Part 50

Another species--H. Californicus, DC.--found from San Francisco Bay southward, along streams, has something the same habit as the above, but may be known from it by its slender, smooth stems, leafy to the top, the long, sprawling, awl-shaped bracts of its involucre, and its more delicate flowers, about two and a half inches across. The disk-corollas are slightly pubescent below. This species has a rather strong balsamic odor.

PINE-DROPS.

Pterospora andromedea, Nutt. Heath Family.

Stems.--One to three feet high. Bracts.--Crowded at base; scattered above. Calyx.--Five-parted. Corolla.--Three lines long; yellowish. Stamens.--Ten. Anthers tailed; opening lengthwise. Ovary.--Five-celled. Style short. Stigma five-lobed. Hab.--Throughout California, and across the continent.

In our walks in the mountains, we occasionally encounter the flesh-colored wands of this curious plant. The colorless leaves are reduced to mere bracts, and the stems are densely clothed above with the little yellowish waxen bells. The whole plant is very viscid and disagreeable to handle.

Though rare, it is found all across the continent. In the East it grows only under pine-trees, upon whose roots it is supposed to be parasitic, while in California it is said to be found under both oaks and pines.

There is but a single species in this genus. The seed is furnished with a broad membranous wing, which has given rise to the name Pterospora, derived from two Greek words, meaning wing and seed.

TARWEED.

Hemizonia luzulaefolia, DC. Composite Family.

Glandular, strong-scented plants. Stems.--Loosely branching; slender; six inches to two feet high. Leaves.--Linear; very small above; elongated and withering early below. Flower-heads.--White or light yellow; composed of ray- and disk-flowers. Rays.--Six to ten; two to five lines long; three-lobed. Scales.--of the involucre each clasping a ray. Hab.--Common throughout the western part of the State.

Under the common designation of "tarweed," plants belonging to two different genera--Madia and Hemizonia--and comprising thirty or forty species, may be found. They are mostly annuals or biennials, with viscid, heavily scented foliage, which make themselves conspicuous in late summer and through the autumn. The Hemizonias are distinctively Californian; while the Madias we have in common with Chile. Their viscid exudation is particularly ruinous to wool and clothing, but alcohol is a solvent for it, and will generally remove it.

We wonder how these plants, which flourish in our driest seasons, can extract so much moisture from the parched earth, and of what practical use this resinous secretion can be in their economy. Though some of them are described as having a disagreeable odor, many of them have a very pleasant balsamic fragrance, which gives our summer and autumn atmosphere a peculiar character of its own. Whole fields and hillsides are tinged with their warm olive foliage, or are yellow with their golden flowers, which appear like a fall revival of the buttercups. The flowers open mostly at night or in early morning, closing in bright sunshine.

Hemizonia luzulaefolia is a common species, whose flowers are redolent of the odor of myrrh.

CALIFORNIAN GOLDENROD.

Solidago Californica, Nutt. Composite Family.

Stem.--Rather stout; low or tall. Leaves.--Oblong, or the upper oblong-lanceolate, and the lower obovate. Flowers.--In a dense, pyramidal panicle, four to twelve inches long, with mostly erect racemose branches. Heads.--Three or four lines long; yellow. Rays.--Small; seven to twelve; about as many as the disk-flowers. Hab.--Throughout California, to Nevada and Mexico.

Our State is not so rich in goldenrods as New England, yet we have several rather pretty species. Solidago Californica is found upon dry hills, and blooms from July to October. It is said to thrive well under cultivation.

It differs from the "Western goldenrod" in having its flowers in a pyramidal cluster.

MOTH-MULLEIN.

Verbascum Blattaria, L. Figwort Family.

Stem.--Tall and slender. Leaves.--Alternate; oblong; crenate-toothed; nearly smooth; the upper ovate, acute, clasping. Flowers.--Yellow or white; purple-tinged; an inch or so across; in a terminal raceme; the pedicels much exceeding the calyx-lobes. Calyx.--Five-parted. Corolla.--Wheel-shaped, with five rounded, somewhat unequal lobes. Stamens.--Five. Filaments violet-bearded. Anthers confluently one-celled. Pollen orange-colored, copious. Ovary.--Two-celled. Style slender. Hab.--The Upper Sacramento Valley, etc.; naturalized from Europe.

The mulleins are natives of Europe, which have found their way across the water to us. Two or three species are now common in some localities. The moth-mullein is so called because its blossoms have the appearance of a number of delicate moths resting upon the stem. This is a tall, green plant.

Another species--V. Thapsus, L.--is also quite common. In the Sacramento Valley its tall, woolly tapers may be seen leaning in every direction, giving the fields a disorderly appearance. This plant abounds throughout Europe and Asia, and was well known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who made lampwicks of its dried leaves and utilized its stalks, dipped in tallow, for funeral torches. In medieval Europe it was called "hag-taper," because it was employed by witches in their incantations. In Europe at the present time it is known as the "American velvet-plant," because of a mistaken idea that it is a native of this country.

WESTERN GOLDENROD.

Solidago occidentalis, Nutt. Composite Family.

Smooth throughout. Stems.--Paniculately branched; two to six feet high. Leaves.--Linear; entire; obscurely three-nerved; two to four inches long; one to three lines wide. Flower-heads.--In numerous small, flat clusters, terminating the slender branchlets; three lines long; yellow. Rays.--Sixteen to twenty not surpassing the eight to fourteen disk-flowers. Involucre.--Of imbricated scales; the outer successively shorter. Hab.--Near the Coast, from Southern California to British America.

The Western goldenrod, with its slender, willowy stems and small flower-clusters, may be found in wet places in late summer and early autumn. Its blossoms are acacia-scented.

CREOSOTE-BUSH. GOBERNADORA. HIDEONDO.