Part 36

This is a fine plant, from six to eighteen inches tall, with purplish stems and handsome coarse foliage, all rough, hairy, and very sticky. The flowers are lilac, with purple stamens and pistil, and the general effect is that of a large coarse Heliotrope. The flowers have a pleasant scent, but the foliage has a strong and disagreeable smell, and it grows on the plateau in the Grand Canyon.

A little desert plant, not very pretty, with several hairy flower-stalks, from three to six inches tall, springing from a rosette of soft thickish leaves, slightly hairy, dull green in color, and something the shape of the leaves of P. Fremontii, but the lobes not nearly so small. The flowers are in tightly coiled clusters; the corolla a little more than a quarter of an inch across, dull white, with a pinkish line on each lobe and lilac anthers, the general effect being mauve.

There are a good many kinds of Nemophila, natives of North America, mostly Californian, slender, fragile herbs, with alternate or opposite leaves, more or less divided, and usually large, single flowers, with rather long flower-stalks. The calyx has an appendage, resembling an extra little sepal, between each of the five sepals, which makes these plants easy to recognize, and the corolla is wheel-shaped or bell-shaped, usually with ten, small appendages within, at the base, and the petals are rolled up in the bud; the stamens are short; the styles partly united. The name is from the Greek, meaning "grove lover," because these plants like the shade.

Wild Heliotrope--Phacelia crenulata.]

These are exceedingly charming little plants, with slender, weak, hairy stems, varying a good deal in height, but usually low and spreading, and pretty, light green, soft, hairy foliage, sprinkled with many lovely flowers, an inch or more across, with hairy calyxes and sky-blue corollas, which are clear white in the center and more or less specked with brown, with ten hairy scales in the throat. The blue of their bright little faces is always wonderfully brilliant, but they are variable and are usually deeper in color and rather smaller in the South. This is one of the commonest kinds of Nemophila in California and it is a general favorite. It is called Mariana by the Spanish Californians.

This is much like the last, but it is a taller and more slender plant, usually about ten inches high. The lovely delicate flowers are less than an inch across, with light blue corollas, usually shading to white at the center and delicately veined with blue, or speckled with purple dots. This grows among the underbrush.

These are charming flowers, their corollas oddly and prettily marked. The weak, hairy stems, from three to twelve inches long, are usually spreading and the leaves are opposite, hairy, and light green. The flowers are about an inch across, with hairy calyxes and white corollas, which are prettily dotted with purple and usually have a distinct indigo spot at the tip of each petal, which gives an unusual effect. The filaments are lilac and the anthers and pistil are whitish. This is common in meadows around Yosemite and in other places in the Sierras at moderate altitudes.

Baby Blue-eyes--Nemophila insignis.]

This is a straggling plant, with pretty delicate flowers, which suggest some sort of Nightshade. The stems are pale, square, juicy and very brittle, from one to three feet long, and the leaves are bright green and most of them are alternate, with leafstalks which are winged and clasping at base. The backs of the leaves, and the stems and calyxes, are covered with hooked bristles, which enable the plant to climb over its neighbors and give it the feeling of Bed-straw to the touch. The flowers are nearly an inch across, with purple corollas, shading to white in the center and paler outside, with purple scales in the throat and purple stamens. This is rather coarser than most Nemophilas and grows in light shade on hillsides.

There are several kinds of Conanthus, low hairy herbs, with alternate, toothless leaves. The calyx and corolla are without appendages; the stamens are not protruding, and are unequal in length and unequally inserted in the tube of the corolla; the style is two-lobed and the capsule is roundish and contains from ten to twenty, smooth seeds.

This is a pretty little desert plant, spreading its branches flat on the ground and bearing tufts of grayish-green, very hairy foliage and a number of charming little flowers, which are three-eighths of an inch across, with very hairy calyxes and bright purplish-pink corollas, with a white and yellow "eye" and a long, slender, yellow tube, which is slightly hairy on the outside. The styles and anthers are of various lengths in different plants. These gay little flowers look very pretty on the dreary mesas around Reno and suggest some sort of Gilia.

Climbing Nemophila--N. aurita.]

There are only two kinds of Romanzoffia.

This is a charming little perennial plant, which forms beautiful clumps of delicate foliage and flowers, suggesting some sort of Saxifrage. The many, smooth, slender, pale green stems, from four to nine inches tall, spring from slender, threadlike rootstocks, bearing tubers, and the leaves are mostly from the root, smooth, bright green, and prettily scalloped, with long leaf-stalks. The flowers are in loose clusters and are each half an inch or more long, with a white corolla, which is without appendages inside and is exceedingly beautiful in texture, with yellow stamens, unequally inserted, and a long, threadlike style, with a small stigma. These little plants grow in moist, shady spots among the rocks, as far north as Alaska and often reach very high altitudes, where it is a delight to find their pearly flowers and lovely foliage in some crevice in the cliffs watered by a glacier stream. These plants are found as far north as Alaska and were named in honor of Count Romanzoff, who sent the Kotzebue expedition to Alaska.

There are several kinds of Emmenanthe, much like Phacelia, but the stamens not protruding, and the corolla bell-shaped, cream-color or yellow, becoming papery in withering and not falling off, hence the Greek name, meaning "lasting flower."

