its boughs are laden as with drifted snow. This lavish provision of silk is designed by nature for the wafting abroad of the seed.

It varies greatly in size and habit. Upon exposed, wind-swept sandhills it is low and close-cropped, but in more favorable localities, where the soil is rich and the climate more genial, it responds graciously to the changed conditions, becoming one of our most picturesque shrubs.

Growing and blooming at the same time with the above, may be found its near relative—B. Douglasii, DC. This does not aspire to shrubhood, but its tall stems, with their lanceolate, somewhat glutinous leaves, sometimes reach four feet in height, bearing at summit their pretty Ageratum-like, white flower-clusters. It loves the sandy soil of creek-banks and low fields, and is abundant from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Stem.—Six to twenty inches high; leafy; bearing solitary or rarely two or three large, slender-peduncled heads.Leaves.—Obovate to oblong; entire or with several sharp teeth; thin.Flower-heads.—Of yellow disk-flowers, and usually pure white ray-flowers.Disk.—Half an inch wide.Rays.—Fifty to seventy; narrowly linear; six lines or more long.Hab.—The Sierras; also the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

"High on the crest of the blossoming grasses,Bending and swaying, with face toward the sky,Stirred by the lightest west wind as it passes,Hosts of the silver-white daisy-stars lie."

No fairer sight could be imagined than a mountain meadow filled with these large, pure-white, feathery daisies.

BACCHARIS—Baccharis Douglasii.

Stems.—Stout; three to seven feet high.Leaves.—Oval; narrowingto lanceolate; sessile; sheathing; four to twelve inches long.Flowers.—Greenish-white in a large panicle, with usually ascending branches.Stamens and pistilsin the same flowers, or in separate ones.Pedicels.—About two lines long.Perianth segments.—Six; spreading; oblanceolate; their bases thickened and green or brownish; upper margins sometimes minutely toothed; three to eight lines long.Stamens.—Six. Anthers confluently one-celled.Ovary.—Three-celled. Styles three, divergent.Hab.—The Middle Sierras and Mendocino County northward to the Columbia; also eastward.

The false hellebore may be found in midsummer in the mountains. It grows along watercourses, and often covers rich, moist meadows, where its stems rise from three to seven feet, with their coarsely ribbed, boat-shaped leaves and large panicles of greenish-white flowers. When at its best it is a rather fine, showy thing, but its leaves are often perforated by some insect, and present a ragged, untidy appearance.

The mountaineers commonly call this plant "skunk cabbage," a deplorable misnomer, because it is in no sense merited; and, moreover, we have a plant to which the title more rightfully belongs. The root and young shoots are a violent poison, and are fatal to animals which are unfortunate enough to crop them.

Another species—V. fimbriatum, Gray—a smaller plant, is found upon the plains in Mendocino County. It may be distinguished from the above by its more slender leaves, its woolly flower-panicle, and its decidedly fringed flower-petals.

[Yellow or occasionally or partially yellow flowers not described

in the Yellow Section.

Root.—A thick tap-root.Leaves.—All radical; oblong-lanceolate;smooth; ciliate.Flowers.—Solitary in the axils; bright golden yellow.Calyx-tube.—Filiform; one to five inches long; limb of four lanceolate, reflexed divisions.Petals.—Four; three to ten lines long.Stamens.—Eight.Ovary.—Four-celled; underground. Style filiform. Stigma capitate.Fruit.—A ribbed capsule.Hab.—Near the coast from San Francisco to Monterey.

This little evening primrose is an exceedingly interesting plant, although it is not of very wide distribution. The flat rosettes of leaves sometimes measure over a foot across, and are thickly sown with the bright golden flowers, large in proportion to the size of the plants. A flower or bud is found in the axil of every leaf, diminishing in size toward the center, one plant sometimes having a hundred blossoms and buds. These flowers are peculiarly fresh and winsome, and were they not so abundant where they grow they would doubtless be considered very beautiful.

A strange feature of the plant is its flower-stem, which is not a flower-stem at all, but a very much prolonged calyx-tube, the seed-vessel being just within the surface of the ground.

We wonder how these imprisoned seeds are going to escape and find lodgment to start new colonies elsewhere. Perhaps the moles and gophers could tell something about it if they would.

The leaves of these little plants are sometimes used for salads.

These blossoms are often erroneously called "cow-slips."

