Part 33

Among children the yarrow is commonly known as "old man."

RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN.

Goodyera Menziesii, Lindl. Orchis Family.

Leaves.--Two or three inches long; leathery; dark green, veined with white. Scape.--Six to fifteen inches high, with scattered lanceolate bracts. Spike.--Many-flowered. Perianth.--White; two to four lines long; downy. Lateral sepals deflexed; upper and two petals coherent. Lip erect, saccate below, concave above, and narrowing into the recurved summit. Anther.--On the base of the column behind. Ovary.--One-celled. Hab.--Mountains, from Mendocino and Mariposa Counties to British Columbia.

The rattlesnake plantain is frequently met under the coniferous trees of our northern woods. Its common name comes from the mottling of its leaves, which is similar to that of the rattlesnake's skin. In midsummer, or later, the plant sends up a stalk of small but shapely little blossoms. These are so modest, one would hardly suspect they belonged to the showy orchis family.

BUTTON-BUSH. BUTTON-WILLOW.

Cephalanthus occidentalis, L. Madder Family.

Shrubs eight to ten feet high. Leaves.--Opposite, or in whorls of three or four; petioled; ovate to lanceolate; three to five inches long. Flowers.--Small; white; in spherical heads an inch in diameter. Calyx.--Four-toothed. Corolla.--Long funnel-form with four-cleft limb. Stamens.--Four; short; borne on the throat of the corolla. Ovary.--Two- to four-celled. Style long-exserted. Stigma capitate. Hab.--Throughout the State.

The button-bush is a handsome shrub, found upon stream borders, often standing where its roots are constantly under water. Its leaves are willow-like, and its spherical flower-heads, poised gracefully at the ends of the branches, resemble small cushions filled with pins. The blossoms often have a jessamine-like fragrance.

A tincture made of the bark is used by physicians as a tonic and laxative and as a remedy for fevers and coughs.

This shrub is especially abundant in the interior, on the lower reaches of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, where it is in bloom from June to August.

WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF.

Pyrola picta, Smith. Heath Family.

Leaves.--Leathery; dark green, veined with white; one or two inches long. Scape.--Four to nine inches high. Calyx.--Five-parted. Petals.--Six lines or so long; white. Stamens.--Ten. Anthers opening terminally. Ovary.--Five-celled. Style long; curved. Hab.--The Middle Sierras and Mendocino County, and northward.

The great coniferous forests of our higher mountains afford homes for many interesting members of the Heath family. A trip to the Sierras in August will yield many a prize to the flower-lover. Pyrolas, with waxen clusters, vie with Pipsissiwas; the weird looking Pterospora rears its uncanny, gummy stems, clothed with small, yellowish bells, while an occasional glimpse of a blood-red spike betrays the most wonderful of them all--the snow-plant.

Of the Pyrolas we made the acquaintance of three in this region. These pretty plants are called "shinleaf," because the leaves of some of the species were used by the English peasantry as plasters which they applied to bruises or sores. Pyrola picta, with its rich leathery, white-veined leaves and clusters of whitish, waxen flowers, was quite plentiful and always a delight to meet. Pyrola dentata, Smith, we often found growing with it. This has spatulate, wavy-margined leaves; which are pale and not veined with white, and its scapes are more slender. It never was so attractive or vigorous a plant as the other.

A ramble in the woods one day brought us to the brink of a charming stream, whose pure, ice-cold waters babbled along most invitingly. Following its course, we found ourselves in a delightfully cool, moist thicket, where, nestling in the deep shade, we found the beautiful, rich, glossy leaves of Pyrola rotundifolia, var. bracteata, Gray. The leaves are roundish, of a beautiful, bright chrome green, highly polished, and the delicate flowers are rose-pink. This is called "Indian lettuce" and "canker lettuce," and a tincture of the fresh plant is used in medicine for the same purposes as chimaphila. P. aphylla, Smith, is easily distinguished by the absence of leaves. It has flesh-colored stems, and its flowers are sometimes of the same color, and sometimes white. This is found in the Coast Ranges.

PEARLY EVERLASTING FLOWER.

Anaphalis Margaritacea, Benth. Composite Family.

Stems.--One to three feet high; leafy up to the flowers. Leaves.--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate or linear-lanceolate; two to four inches long; white-woolly, at length becoming green above. Heads.--Of filiform disk-flowers only. Involucre.--Of many rows of pearly white, pointed scales, not longer than the flowers, resembling ray-flowers. Hab.--Widely distributed over the northern parts of America and Asia.

Our wild everlasting flowers are very difficult of determination, and are comprised under at least three genera, Gnaphalium, Anaphalis, and Antennaria. The word Anaphalis is from the same root as the word Gnaphalium, and the species have quite the aspect of Gnaphalium.

The flowers of the pearly everlasting have a peculiarly pure pearly look before they are entirely open, and their sharp-pointed little scales give them a prim, set look, like very regular, tiny white roses. There is a hint of green in them, but they are never of the dirty yellowish-white of the cudweed, nor have they the slippery-elm-like fragrance of the latter. When fully expanded, the centers are brown. The leaves, which at length become a dark, shining green, make a fine contrast with the permanently white-woolly stems. The flower-clusters are loosely compound.

WASHINGTON LILY. SHASTA LILY.

Lilium Washingtonianum, Kell. Lily Family.

Hab.--Throughout the Sierras from three to six thousand feet elevation.

I shall never forget the thrill of delight I felt on first beholding this noble white lily, some years ago, in an open fir forest near Mt. Shasta. I had often heard of it, but never dared hope it would be my privilege to gather it for myself in its own native haunts.

The blossoms somewhat resemble those of the ruby lily, but the petals have longer claws and are more loosely put together. They are fragrant, but their perfume is not to be compared with that of the ruby lily.

Mr. Purdy once saw, upon a single great mountain-side, ten thousand of these wonderful plants, upbearing their beautiful, pure lilies--a sight outrivaling the poet's vision of the golden daffodils.