Part 40

M. brevipes, Benth., is common from Santa Barbara to San Diego, upon hillsides in spring. It has stems a foot or two high, lanceolate leaves one to four inches long, and large, handsome yellow flowers, having a pair of ridges running down their open throats.

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OEnothera bistorta, Nutt. Evening-Primrose Family.

From several inches to a foot or two high. Leaves.--Three or four inches long; denticulate; the upper mostly rounded at base. Petals.--Yellow; four to seven lines long; with usually a brown spot at the base. Stigma.--Large and spherical. Capsule.--Four to nine lines long; a line or so wide; attenuate upward; contorted. (See OEnothera.) Hab.--Ventura to San Diego.

This is a very common species of evening primrose in the south, and may be found blooming until June. It is very variable in its manner of growth. In moist, shaded localities it becomes an erect plant a foot or two high; while upon open, exposed plains it is often only two or three inches high, but seems almost to emulate the "sunshine" in its attempt to gild the plain with its bright blossoms. It frequently grows in gravelly washes. Its flowers have a peculiarly clean, brilliant, alert look, and may usually be known by the brown spot at the base of the petals. The specific name is in reference to its twice-twisted capsule.

The "beach primrose," OE. cheiranthifolia, var. suffruticosa, Wats., often grows in great beds upon the dry sands of the seashore, from Monterey to San Diego. Its decumbent stems are thickly clothed with small, ovate, stemless leaves, and its silvery foliage makes a beautiful setting for its large golden flowers.

FAWN-LILY. DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET. CHAMISE-LILY.

Erythronium giganteum, Lindl. Lily Family.

Corm.--Usually elongated. Leaves.--Oblong; six to ten inches long; dark green, usually mottled in mahogany and dark brown. Scape.--One- to many-flowered. Perianth.--Broadly funnel-form, with six deciduous segments; at length revolute to the stem. Segments.--Straw-color, with orange base, with often a transverse, brownish band across the base; broadly lanceolate; eighteen lines or so long. Stamens.--Six. Filaments filiform. Anthers basifixed. Ovary.--Three-celled. Style slender. Stigma three-lobed. Hab.--The interior of the Coast Ranges, from Sonoma County to the Willamette Valley.

The dog's-tooth violets expand into larger, finer creations upon our shores than were ever dreamed of elsewhere. They seem to imbibe new vigor in the sweet life-giving air of our Coast Range forests. In Southern Oregon, they reach their maximum development, manifesting themselves in numerous beautiful species. With us the common title becomes still more inappropriate than for the Atlantic species--for nothing could be farther from a violet than these large pale flowers, which in reality look far more like lilies. Indeed, in Mendocino County they are commonly known as "chamise-lilies." Another name is "Adam and Eve," bestowed because the plant often bears a large and a small flower at the same time.

Personally, I am inclined to favor Mr. Burroughs' suggestion of "fawn-lily." It is both appropriate and pretty. The two erect leaves are like the ears of a fawn; their beautiful mottling is not without a hint of the fawn's spots; and the blossom is lily-like. The plant is shy, too, keeping to the seclusion of our deep cañons. In such situations we may find them in groups of a few, or occasionally in beds of hundreds. No more delightful surprise could be imagined than to come suddenly upon such a garden far from the habitations of man. The pale flowers, with orange centers, when fully open, roll their petals back to the stem, like those of the leopard-lily; but in cloudy weather they often maintain a campanulate outline. Plants have frequently been seen with from eight to sixteen flowers upon a stem, the flowers three or four inches across!

These are great favorites in gardens, and in cultivation are known as E. grandiflorum. We have several species of Erythronium, all of them beautiful.

STICKY MONKEY-FLOWER.

Mimulus glutinosus, Wend. Figwort Family.

Glutinous shrubs two to six feet high. Leaves.--Narrowly oblong to linear; one to four inches long; with margins at length rolled backward. Flowers.--Corn-color to red; eighteen lines to three inches long. Calyx.--Irregularly five-toothed. Corolla.--Funnel-form; five-lobed; the lobes gnawed. Stigma.--White. (See Mimulus.) Hab.--San Francisco to San Diego, and southward.

During a walk upon the hills, at almost any time of year, we may find the corn-colored blossoms of the sticky monkey-flower, but they are most abundant in spring and summer. When in full flower the small bushes are very ornamental, as they are a perfect mass of bloom. They are said to be especially handsome as greenhouse plants.

The flowers vary through a wide range of color, from almost white to a rich scarlet, but the commoner hue is the corn-color. The scarlet-flowered form, found at San Diego, constitutes the var. puniceus, Gray. Another form, with red-brown to salmon-colored flowers on very short pedicels, is the var. linearis, Gray. The very long-flowered form is the var. brachypus, Gray. The sensitive lips of the stigma close upon being touched or after receiving pollen.

CREEPING WOOD-VIOLET.

Viola sarmentosa, Dougl. Violet Family.

Stems.--Creeping. Leaves.--Round-cordate; six to eighteen lines broad; finely crenate; often rusty beneath; usually punctate with dark dots. Peduncles.--Slender. Flowers.--Small; light yellow without and within. (Flower structure as in V. pedunculata.) Hab.--Coast Ranges, from Monterey to British Columbia.

This modest little violet is found commonly in woods,--often in redwood forests,--where it carpets the ground with its shapely little round leaves.

Its specific name refers to its running habit.

COMMON BLACK MUSTARD.

Brassica nigra, Koch. Mustard Family.

Stems.--Six inches to twelve feet high. Lower leaves.--Lyrate; with large terminal lobes. Upper leaves.--Lobed or entire. Flowers.--Yellow. Sepals.--Four. Petals.--Four; three to four lines long. Stamens.--Six. Ovary.--Two-celled. Style long. Pod.--Six to nine lines long, with seeds in one row. Hab.--Common everywhere; introduced.

I can give no truer idea of the manner of growth of this common plant in California than by quoting Mrs. Jackson's charming description of it from "Ramona":--

"The wild mustard in Southern California is like that spoken of in the New Testament, in the branches of which the birds of the air may rest. Coming up out of the earth, so slender a stem that dozens can find starting-point in an inch, it darts up a slender, straight shoot, five, ten, twenty feet, with hundreds of fine, feathery branches locking and interlocking with all the other hundreds around it, till it is an inextricable network, like lace. Then it bursts into yellow bloom, still finer, more feathery and lacelike. The stems are so infinitesimally small and of so dark a green, that at a short distance they do not show, and the cloud of blossoms seems floating in the air; at times it looks like a golden dust. With a clear, blue sky behind it, as it is often seen, it looks like a golden snowstorm."

The tall stems are favorite haunts of the red-winged blackbird, who tilts about among them, showing his scarlet wings and occasionally plunging into the depths below, as though he found a spot there much to his mind.