Part 14

There are a few kinds of Atragene, resembling Clematis.

This is peculiarly attractive, as the flowers are large and beautiful and the foliage very pretty. The leaves are divided into three, pointed leaflets, which are thin in texture, light bright-green and prettily cut or lobed, and the trailing or climbing stems are almost smooth, slender and purplish above and woody below. The flowers, which are not in clusters, measure from two to three inches across, with four, sometimes five, violet or blue sepals, spreading widely as the flower grows older, and the outer stamens are broad and resemble small petals. The flowers are followed by handsome feathery heads, which are large and silky. This pretty vine is found in the Grand Canyon, not far below the Rim, and in many mountain places. The foliage varies somewhat in different climates.

There are many kinds of Thalictrum, not easily distinguished, widely distributed, a few in the Andes, India, and Africa; perennials, with tall stems, from a short rootstock, and handsome, compound leaves; the flowers perfect or imperfect, many, small, in clusters, with four to seven sepals and no petals; the akenes tipped with the long styles and forming a head. Some of these plants have a disagreeable smell. They grow in moist places, both East and West.

Though its flowers are small and colorless, this plant is conspicuous for delicacy and grace. The leaves of tender green suggest the fronds of Maidenhair Fern and are almost as beautiful, while the flowers are odd and pretty. A shower of numerous, pale-yellow stamens, with purplish, threadlike filaments, falls from the center of four, greenish-white sepals and forms a charming little tassel. These tassels hang on the ends of very slender pedicels, in loose clusters. The smooth stems are from one to three feet tall and the smooth leaves are thin in texture, thrice-compound, with many, rounded leaflets, the lower leaves with long leaf-stalks. This Meadow Rue has its pistils and stamens on different plants, the flowers with tassels of stamens being prettier and more conspicuous than the small, green, pistillate ones. The variety Wrìghtii is common in Arizona.

BARBERRY FAMILY. Berberidaceae.

Not a large family, widely distributed; shrubs or herbs; leaves alternate or from the root; flowers perfect; sepals and petals few, many, or none, generally in several overlapping rows; stamens on the receptacle, usually as many as the petals and opposite them; pistil one, with a short style, or none; fruit a berry or capsule.

There are several kinds of Vancouveria, perennial herbs with slender, creeping rootstocks; named after Vancouver the explorer.

A charming woodland plant, its airy flower cluster, which has much the effect of an Alum-root, in beautiful contrast to the crisp, evergreen foliage. The large leaves are all from the root, with wiry, purplish leaf-stalks and beautifully-shaped leaflets, each an inch or more broad, pale on the under side, the older leaves dark, rich green, leathery and very glossy and the younger ones bright apple-green and thinner in texture. They form a handsome cluster, varying a good deal in size, and the general effect suggests some very crisp and sturdy sort of Maidenhair Fern. The stem is from one to two feet tall, wiry, purplish, and hairy, and bears a very loose cluster of tiny, drooping, white or lilac-tinged flowers. The six, white sepals resemble petals; the six, white petals are smaller than the sepals, lined with yellow, and there are six to nine bracts, resembling sepals, and six stamens. The minute buds are purplish and the little flowers are exceedingly pretty and odd, when we examine them closely, for the sepals turn back so abruptly from the tiny petals, and from the projecting cluster of stamens, that the name Inside-out Flower is appropriate. The fruit is a kind of capsule with many seeds. This grows in shady woods, especially among redwoods, up to seven thousand feet. V. hexándra has thinner leaflets, not evergreen, and the leaflets of V. chrysántha have white margins.

There are many kinds of Barberry, widely distributed; shrubs, with yellow wood; the leaves often spiny and the flowers yellow; the sepals six to nine, with bracts and resembling petals; the petals six, in two overlapping rows, each with two glands at the base; the stamens six, with anthers that open by little valves like trap-doors, hinged at the top, sensitive and, when they are touched, closing around the shield-shaped stigma; the fruit a berry, with one or few seeds.

This does not look much like the common cultivated kinds of Barberry, for it grows close to the ground in a straggling bunch. In favorable situations it is a handsome and conspicuous plant. The leaves, with from three to seven leaflets, are stiff, prickly, and evergreen like Holly, and the yellow flowers are in clusters at the ends of the stems, with opposite bracts. The six sepals, petals, and stamens are all opposite, that is, with a petal in front of each sepal and a stamen in front of each petal. In Arizona the flowers are rather small and the clusters short, but in Utah they are far handsomer, rich golden-yellow and sweet-scented, forming clusters two inches long. The fruit is a handsome blue berry with a "bloom," the color of wild grapes, contrasting well with the foliage when it turns red in the autumn, and delicious jelly is made from them. B. aquifòlium, of Oregon and Washington, is similar, with much more beautiful, very shining leaves. B. Féndleri, of the Southwest, is from three to six feet high, the branches smooth and shiny as if varnished, the leaves with smooth edges or spiny teeth, and the flowers in numerous drooping clusters. The calyx has conspicuous, red bracts and the berry is red.