Stems.—Slender; branching; six to eighteen inches high.Radical-leaves.—Commonly pinnately ternate; the leaflets cut into three to seven usually linear lobes. Divisions of the stem-leaves usually narrower.Flowers.—Five to ten lines in diameter; shining golden yellow.Sepals.—Green; strongly reflexed.Petals.—Ten to fourteen; obovate; each with a small scale at the base.Stamens.—Numerous.Pistils.

SUN-CUPS—Œnothera ovata.

Numerous; on a receptacle. Ovaries flattened. Stigmas recurved.Hab.—Throughout Western California into Oregon.

"The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice;And there's never a leaf nor a blade too meanTo be some happy creature's palace."

The first clear, beautiful note of a lark has been heard; skies are blue and fields are green; little frogs are filling the air with their music;—and the buttercups are here. The fields are full of them, and their bright golden eyes starring the meadows, bring a gladness to the face of nature. The children wade knee-deep in their gold, filling their hands with treasure; and yonder, where their golden masses cover the slopes, King Midas may have passed, transforming the earth with his magical touch.

Because some of the buttercups grow where frogs abound, Pliny bestowed the Latin nameRanunculus, meaning "little frog."

The Indians, who seem to have a use for everything, parch the seeds of our common buttercup and beat them to a flour, which they eat without the further formality of cooking. This flour is said to have the peculiar rich flavor of parched corn.

We have a number of other species of buttercup—some of them denizens of marshy spots; but the common field buttercup is widest-spread and best known.

Delicate hairy herbs.Stems.—A span or two high.Leaves.—Mostly opposite; sessile; two to four inches long.Flowers.—Axillary; long-peduncled; an inch or so across.Sepals.—Three; falling early.Petals.—Six, in two rows; cream-color, often with a yellow spot at base.Stamens.—Numerous. Filaments broad; petaloid.Pistils.—Six to twenty-five; united in a ring at first; afterward separating. Stigmas terminal.Hab.—Throughout California.

CREAM-CUPS—Platystemon Californicus.

The cream-cups are delicate, hairy plants of the early springtime, which often grow in masses and take possession of whole fields. They seem to be more vigorous in the south,and produce larger flowers there than in the north, often having as many as nine petals. The delicate, nodding green buds (like miniature poppy-buds) soon throw off their outer wrappings, and, emerging from captivity, gradually assume an erect position and unfurl their lovely, pure, straw-colored petals to their widest extent. These blossoms open for several successive days.

The genus takes its name from the flat filaments. The numerous slender pistils are so cleverly joined together into a cylinder, that they appear like a hollow, one-celled ovary. But a cross-section will show the separate ovaries under a glass.

Some people like the odor of these flowers; but I must confess to a lack of appreciation of it. I suspect its charm must exist in some pleasant association.

Stems.—Twelve to eighteen inches high; branching.Leaves.—Alternate; finely dissected; glaucous.Flowers.—Two or three inches across; usually orange; but ranging from that to white. Summit of the peduncle enlarging into a cup-shaped torus or disk, upon the upper inner surface of which are borne the calyx, corolla, and stamens.Calyx.—A pointed green cap, falling early.Petals.—Four.Stamens.—Numerous, in four groups, in front of the petals. Anthers linear.Ovary.—One-celled. Style short. Stigmas four to six; unequal.Capsule.—Cylindrical; ten-nerved; two or three inches long.Hab.—Throughout California.

Thy satin vesture richer is than loomsOf Orient weave for raiment of her kings!Not dyes of olden Tyre, not precious thingsRegathered from the long-forgotten tombsOf buried empires, not the iris plumesThat wave upon the tropics' myriad wings,Not all proud Sheba's queenly offeringsCould match the golden marvel of thy blooms.For thou art nurtured from the treasure-veinsOf this fair land; thy golden rootlets supHer sands of gold—of gold thy petals spun.Her golden glory, thou! On hills and plains,Lifting, exultant, every kingly cupBrimmed with the golden vintage of the sun.—Ina D. Coolbrith

—Ina D. Coolbrith

CALIFORNIA POPPY—Eschscholtzia Californica.

It is difficult to exaggerate the charms of this wonderfulflower. When reproduced in countless millions, its brilliant blossoms fairly cover the earth; and far away upon distant mountain-slopes, bright patches of red gold denote that league after league of it lies open to the sun. It revels in the sunshine, and not until the morning is well advanced does it begin to unfurl its tightly rolled petals.

