Part 47

FALSE PIMPERNEL.

Hypericum anagalloides, Cham. and Schlecht. St. John's-wort Family.

Stems.--Numerous; weak; low; spreading; rooting at the joints. Leaves.--Two to six lines long; oblong to round; clasping. Flowers.--Three or four lines across; salmon-colored. Stamens.--Fifteen to twenty. Capsule.--One-celled. Hab.--Lower California to British Columbia, eastward into Montana.

In moist places the prostrate stems of this little plant often make dense mats.

Its specific name indicates its resemblance to the Anagallis, or pimpernel. In fact, one might easily imagine it a pimpernel with salmon-colored flowers.

CANCER-ROOT. NAKED BROOM-RAPE.

Aphyllon fasciculatum, Gray. Broom-rape Family.

Leafless parasitic plants. Stems.--Scaly; thickened and knotty below, and bearing on their summits few or many clustered, one-flowered peduncles of about the same length. Flowers.--Yellowish; sometimes purplish or reddish outside. Calyx.--Slenderly five-toothed. Corolla.--Tubular; over an inch long, with five spreading lobes; somewhat bilabiate. Stamens.--Four; in pairs; included. Ovary.--One-celled. Style slender. Stigma two-lobed. Hab.--Throughout California, eastward to Lake Superior.

There are about half a dozen species of cancer-root known upon our Coast, all strange-looking, leafless plants, of very doubtful moral character--for I fear it must be confessed they are thieves. Stealthily sending their roots down and imbedding them in the roots of their victims, they draw from them the nourishment needed for their sustenance. But they have been overtaken by the proper retributive punishment--for having no longer any need of organs for the elaboration of nourishment, they are denied green leaves, the most beautiful adornment of many plants; and even the flowers of some of them seem to us to have a sickly, unwholesome hue. However, it must be acknowledged that these plants are quite interesting, despite their evil ways.

A. fasciculatum usually blooms in early summer, on dry, rocky hills, and is parasitic upon the roots of sagebrush, wild buckwheat, etc.

YELLOW MARIPOSA TULIP.

Calochortus luteus, Dougl. Lily Family.

Stems.--Four to twelve inches high; bearing a single bulblet inclosed in the stem-sheath. Leaves.--Very narrow; one to three lines wide. Flowers.--Erect; cup-shaped; yellow; small; not oculated, but the petals striated with brown lines, especially on the middle third. Gland.--Transversely oblong to lunate; densely hairy with orange-colored ascending hairs, with scattered spreading hairs about it. Capsule.--Broad at the base; tapering upward. Hab.--Clay soil; Coast Ranges from Mendocino County to San Diego.

The typical C. luteus, as described above, is the least beautiful of all the Mariposa tulips, being lower of stature and smaller of flower than most of the others; but among its varieties may be found some of the most charming flowers of the genus, the true butterfly-tulips of the early Spanish, often oculated and marked in a wonderful manner. In color and marking they often run closely into forms of C. venustus, the only constant characters by which to distinguish them being found in the shape of the gland and the capsule and the character of the soil in which they grow.

There are two well-marked varieties--citrinus and oculatus--besides numerous other forms, where the species seems to have run riot in color and marking. The var. citrinus is a strong, vigorous-growing plant, with flowers of a deep lemon-yellow, with a large, distinct, very dark maroon eye on each petal. It is exceedingly beautiful.

SILVER-WEED. CINQUEFOIL.

Potentilla Anserina, L. Rose Family.

Stems.--Prostrate. Leaves.--All radical; a foot or so long; pinnate, with seven to twenty-one leaflets with smaller ones interposed. Leaflets.--Sessile; oblong; toothed; shining green; silvery beneath. Flowers.--Bright yellow; long-peduncled; solitary; an inch across. Sepals.--Five; with five bractlets between. Petals.--Five. Stamens.--Twenty to twenty-five. Pistils.--Numerous; on a hairy receptacle. Hab.--Throughout North America.

The bright golden blossoms of the silver-weed are common in moist places, haunting stream-banks, lingering about stagnant ponds, or even pushing their way up amid the grasses of our salt marshes. The white under-surfaces of the leaves are responsible for one of the common names of this plant.

P. glandulosa, Lindl., is found upon dry hillsides. It is one or two feet high, and is an ill-smelling, somewhat sticky plant, with glandular hairs. The stems are leafy, and the small flowers, like pale-yellow strawberry-blossoms, are produced in loose clusters. The corolla scarcely exceeds the calyx. The leaves, which have from five to nine leaflets, have not the silvery under-surface of those of P. Anserina.

COMMON EVENING PRIMROSE.

OEnothera biennis, L. Evening-Primrose Family.

Stems.--Stout; usually simple; one to five feet high; more or less hairy. Leaves.--Mostly sessile; lanceolate to oblong; two to six inches long; denticulate. Flowers.--Golden yellow; in a leafy spike; erect in the bud. Calyx-tube.--Twelve to thirty lines long. Petals.--Six to nine lines long. Stigma-lobes.--Linear. Capsule.--An inch or less long. (See OEnothera.) Hab.--Throughout the United States.

The common evening primrose is a very widespread plant in the United States, and it has long been in cultivation in Europe. Its flowers open suddenly at night, and, according to tradition, with a popping noise. Referring to this, the poet Keats speaks of--

"A turf of evening primroses, O'er which the mind may hover till it dozes; O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep, But that 'tis ever startled by the leap Of buds into ripe flowers."

These blossoms are said to be luminous at night, shining by the sunlight they have stored during the daytime.

The young roots, which are edible, are excellent, either pickled or boiled, having a nutty flavor. In Germany and France these are used, either stewed or raw, in salads, like celery; and the young mucilaginous twigs are also used in the same way. A tincture of the whole plant is a valued remedy in medicine for many disorders. Our Californian plants are mostly of the var. hirsutissima, Gray, having very large flowers and a hairy capsule.

GUM-PLANT. RESIN-WEED. AUGUST-FLOWER.