A low plant, with many, downy branches, spreading almost flat on the ground, and small, thickish leaves, light dull green, and slightly downy. The flowers are rather more than a quarter of an inch across, with hairy calyxes, and bright yellow corollas, hairy outside, with ten little appendages inside, and grow in coiled clusters. The little flowers are gay and pretty and look bright and cheerful on the desert sands where they live. This is found as far east as Oregon.

Romanzoffia sitchensis.]

Pretty plants, from eight to fourteen inches tall, with branching, hairy stems and light green, soft, downy leaves. The flowers are less than half an inch long, with pale yellow corollas, and are at first erect, but gradually droop until they hang gracefully on their very slender pedicels. They become dry and papery as they wither, but keep their form, and when the wind shakes their slender stems they respond with a faint rustling sound. This grows in dry places and is common in the South. In Arizona it grows only in protected canyons.

There are several kinds of Hydrophyllum, perennial or biennial herbs, with fleshy running rootstocks and large, more or less divided leaves, mostly alternate. The corolla is bell-shaped, with a honey-gland at the base of each of the petals, which are rolled up in the bud. The filaments are hairy, the style two-cleft above, both stamens and style are generally long and protruding, and the ovary is one-celled and hairy, containing from one to four seeds.

This is a pretty plant, from six to twelve inches high, with a rather weak stem and conspicuous leaves, which are alternate, pale green, soft and downy, or hairy, with five or seven divisions, prettily lobed and cut, with rather prominent veins, and long, succulent, pinkish leafstalks, sheathing the stem. The flowers are rather small, with short pedicels, and a number are crowded together in roundish clusters, about an inch across, with almost no flower-stalk. The calyx is covered with white hairs, the corolla is lilac or white, somewhat hairy on the outside, and the stamens and style are long and conspicuous, sticking out like cats' whiskers and giving a pretty feathery appearance to the whole cluster, which becomes in fruit a conspicuous, very fuzzy, round head, covered with bristly white hairs, making the children's quaint common name for this plant quite appropriate. It grows in rich soil, in mountain woods, and is one of the earliest spring flowers. It is sometimes called Bear's Cabbage, but this name is far fetched, both as regards bears and cabbages!

Whispering Bells--Emmenanthe penduliflora.]

There are several kinds of Eriodictyon, shrubs, with alternate, toothed, leathery, evergreen leaves, which are netted-veined, generally green and smooth on the upper side and whitish and downy on the under, with leaf-stalks; the flowers in coiled clusters; the corolla more or less funnel-form or salver-form, without appendages in the tube; the stamens and the two distinct styles not protruding; the capsule small, with few seeds. The name is from the Greek for "wool" and "net," in allusion to the netted wool on the under surface of the leaves.

A branching shrub, from two to six feet high, with thickish leaves, with toothed or wavy margins, from two to six inches long, dark and shiny on the upper side, pale with close down and netted-veined on the underside. The flowers are not especially pretty, about half an inch long, with white, lilac, or purple corollas, and are slightly sweet scented. The leaves are strongly and pleasantly aromatic when they are crushed and were used medicinally by the Indians, hence the Spanish name, meaning "holy herb." Cough-syrup is made from them and also substitutes for tobacco and hops. This grows on dry hills and is very variable, being sometimes a handsome shrub. There are intermediate forms between this and the next, E. tomentosum, which are difficult to distinguish.

A large leafy shrub, about five feet high and much handsomer than the last, with velvety, light green branches and very velvety, purplish twigs. The beautiful leaves are veined like chestnut leaves and made of the thickest, softest, sea-green or gray velvet, like a mullein leaf in texture, but much smoother and softer. The flowers are three-quarters of an inch long, with a pale pinkish-lilac corolla, shading to purple and white, downy on the outside, and form quite handsome clusters, mixed with pretty gray velvet buds, the lilac of the flowers harmonizing well with the gray foliage. This grows in quantities on Point Loma, and other places along the coast, from San Diego to Santa Barbara. There are several similar varieties.

Yerba Santa--Eriodíctyon Californicum.]

BORAGE FAMILY. Boraginaceae.

A large family, widely distributed, chiefly rough-hairy herbs, without stipules; usually with alternate, toothless leaves; flowers usually in coiled, one-sided clusters; calyx usually with five sepals; corolla usually symmetrical, with five united petals, often with crests or appendages in the throat; stamens five, inserted in the tube of the corolla, alternate with its lobes; ovary superior, with a single, sometimes two-cleft, style, and usually deeply four-lobed, like that of the Mint Family, forming in fruit four seed-like nutlets. Mature fruit is necessary to distinguish the different kinds. These plants superficially resemble some of the Waterleaf Family, but the four lobes of the ovary are conspicuous.

There are many kinds of Lappula, chiefly of the north-temperate zone; leaves narrow; corolla blue or white, salver-form or funnel-form, with a very short tube, the throat closed by five short scales, the stamens, with short filaments, hidden in the tube; ovary deeply four-lobed; style short; nutlets armed with barbed prickles, forming burs, giving the common name, Stickseed, and the Latin name, derived from "bur." Some of them resemble Forget-me-nots, but are not true Myosotis.