In the early days, when Spanish vessels sailed up and down the newly-discovered coast, the mariners, looking inland, saw the flame of the poppies upon the hills and called this "the land of fire." They said that the altar-cloth of San Pascual was spread upon the hills, and, filled with a devotional spirit, they disembarked to worship upon the shore.

This flower is now cultivated in many parts of the world. But one can form no conception of it, pale and languishing in a foreign garden. One must go to its native hillsides to get any idea of its prodigal beauty.

The common title, "California poppy," though it has been widely used, is open to the objection that it belongs more properly to another flower,Papaver Californicum. The generic name is dissonant and harsh. Why not replace it by one of the more euphonious Spanish titles—"amapola," "dormidera," "torosa," or, most charmingly appropriate of all, "copa de oro,"—"cup of gold"?

There are many forms ofEschscholtzia, and of late the original species,E. Californica, has been divided into a number of new species, which are, however, difficult of determination.

The Indians of Placer County, it is said, boil the herbage, or roast it by means of hot stones, lay it in water afterward, and then eat it as a green. A drug made from this plant is used in medicine as a harmless substitute for morphine and as a remedy for headache and insomnia, and it has an especially excellent effect with children. The Spanish-Californians make a hair-oil, which they prize highly, by frying the whole plant in olive oil and adding some choice perfume. This is said to promote the growth of the hair and to make it glossy.

Stems.—Long; coarse; trailing.Leaves.—Alternate; petioled; triangular-cordate; six to twelve inches long; acute; rough.Tendrils.—Three- to five-cleft.Flowers.—Solitary; yellow; three or four inches long; monœcious.Calyx-tube.—Six lines long, equaling the five linear lobes.Corolla.—Campanulate; five-cleft to the middle or lower; with recurved lobes.Stamens.—In the male flowers two with two-celled anthers, and one with one; in the female all three rudimentary.Ovary.—Three-celled. Style short. Stigmas three; two-lobed.Fruit.—Orange-like, but with a hard rind.Syn.—C. perennis, Gray.Hab.—San Diego to San Joaquin County.

The rough, ill-smelling foliage of the Chili-cojote is a common sight in Southern California, where it may be seen trailing over many a field; but woe to the negligent farmer who allows this pest to get a foothold—for it will cost him a small fortune to eradicate it. It sends down into the earth an enormous root, six feet or so long, and often as broad. When the gourds are ripe, these vines look like the dumping-ground for numerous poor, discarded oranges.

Notwithstanding its unsavory character, the various parts of this vine are put to use—specially among the Spanish-Californians and the Indians. The root is a purgative more powerful than croton-oil. When pounded to a pulp, it is used as soap by the Spanish-Californians, who aver that it cleanses as nothing else can; but rinsing must be very thorough—for any particles remaining in the garments prove very irritating to the skin. The leaves are highly valued for medicinal purposes, and the pulp of the green fruit, mixed with soap, is said to remove stains from clothing. The Indians eat the seed, when ground and made into a mush. The early Californian women used the gourds as darning-balls.

This vine is a near relative of the pumpkins and squashes of our gardens.

The flowers are said to be violet-scented.

Stem.—Simple; a foot or so high; bearing at summit a crown of large leaves, mixed with many dry, chaffy, persistent bracts.Leaves.—One or two feet long, with from eleven to seventeen ovate, acuminate, prickly, somewhat palmately nerved leaflets.Flowers.—Yellow, in elongated, clustered racemes. Bractlets, sepals, petals, and stamens six, standing in front of one another. Anthers two-celled; opening by uplifting valves.Ovary.—One-celled. Style short or none.Fruit.—Dark-blue, glaucous berries; four lines in diameter.Hab.—Deep coast woods, from Monterey to Vancouver Island.

The water-holly is one of the beautiful plants to be found in our deep coast woods within the cool influence of the sea-fogs. The plants are very symmetrical, with their crown of dark, shining leaves, with numerous prickly leaflets, and in spring, when the long graceful racemes of yellow flowers are produced in abundance, and hang amid and below the leaves, they are very ornamental. The stems are densely clothed with numerous dry, awl-shaped scales, an inch or more long.

