Part 48

This is a slender plant, from six inches to two feet tall, with pale gray green, woolly leaves, the lower ones somewhat toothed, and pale pinkish-lilac flowers, not very conspicuous in themselves, but sometimes growing in such quantities that they form pretty patches of soft pinkish color in sandy places. The flower-head is about half an inch long, with no rays, but the outer flowers in the head are larger and have long lobes resembling rays. This is very variable, especially in size, and is common along dry roadsides and quite abundant in Yosemite. The picture is of a small plant. L. Germanòrum, which is common on sandy hills along the coast from San Francisco to San Diego, has yellow flowers and blooms in autumn.

There are many kinds of Baeria, not easily distinguished.

This is a dear little plant, often covering the fields with a carpet of gold. The slender stems are about six inches tall, with soft, downy, light green leaves, usually opposite, and pretty fragrant flowers, about three-quarters of an inch across, with bright yellow rays and darker yellow centers. This is sometimes called Fly Flower, because in some places it is frequented by a small fly, which is annoying to horses. B. macrántha is a much larger plant, a biennial, with a tuberous root, from seven inches to a foot and a half tall, with long, narrow, toothless leaves, with hairy margins, and flower-heads from an inch to an inch and a half across, with yellow rays and hairy involucres. This grows along the coast in California, blooming in May and June.

Sunshine--Baeria gracilis.

Lessingia--L. leptoclada.]

There are several kinds of Bahia, natives of western North America, Mexico, and Chile, herbs or shrubs, more or less woolly.

This is from eight to fifteen inches tall, with pretty flowers, an inch and a half across, with bright yellow rays and deep yellow centers, contrasting well with the pale gray-green foliage, which is covered with close white down. This grows in arid situations on the mesas and often forms clumps.

There are several kinds of Crassina, natives of the United States and Mexico.

Nothing could look much less like a garden Zinnia than this dry, prickly-looking dwarf shrub. It is from three inches to a foot high, the branches crowded with very small, stiff, dull green leaves, and the flowers are about an inch across, rather pretty but not conspicuous, with a yellow center and four or five, broad, cream-white rays, often tinged with dull pink. This plant grows on the plains and is a "soil-indicator," as it flourishes on the poorest, stoniest, and most arid land.

Charming flowers, with a thrifty, cultivated appearance like that of a garden flower. The plant is a foot tall, with grayish-green, woolly stems and foliage, and the handsome flower is an inch and a half across, with a fine ruffle of many bright yellow rays, prettily scalloped, and a yellow center, rather deeper in color. In Arizona bouquets of these flowers may be gathered during every month in the year.

An odd little desert plant, about six inches tall, with a thickish stem and soft, thickish leaves, covered all over with silky, white wool, giving a pale, silky effect to the whole plant, which is quite pretty, though the pale yellow flowers, each about half an inch across, are not striking.

Baileya pauciradiata.

Bahia absinthifolia.

Wild Marigold--Baileya multiradiata.]

Gay, yet delicate little flowers, with slender branching stems, about eight inches tall, and light green, very narrow leaves. The flowers are an inch across, with a feathery ruffle of very numerous narrow rays, light yellow at the tips, growing deeper towards the orange-colored center, and the pretty buds are often tinged with pink or purple. This often grows in patches and is common in southern California.

A quaint little desert plant, only two or three inches tall, with thickish, pale gray-green leaves, covered with close white down, and pretty little flowers, growing singly at the ends of tiny branches, each half an inch across, with a yellow center and pure white rays, which fold back at night. These little flowers are too small to be very conspicuous, but are charming in effect, sprinkled over the bare sand, and when growing in quantities on nearly bare mesas give a whitish appearance to the ground.

There are a good many kinds of Blepharipappus.

Very pretty flowers, with slender, branching, hairy stems, about a foot tall, and light green, hairy leaves. The flowers are about two inches across, with yellow rays, tipped with white or very pale yellow, neatly arranged around the deep yellow centers, which are specked with black. The rays twist up in fading and turn to a pretty shade of dull pink. This is common and a very handsome kind.

A beautiful kind, eight or nine inches tall, with pale green, hairy leaves, the lower ones toothed, and a slender stem, bearing a charming flower, nearly an inch and a half across, with neat pure white rays and a bright yellow center. This grows in mountain canyons and is widely distributed as far north as British Columbia.

There are several kinds of Gaillardia, all American. They are much cultivated in gardens, were named in honor of Gaillard de Merentonneau, a French botanist.

Pentachaeta aurea.

White Tidy-tips--B. glandulosus.

Yellow Tidy-tips--Blepharipappus elegans.]

This is handsome and conspicuous, with a slender, rough stalk, about a foot tall, dull green, stiff, rather hairy leaves, mostly from the root, and beautiful flowers, an inch and a half across, with golden-yellow rays, with three teeth, and a center of shaded maroon and yellow, which is very velvety and pretty and becomes an attractive, purplish, fuzzy, round head when the rays drop off. This grows on the plains. G. aristàta, found throughout the West and as far east as Colorado, is an exceedingly handsome kind, sometimes over two feet tall, with beautiful yellow flowers, sometimes measuring four inches across.

A pretty little desert plant, from four to eight inches tall, with a slender, downy flower-stalk, springing from a cluster of roughish, light dull green leaves, more or less hairy and bearing a single handsome flower, nearly two inches across, with a downy involucre and three-toothed rays of an unusual and pretty shade of dull light yellow, finely veined with brown on the back, surrounding a darker yellow, fuzzy center.

A neat little evergreen, shrubby plant, only about three inches high, with branching stems, clothed with small, narrow, dull green leaves, which look prickly but are actually not very stiff, though tipped with tiny bristles. The flowers are three-eighths of an inch across, very perfect in outline, with bright yellow rays and deeper yellow centers, and the whole effect, of a tiny shrub sprinkled with flowers, is quite attractive, growing on very dry ground along the roadside. The plant has a pronounced smell, which is not unpleasant.

This looks a good deal like an Aster, a branching plant, from two to nearly three feet high, with grayish-green, slightly downy leaves, with very sharp teeth. The flowers are an inch and a half across, with narrow, bright violet rays and bright yellow centers. This grows abundantly in valleys.

Tiny Tim--Hymenatherum Hartwegi.