Part 42

Little Pink Monkey-flower--M. Torreyi.

Little Yellow Monkey-flower--Mimulus primuloides.]

There are several varieties of this common and attractive plant, some tall and robust, others very short. The stems are smooth, not sticky, thickish and pale, sometimes branching, about a foot tall, and the leaves are from one to three inches long, smooth, or slightly downy, especially on the under side of the upper leaves, and usually bright green, the veins prominent on the back, the upper leaves without leaf-stalks and more or less clasping, the lower ones with leaf-stalks varying in length. The flowers are from three-quarters of an inch to two inches long, clear bright yellow, the throat nearly closed and hairy, usually with some dark red dots between the hairy ridges on the lower lip. This grows in wet places in the mountains and in canyons, is widely distributed in the West, and has now strayed as far east as Connecticut.

This plant is more or less hairy and seems to be wet all over with slimy dew and smells of musk. When the stems are cut and put in water a slimy sort of mucilage drips from them. It is about ten inches tall, with rather pretty yellow flowers, barely an inch long, with some hairs and reddish specks in the throat. This is widely distributed, in wet places, from Ontario westward.

There are numerous kinds of Orthocarpus, many of them Californian, difficult to distinguish. Like Castilleja, their upper leaves often pass into colored bracts and the calyx is colored, but the corolla is not similar, for the upper lip is small and the three-lobed lower lip is swollen and conspicuous; calyx short, four-cleft; stamens four, two of them short, enclosed in the upper lip; style long, with a round-top stigma; leaves without leaf-stalks, usually alternate, often cut into three to five narrow divisions; fruit an oblong capsule with many seeds. Perhaps it is called Owl's-clover because, in some kinds, the flowers look like the faces of owls.

Common Yellow Monkey-flower--Mimulus Langsdorfii.]

One of the handsomest of its kind, a fine thrifty plant, but not at all coarse, and much prettier and more effective than the next. The branching stem is about a foot tall, and the leaves are very light, bright yellowish-green, and thin in texture. The flowers are about an inch long, with very clear bright yellow "pouches" and greenish "beaks" tipped with white. They have a curiously solid appearance, as if carved out of yellow wax, and are very pleasing and fresh in color, harmonizing well with the light green bracts, which give a very feathery effect to the top of the cluster. Like most of its relations, the flowers are more effective when we look down on them, growing among the grass, than when they are picked and we see them in profile. The corollas are sometimes pinkish-white. This is common in the valleys of the Coast Ranges.

From five to ten inches tall, with a slender, downy, purplish stem, often branching, dull green, downy leaves and purplish-tipped bracts. The sulphur-yellow flowers are usually an inch long, with a magenta "beak" and a very slender, white tube. They are pretty and very common on plains.

A delicate little plant, from five to ten inches tall, with a slender, downy, reddish stem, hairy, dull green leaves and bracts, and very pretty little flowers, nearly an inch long; the corollas varying from almost white to bright pink, but all the same shade on one plant, with a little yellow at the center and a maroon-colored "beak." They are deliciously sweet-scented, like violets, and grow in dry places. The variety versícolor, Popcorn Beauty, has fragrant white flowers.

This often makes patches of bright color. It is from six to twelve inches tall, with stiff, slender, hairy stems, hairy leaves, and pretty bright yellow flowers, nearly half an inch long. This grows in dry sunny places as far east as Colorado, reaching an altitude of ten thousand feet.

Yellow Pelican Flower--O. faucibarbatus.]

The Spanish name, which means "little broom," is very appropriate for this pretty plant. The stiff, downy stem is from five to fifteen inches tall and the downy leaves are light green and become tipped with purplish-pink as they mount up the stalk. The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch long and have a white lower lip, which is tipped with yellow and has a crimson dot on each lobe, and the straight, erect "beak" is crimson. The cluster is crowded with purplish-pink and white bracts and though the flowers themselves are not conspicuous the effect is feathery and very pretty, especially when the plants grow in such quantities as to color a whole field with soft pink, or when mixed with beautifully contrasting patches of blue Lupine. This is common along the coast. O. purpuráscens, common in the Northwest and Southwest, is similar, but it has a hairy "beak," hooked at the tip, and the general effect is handsomer and much brighter in color, but less feathery.