Another species—B. repens—the creeping barberry, or Oregon grape, is a low, prostrate shrub, less than a foot high, with from three to seven leaflets. These leaflets are pinnately veined, and have not the beautiful, shining upper surface of those of the water-holly, and the few racemes of yellow flowers which terminate the branches are quite short—only an inch or two long. This is found throughout the State and northward upon rocky hills.

Shrubs two to eight feet high.Leaves.—One to three inches long; leathery.Flowers.—Solitary; yellow; one to three inches across.Sepals.—Two; falling early.Petals.—Four.Stamens.—Many.Ovary.—Linear; one-celled. Stigma two-lobed.Capsule.—Eighteen to thirty lines long.Hab.—Dry hills from San Diego to Butte County.

The tree-poppy is the only truly woody plant in the poppy family. Its pale leaves are quite rigid, and resemble those of the willow in form. The bright golden flowers are sometimesthree inches across, and one can readily imagine the fine effect produced when many of them are open at once upon a hillside. Though found through quite a range, this shrub attains its most perfect development in Santa Barbara County.

TREE-POPPY—Dendromecon rigidum.

Stems.—Leafy; two to six inches or more high.Leaves.—Alternate; long-petioled; ovate; cuneate; crenate; with lanceolate stipules.Flowers.—Large; long-peduncled; deep golden yellow.Calyx.—Five-parted.Petals.—The two upper tinged with brown outside; the three lower veined with purple; the two lateral bearded; the lower one with a short spur at base.Stamens.—Five. Anthers nearly sessile; erect around the club-shaped style.Ovary.—One-celled.Hab.—Southern to Middle California.

Pansies! Pansies! How I love you, pansies!Jaunty-faced, laughing-lipped, and dewy-eyed with glee;Would my song might blossom out in little five-leaved stanzasAs delicate in fanciesAs your beauty is to me!But, my eyes shall smile on you and my hands infold you,Pet, caress, and lift you to the lips that love you, soThat, shut ever in the years that may mildew or mold you,My fancy shall behold youFair as in the long ago.—Jas. Whitcomb Riley.

But, my eyes shall smile on you and my hands infold you,Pet, caress, and lift you to the lips that love you, soThat, shut ever in the years that may mildew or mold you,My fancy shall behold youFair as in the long ago.—Jas. Whitcomb Riley.

—Jas. Whitcomb Riley.

On wind-swept downs near the ocean, on the low hills of the Coast Ranges, or upon the plains of the interior, this charming golden pansy spreads itself in profusion in early spring. It is the darling of the children, who on their way to school gather great handfuls of its brown-eyed blossoms.

You may often see myriads of them dancing on their long stems in the breeze, and showing glimpses of red-brown where their purplish outer petals are turned toward you for the moment. In the shelter of quiet woodlands, its stems are longer and more fragile.

YELLOW PANSY—Viola pedunculata.

Shrubs eight to ten feet high.Leaves.--Three inches long or so.Flowers.—A pair; at the summit of an axillary peduncle; with a conspicuous involucre of four bracts, tinged with red or yellow.Calyx.—Adherent to the ovary; the limb minute or obsolete.Corolla.—Tubular; irregular; half an inch or more long; viscid-pubescent; yellowish.Stamens.—Five.Ovary.—Two- or three-celled. Style filiform. Stigma capitate.Berries.—Black-purple.Hab.—Throughout the State; eastward to Lake Superior.

A walk through some moist thicket, or along a stream-bank in March, will reveal the yellow flowers of the twin-berry amid its ample, thin green leaves. These blossoms are always borne in pairs at the summit of the stem, and are surrounded by a leafy involucre, consisting of two pairs of round, fluted bracts. As the berries ripen and become black, these bracts deepen to a brilliant red and make the shrubs much more conspicuous and ornamental than at blossoming-time.

Shrubs two to six feet high; branching.Leaves.—Alternate; pinnate.Leaflets.—Seven to nine; glossy; ovate to oblong-lanceolate; one and one half to four inches long; acuminate; sinuately dentate, with numerous spinose teeth; the lowest pair distant from the stem.Racemes.—Eighteen lines to two inches long; clustered near the ends of the branches. (Otherwise asB. nervosa.)Hab.—Coast Ranges and Sierras from Monterey and Kern County northward into Oregon.