The only kind, an attractive perennial, popular on account of its sweet-smelling foliage, which, however, is not fragrant until the leaves are dried. It has a very slender rootstock and only one large leaf, with a very long, slender leaf-stalk and three, oddly-shaped leaflets, from two to six inches across, bright-green, smooth and thin in texture, but not glossy. The single, very slender flower-stalk, from one to two feet tall, bears a crowded spike of many, tiny, scentless, white flowers, without either calyx or corolla, but consisting of a cluster of stamens, with long, threadlike filaments, the outer ones broader, and a pistil with a broad stigma and no style. The effect of the cluster is feathery and pretty and the broad leaf is very conspicuous, on account of its size and shape. The crescent-shaped fruit contains one seed, is at first fleshy, but becomes dry and leathery. This grows in the woods in the Coast Ranges, from near sea-level up to seven thousand feet. It is also called Vanilla Leaf and Deer-foot.

WATER LILY FAMILY. Nymphaeaceae.

A small family, widely distributed in fresh-water lakes and streams; aquatic, perennial herbs, with thick, horizontal rootstocks, or with tubers, large, floating, or erect leaves, and large, solitary flowers, with long flower-stalks; sepals three to twelve; petals three to many; stamens six to numerous; ovary superior, stigmas distinct or united into a disk. We have no white Water Lilies in the West.

Like the eastern Spatter-dock, this is a coarse, but rather handsome and decorative plant. The leathery leaves are shaped like a rounded heart and sometimes a foot long. The cup-shaped calyx, two to four inches across, is the conspicuous part of the flower, consisting of seven to twelve, thickish sepals, yellow and petal-like, the outer greenish. There are twelve to eighteen petals, half an inch long, resembling stamens. The real stamens have dark-red anthers, but yellow pollen, and both petals and stamens are densely crowded around the ovary. The round fruit has a narrow neck, concave top, and many seeds. In quiet mountain ponds we find these yellow flowers, on stout stems standing up out of the water, the lily-pads floating idly on its surface. Indians grind the seeds into meal for porridge, or else roast them and eat them like popcorn.

STRAWBERRY SHRUB FAMILY. Calycanthaceae.

A very small family, of only two genera, one North American, one Japanese; aromatic shrubs, with opposite, toothless leaves, with short leaf-stalks, without stipules; flowers large, solitary, at the ends of leafy branches; sepals, petals, and stamens, indefinite in number, in many, overlapping series, passing one into the other, so that one cannot tell which is which, and all borne on the receptacle, which is hollow, resembling a rose-hip, almost enclosing the numerous pistils; stamens short, the inner ones without anthers; receptacle becoming a large, leathery, oblong or pear-shaped fruit, containing few or many, smooth, shining akenes.

There are three kinds of Calycanthus in this country, two of them eastern; flowers purple or red, stamens inserted in several rows.

This resembles the familiar shrub of old-fashioned gardens and the flowers have the same pleasant and elusive aroma, something like strawberries, much more spicy when crushed. The shrub is four to ten feet high, with rather coarse, harsh foliage and large, handsome flowers, two or three inches across, warm maroon in color, shading to brown and purple, with yellow stamens. This is handsome and conspicuous, because of the uncommon and rich coloring of its flowers, and grows along watercourses in the canyons of the foothills and is most common in northern California. It has many other names, such as Sweet Shrub, Carolina Allspice, Wineflowers, etc.

POPPY FAMILY. Papaveraceae.

A rather large family, widely distributed, most abundant in the north temperate zone; herbs, rarely shrubs, with milky, mostly yellow juice and narcotic or acrid properties; the leaves mostly alternate, without stipules; the parts of the flower usually all separate and distinct, borne on a top-shaped receptacle. There are usually two sepals, which fall off when the blossom opens, and usually four petals, overlapping and crumpled in the bud; the stamens are usually numerous and conspicuous, with thread-like filaments; the superior ovary becomes a many-seeded capsule.