An interesting annual plant, quite pretty, about a foot high, the stem sometimes branching and the branches suggesting those of a candelabrum, clothed with soft, finely divided, dull green leaves and ending in spikes of green bracts and pretty little flowers, three-quarters of an inch long. The calyx is green, the upper lip of the corolla is purplish-pink and the lower lip is swollen, three-lobed and cream-white, turning pink in fading. This grows in dry places at altitudes of from six to eight thousand feet. Only one of the branches is given in the picture.

A pretty little plant, from six to eight inches high, with hairy leaves cut into narrow divisions and passing into pinkish-lilac bracts towards the top of the stalk, which are mixed with pink and white flowers, each about an inch long, so that the effect of the whole is a spike of pink and white. The lower lip of the corolla is white and the upper lip is pink, with a furry tip. This grows in fields. O. attenuàtus, common in fields in the Northwest, is a slender inconspicuous kind, about nine inches tall, with soft, thin, dull green leaves, most of them not lobed, and pale green bracts, often tipped with white. The corollas are dull white, the lower lip dotted with purple or yellow, and the whole effect of the cluster is feathery, very slender, and pale in color.

Escobita--Orthocarpus densiflorus.

Owl's-clover--O. exsertus.]

There are a good many kinds of Pedicularis, usually with finely-cut leaves and spikes of queerly-shaped flowers, usually yellow, sometimes red or white; the corolla conspicuously two-lipped, the upper lip hood-like, long and narrow, the lower lip three-lobed; the stamens four, two of them short, in the upper lip; the capsule flattened or compressed, beaked, splitting open, and containing many seeds. These plants are supposed to cause lice in sheep that feed on them, so they have the ugly name of Lousewort, both in English and Latin.

A robust and very decorative plant, with rich coloring. The stout, purplish stems are slightly hairy, from nine inches to nearly two feet tall, and spring from a graceful cluster of large leaves, which are crisp in texture and smooth or slightly downy, rich green and often tinged with bronze. The flowers are an inch or more long, with purplish, hairy calyxes and crimson corollas, and form a very handsome though rather coarse-looking cluster, mixed with purplish bracts, and finely shaded in color, from the carmine buds at the top to the wine-color of the faded flowers at the base. This grows on wooded hillsides and in deep shade. The flowers are sometimes white.

This is an odd-looking plant, about six inches tall, with a stout, purplish stem, woolly at the top, springing from a pretty cluster of smooth, bright green leaves. The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch long, with purplish, woolly calyxes and bright pink corollas, which are veined and tipped with deeper color, with purplish bracts. They are very eccentric in shape and the upper lip has a ludicrous resemblance to the head of a duck. This grows in the mountains.

Indian Warrior--Pedicularis densiflora.]

This grows in dry rocky soil at high altitudes, forming a low clump of pretty bronze-colored leaves, cut into many small crinkled lobes, and giving the effect of stiff little ferns, with a short spike of oddly pretty flowers, each over an inch long, with a purplish, hairy calyx and a corolla with a white tube and magenta lips, the anthers projecting like sharp little teeth from under the arching upper lip. P. semibarbàta, growing in dry woods in Yosemite, forms a rosette of crinkled bronze foliage, with short spikes of yellow flowers.

A handsome plant, with quaint flowers. The smooth, slender, purplish stem is a foot or more tall, with a few alternate leaves, and springs from a cluster of smooth, fern-like foliage, much like that of P. ornithorhyncha, often tinged with bronze, and bears a long, crowded spike of many flowers. They are slightly fragrant, about three-quarters of an inch long, with purplish calyxes and deep pink or reddish corollas, which look absurdly like little elephants' heads. This grows in the mountains, across the continent.

BROOM-RAPE FAMILY. Orobanchaceae.

A rather small family, resembling Scrophulariaceae, widely distributed; parasitic herbs, without green foliage, with alternate scales instead of leaves; flowers perfect, irregular; calyx five-cleft, or split on one or both sides; corolla two-lipped; stamens four, in pairs, with slender filaments, on the corolla-tube (sometimes also the rudiment of a fifth stamen); ovary superior, style slender, stigma disk-like, with two or four lobes; fruit a capsule.

There are several kinds of Thalesia.

A queer little thing, but pretty and delicate, with a very short stem, mostly underground, bearing one or more slender, slightly hairy, dull yellow, scaly flower-stems from three to eight inches tall, each with a single flower, less than an inch long, with a dull yellow, hairy calyx, and a hairy, lilac corolla, tinged with dull yellow and veined with purple, with two yellow ridges in the throat. This is not common and is found across the continent.

Elephants' Heads--P. Groenlandica.

One-flowered Cancer-root--Thalesia uniflora.]