The holly-leaved barberry, or Oregon grape, is a very ornamental shrub and one much prized in our gardens, where it is known asMahonia Aquifolium. In the spring, when yellow with its masses of flowers; or in its summer dress of rich, shining green; or in the autumn, when its foliage is richly touched with bronze or scarlet or yellow, amid which are the beautiful blue berries, it is always a fine shrub. In its native haunts it affects greater altitudes than our other species.

TWIN-BERRY—Lonicera involucrata.

Among our Californian Indians, a decoction made from theroot is a favorite tonic remedy, and it has become a recognized drug in the pharmacopœia of our Coast, being used as an alterative and tonic. The root is tough and hard, of a bright golden yellow, and intensely bitter. The bark of the root is the part that is used medicinally.

The shrub is very plentiful in the woods of Mendocino County, where it covers considerable areas.

Six inches or so high; branching freely.Leaves.—Mostly opposite; linear; entire; an inch or so long.Flower-heads.—Yellow; of disk and ray-flowers.Rays.—Ten to fourteen; three or four lines long.Involucre.—Campanulate; of a single series of small lanceolate, herbaceous scales.Hab.—From San Francisco southward.

Considered singly, the blossom of this plant is a simple, unassuming little flower; but when countless millions of its golden stars stud the nether firmament, it becomes one of the most conspicuous of all ourCompositæ. It literally covers the earth with a close carpet of rich golden bloom, and other plants, such as scarlet paint-brushes, blue Phacelias, and yellow and white tidy-tips, rise out of its golden tapestry. Mile after mile of it whirls by the car-window as we journey along, or long stretches of it gild the gently rounded hill-slopes of the distant landscape.

There are several other species ofBæria, but this is the most abundant and widespread. In some localities this little plant is so much frequented by a small fly, which feeds upon its pollen, that it is called "fly-flower." It then becomes a serious nuisance to horses and cattle, which grow wild and restive under the persecution of this insect.

In the Spanish deck of playing-cards in the early days, the "Jack of Spades" always held one of these flowers in his hand. By the Spanish-Californians it was called "Si me quieres, no me quieres"—"Love me, love me not,"—because their dark-eyed maidens tried their fortunes upon it in the same manner that our own maidens consult the marguerite.

PENTACHÆTA—Pentachæta aurea. SUNSHINE—Bæria gracilis.

Growing in brilliant beds by themselves, or interminglingtheir gold with that of theBæria, the charming feathery blossoms ofPentachæta aurea, Nutt., are found in midspring. They have from fifty to seventy rays and their involucres consist of several rows of scarious-margined bracts.

Smooth, succulent herbs.Stems.—A foot or so long.Leaves.—Much dissected.Flowers.—Axillary; solitary.Sepals.—Narrow; acute.Petals.—Nine lines long or so; yellow, sometimes tipped with white, white, or rose-tinged.Stamens.—Ten, in two sets; a gland at the base of those opposite the sepals.Ovary.—Of five carpels, becoming distinct. Style five-cleft at the apex.Syn.—Limnanthes Douglasii, R. Br.Hab.—Oregon to Southern California.

When the spring is well advanced, our wet meadows are all a-cream with the meadow-foam, whose dense masses blend exquisitely with the rich red of the common sorrel, which is in blossom at the same time.

This plant is a near relative of the redwood-sorrel, and its flowers are similar in size and veining, and also in their habit of closing at night. It is much admired and has long been in cultivation.

Stems.—Prostrate; spreading.Leaves.—Usually opposite; sessile; ovate.Flowers.—Solitary on axillary peduncles; orange-vermilion (rarely blue or white); six lines or so across.Calyxand rotate corolla five-parted.Petals.—Rounded; purple at base.Stamens.—Five; opposite the petals. Filaments purple, bearded.Capsule.—Globose; the top falling off as a lid.Hab.—Common everywhere. Introduced from Europe.

The little orange-vermilion flower of the pimpernel is a plain little blossom to the unassisted eye, but it becomes truly regal when seen under a glass, where its rich purple center displays itself in glistening splendor. It is a forcible example of the infinite care bestowed upon all of Nature's children, even to the humblest weeds.

MEADOW-FOAM—Flœrkia Douglasii.

This little plant has come to us from Europe, and it makesitself perfectly at home among us in many widely-differing situations. From the fact that it furls its petals upon cloudy days, or at the approach of rain, it is called in England "poor-man's weather-glass."

The plant is an acrid poison and was extensively used in medicine by the ancients. It seems to act particularly upon the nervous system, and was used as a remedy for convulsions, the plague, gout, and hydrophobia.