There are only two kinds of Romneya, much alike, smooth, stout, perennial herbs, several feet high, with colorless sap, the leaves alternate and more or less divided; three sepals, each with a broad wing on the back; six, large, white petals; many stamens; the ovary covered with bristles. These plants are nowhere common, but are found from Santa Barbara south, and in lower California sometimes grow in great profusion. They are extensively cultivated and much admired abroad.

This is often considered the handsomest flower in the West and it would be hard to find anything more beautiful and striking than its magnificent blossoms. The plant has somewhat the effect of a Peony-bush, sometimes, in cultivation, as much as five feet high, with many smooth stems and handsome, smooth, light-green foliage, the leaves cut and lobed, those near the top with a few prickles. The splendid flowers are enormous, from five to nine inches across, with diaphanous, white petals, crinkled like crêpe tissue-paper, and bright golden centers, composed of hundreds of yellow stamens surrounding a greenish-white pistil. The blossoms remain open for several days. The hard, round buds are covered with short, brown hairs. This is the true Matilija Poppy, (pronounced Matíliha,) as it is the kind that grows in the canyon of that name, but the tremendous floods of 1914 drowned most of these beautiful plants in that locality. R. Còulteri is similar, but the buds are smooth and the stems more robust.

There are several kinds of Argemone, natives of the warmer parts of America, with bitter, yellow juice, spiny-toothed leaves and large, conspicuous flowers, the buds erect; sepals two or three, with odd little horns; petals twice as many as the sepals; stamens numerous; style very short, with a radiate stigma; capsule prickly, oblong, opening at the top, containing numerous seeds.

The prickly, bluish-green foliage of this decorative and handsome plant is thistle-like both in form and color. The leafy, branching stems, two or three feet high, are covered with dense, white or yellowish prickles and bear several lovely flowers, over three inches across, with delicately crumpled, white petals and beautiful golden centers, composed of numerous yellow stamens, both stem and leaves having a bluish "bloom." The three prickly green sepals each have a spine-like beak and form a queer-looking, three-horned bud; the pistil has a purplish, cap-shaped stigma, with six lobes, and the prickly ovary becomes a very prickly capsule. This grows in dry places and looks very beautiful and striking when we find its fragile flowers waving in the wind against a background of hot desert sand. It varies a good deal in prickliness and in the form both of plant and flower. When there is only one large flower in bloom, surrounded by a circle of prickly buds, it suggests a fairy princess, guarded by a retinue of fierce warriors. The flowers are often quite broad and flat, and then are sometimes given the prosaic name of Fried-eggs.

There are many kinds of Papaver; with milky juice, leaves lobed or cut, nodding flower buds, showy regular flowers, with two or three sepals and four to six petals. The stigmas are united to form a disk with rays and the fruit is a round or oblong capsule, opening near the top. Both the Latin and common name, Poppy, are ancient. Opium is made from P. somníferum of the Mediterranean.

A slender, graceful plant, one or two feet tall, with smooth, branching, purplish stems, smooth leaves, variously cut and lobed, and charming flowers, gay yet delicate. They are about an inch and a half across, usually with four, scarlet petals, each with a spot of maroon at the base, and a bright-green pistil and maroon filaments with pale-yellow anthers. The buds and seed-pods are smooth. This varies a good deal, smells strong of opium when picked, and its flowers glow like jewels among the underbrush on open hillsides, but fall to pieces when gathered.

There are a good many kinds of Eschscholtzia, with bitter, watery juice; leaves alternate, cut into many fine divisions; buds erect; flowers yellow; receptacle cuplike, often with a rim; the two sepals united to form a pointed cap, which is pushed off by the four petals as they expand; stamens numerous, with short filaments and long anthers; style very short, usually with four stigmas; pod long, narrow and ribbed, containing many seeds. These plants were collected at San Francisco in 1816 by von Chamisso, a German poet and naturalist, and named in honor of his friend Eschscholtz, a botanist.

Probably the most celebrated western flower and deservedly popular. It varies a great deal in general form and coloring, but is usually a fine plant, over a foot tall, with stems and leaves a beautiful shade of light bluish-green, and the flowers two or three inches across, usually bright-yellow, shading to orange at the base, but sometimes almost cream-color. They open in sunlight and when blooming in quantities are a beautiful sight, covering the hillsides with a cloth of gold. In southern Arizona a similar kind often borders the dry beds of streams with bright color, with much the same value in the landscape as the Marsh Marigolds along New England streams. It is the State flower of California and has many poetic Spanish names, such as Torosa, Amapola, and Dormidera, besides Copa de Oro, meaning "Cup of gold."