Bushy; two to four feet high; strong-scented.Leaves.—Mostly alternate; short-petioled; ovate-lanceolate; an inch or two long.Flower-heads.—Solitary; long-peduncled; large.Disk.—Eight lines across; of black-purple, tubular flowers, with deep-yellow styles.Rays.—Sterile; over an inch long; five lines wide; four-toothed.Involucre.—Open-campanulate of several series of coriaceous, imbricated scales.Hab.—Santa Barbara to San Diego.

This shrubbyCompositais quite abundant in the south, and when covered with its large yellow flowers with purple-brown centers is very showy. We have seen mesas covered with the bushes, which have much the same spreading habit as the white marguerite of the garden. It thrives particularly well near the coast, but is also at home upon some of the hills of interior valleys as well. It is quite strong-scented, but the flowers are very handsome, rivaling in decorativeness many of the cherished plants of our gardens.

Hispid annuals.Leaves.—Alternate; oblong-ovate to linear.Flowers.—Small; yellow or orange, in coiled spikes or racemes.Calyx.—Five-parted; persistent.Corolla.—Salver-shaped, or somewhat funnel-form; with five-lobed border; the throat naked or with minute hairy tufts opposite the lobes.Stamens.—Five.Ovary.—Of four seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma capitate.

We have several species ofAmsinckia, all of which have small yellow flowers, resembling in form our little white forget-me-nots. The genus is a Western American one, and thespecies are very difficult of determination. They are all hispid plants, very disagreeable to handle, and are generally of rank growth. They often occur in great masses, when they become rather showy.

The largest-flowered species, which is also the most common one in the south, isA. spectabilis, Fisch. and Mey. The corolla of this is often half an inch long and half an inch across, of an orange-yellow, with deeper orange spots in the throat.

Loosely branching shrubs, fifteen feet or so high.Leaves.—Alternate; petioled; ovate; smooth.Flowers.—Clustered at the ends of the branches.Calyx.—Campanulate; five-toothed.Corolla.—Tubular; eighteen lines long; with constricted throat; and border shortly five-toothed.Stamens.—Five, on the base of the corolla, adnate to the tube below. Anthers with two diverging cells.Ovary.—One-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate; two-lobed.Hab.—Throughout Southern California; introduced.

The tall, loosely branching, spreading form of the tree-tobacco is a familiar sight in the south about vacant lots and waste places. Its clusters of long, greenish-yellow flowers hang gracefully from the ends of the slender branches, and the ovate leaves are rather long-stalked. It is supposed to have been introduced from Buenos Ayres, and old inhabitants remember the time when but one or two plants were known. In thirty years it has spread rapidly, and is now exceedingly common.

Smooth herbs.Stems.—Slender; a foot or two high.Leaves.—Mostly petioled; pinnately divided into variously toothed, oval to linear segments.Flowers.—Solitary; on long peduncles; orange-vermilion to scarlet.Sepals.—Two; falling early. Petals.—Four; two to twelve lines long.Stamens.—Numerous. Filaments filiform; purple. Anthers yellow.Ovary.—Top-shaped; ribbed; one-celled. Style short. Stigma large; capitate; four- to eight-lobed.Hab.—Throughout Western California.

The wind-poppy is an exceedingly variable flower. In the central part of the State it is large and showy, its beautifulflame-colored blossoms being two inches across; while in the south it is usually very small, making tiny flecks of red in the grass, for which reason it is there called "blood-drop." It is an exquisite thing. Its petals have the delicate satin texture of the poppy; and their showy orange or scarlet blends suddenly at the center into a deep maroon. The bright-green, top-shaped ovary stands up in the midst of the slender stamens, whose yellow anthers show brilliantly against the dark maroon of the petals.

It blossoms in spring upon open hillsides, seeming to prefer those which are shaded for at least part of the day. It is very fragile, and falls to pieces at a touch, which makes it an unsatisfactory flower to gather.

Six inches to a foot high; branched above; hairy; somewhat viscid.Leaves.—An inch or more long; pinnatifid.Flowers.—Straw-colored; at length pendulous.Corolla.—Campanulate; about six lines long. (Flower structure as inPhacelia.)Hab.—Lake County to San Diego.

In midspring, when passing among the plants upon our dry, open hillsides, our attention is often attracted by a certain delicate, rustling sound, which we find emanates from the little papery bells of the dried blossoms of theEmmenanthe, which retain the semblance of their first freshness for many weeks.

Though not at first apparent, a little examination will reveal the fact that these plants are very closely related to thePhacelias, the chief difference being in the yellow corollas.

Leaves.—Much elongated; two to five lines broad.Stems.—Slender; three to six inches high.Buds.—Nodding.Flowers.—Erect; yellow.Petals.—Six or seven lines long; spreading; mostly obtuse; rather densely covered with yellow hairs.Gland.—Shallow; lunate.Capsule.—Nodding; six to nine lines long.Hab.—Sierra Nevada foothills, throughout their length.

WHISPERING BELLS—Emmenanthe penduliflora.

This is a very pretty little star tulip, with graceful, flexuousstems and erect flowers, whose spreading petals are covered with hairs. Sometimes there is a dark-brown, almost black, spot upon the petals, and when such is the case the plant is calledC. Benthami, var. Wallacei.

Stems.—Six to eighteen inches high.Leaves.—Spatulate or oblanceolate; entire, toothed or lobed; lower long-petioled.Sepals.—Four; one pair strongly gibbous at base.Petals.—An inch long; long-clawed; cream-color or yellowish.Stamens.—Six; two shorter.Ovary.—One-celled; linear. Style stout; short. Stigma capitate.Pod.—Nearly flat; thirty lines or less long.Syn.—Cheiranthus asper, Cham. and Schlecht.Hab.—The seaboard from Los Angeles to Oregon.

Growing along sandy stretches, or upon open mesas by the seashore, we may find the showy blossoms of the cream-colored wall-flower from February to May. These flowers are less stocky and much more delicate than the garden species; and when seen numerously dotting a field carpeted with other flowers, they stand out conspicuously, claiming the attention peculiarly to themselves. They have not the delicious fragrance of the Western wall-flower. At first yellowish, they become pale cream-color after fertilization has taken place.

E. asperum, DC., the Western wall-flower, is widely distributed, and may be known from the above by its four-sided pods, and by its flowers, which are usually orange-color—though they occasionally vary to yellow or purple. These blossoms are especially abundant in the mountains and valleys of the south, where their brilliant orange is conspicuous amid the lush greens of springtime. They are very fragrant, and are favorites among our wild flowers.

Stems.—Prostrate or ascending.Leaves.—Trifoliolate.Leaflets.—Cuneate-obovate or obcordate; toothed above.Flowers.—Papilionaceous; small; yellow; two or three in a cluster.Stamens.—Nine

CREAM-COLORED WALL-FLOWER—Erysimum grandiflorum.

united, one free.Pods.—Coiled into two circles; armed with hooked prickles.Hab.—Common everywhere; introduced.

The bur-clover is a little European weed which has becomevery widespread and very much at home among us. It is an excellent forage-plant, and in late summer, when our cattle have eaten everything else, they feed upon the little burs, which are very nutritious in themselves. But these same little coiled burs, with their numerous firm hooks, work great damage to wool, imbedding themselves in it so firmly as to make it very difficult to remove them without seriously injuring its quality. These plants invade our lawns, where they become very troublesome.

Varying greatly in size.Stems.—One to four feet high.Leaves.—Mostly smooth; ovate-oval or cordate; coarsely notched.Flowers.—Yellow.Calyx.—Sharply five-angled; unevenly five-lobed.Corolla.—One or two inches long; lower lip usually spotted with brown purple.Stamens.—Four; in pairs. Anthers with two divergent cells.Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long and slender. Stigma with two rounded lips.Hab.—Common throughout California.

The bright canary-colored blossoms of the common monkey-flower are a familiar sight upon almost every stream-bank. The plant varies greatly in size, according to the locality of its growth. I once saw it flourishing in the rich soil of a lake-shore, where its hollow stems were as large as an ordinary cane, and its blossoms grotesquely large.

M. moschatus, Dougl., the common musk-plant of cultivation, is usually found along mountain-streams. It may be known by its clammy, musk-scented, light-green herbage. Its flowers are larger than in cultivation.

M. brevipes, Benth., is common from Santa Barbara to San Diego, upon hillsides in spring. It has stems a foot or two high, lanceolate leaves one to four inches long, and large, handsome yellow flowers, having a pair of ridges running down their open throats.

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