Part 52

Herbs with sour juice. Leaves.--With three leaflets; petioles two to even twelve inches long. Leaflets one or two inches broad; usually light-blotched. Scapes.--One to six inches long; one-flowered. Sepals.--Five. Petals.--Five; nine to twelve lines long; white or rose-colored, often veined with darker color; usually having an orange spot at base. Stamens.--Ten. Ovary.--Five-celled. Styles five. Hab.--Coast woods, from Santa Cruz to Washington.

In deep woods, "where no stir nor call the sacred hush profanes," the beautiful leaves and delicate flowers of the redwood-sorrel cover the ground with an exquisite tapestry, which catches the shimmer of the sunlight as it sifts down through the tall trees. If the goddess Nanna in passing left the print of her pretty fingers upon the clover, perhaps some wood-nymph may have touched the leaves of this charming plant. Each day as twilight deepens, the leaflets fold gently together and prepare to sleep.

The small yellow oxalis--O. corniculata, L.--becomes a troublesome weed in our lawns.

ROCK-CRESS.

Arabis blepharophylla, Hook. and Arn. Mustard Family.

Stems.--Four to twelve inches high. Radical-leaves.--Broadly spatulate; one or two inches long. Cauline-leaves.--Oblong; sessile. All.--Ciliate. Flowers.--Purplish-pink. Sepals.--Four; generally colored. Petals.--Four; six to nine lines long; clawed. Stamens.--Six; two shorter. Ovary.--Two-celled. Stigma button-shaped. Pod.--Linear; an inch or more long; flattened. Hab.--The Coast, from San Francisco to Monterey.

The bright magenta-colored blossoms of the rock-cress may be looked for in early spring along the hills of the Coast Ranges. This plant is said to be very beautiful in cultivation. The generic name was bestowed because many of the well-known species are natives of Arabia, while the formidable specific name means "eyelash-leaved," referring to the ciliate leaves.

WILD HOLLYHOCK.

Sidalcea malvaeflora, Gray. Mallow Family.

Stems.--Several; eight inches to two feet long. Leaves.--Round in outline; variously lobed and cut. Flowers.--Pink; in terminal racemes. Calyx.--Five-cleft; without bractlets. Petals.--Five; united at base; one inch long. Stamens.--United in a column; in two series. Anthers one-celled. Ovaries.--Three to ten in a ring; separating at maturity. Styles as many; filiform. Hab.--The Coast from San Diego to Mendocino County.

In early spring the graceful sprays of the Sidalcea bend over our meadows everywhere, making them bright with their pink blossoms, which the children call "wild hollyhocks." The stamens of these flowers are especially pretty and interesting if examined with a glass. By a careful dissection, the stamen-column is found to be double, its outer part bearing five bunches of stamens. The anthers are one-celled and of a beautiful rose-pink. They may be seen best by pulling apart one of the unopened buds.

There are two kinds of these plants, one having large pale-pink flowers, which are perfect; the other bearing smaller deep rose-pink blossoms, in which the anthers are only rudimentary.

There are quite a number of species of Sidalcea in California, but they are very difficult of determination for the non-botanist.

REDBUD. JUDAS-TREE.

Cercis occidentalis, Torr. Pea Family.

Small trees or shrubs. Leaves.--Alternate; slender-petioled; round-cordate; palmately veined; smooth; about two inches in diameter. Flowers.--Rose-color; papilionaceous; clustered in the axils. Petals.--Four lines long; the standard smaller and inclosed by the wings. Stamens.--Ten; all distinct. Ovary.--One-celled. Pods.--Two or three inches long; thin. Hab.--Mt. Shasta to San Diego.

By April, or earlier, our interior hills and valleys begin to show the rosy blossoms of the Judas-tree. The leafless branches are wreathed with the abundant flowers, which gives the shrub the appearance of a garden fruit-tree. When seen later, in its full summer foliage, it is almost equally attractive. Its shapely leaves are then diversified by the clusters of long purple pods, which hang gracefully among them.

The Indians find the slender twigs of this shrub very useful in their basket-making. By means of the thumb-nail or flints, they split them into threads, which they use as woof.

A closely allied species of Cercis, growing in Palestine, had, according to tradition, white flowers, until the arch-traitor Judas hanged himself from its limbs, when it blushed pink for very shame.

In medieval Europe the Judas-tree was believed to be a favorite rendezvous for witches, and it was considered dangerous to approach one at nightfall.

HUCKLEBERRY.

Vaccinium ovatum, Pursh. Heath Family.

Evergreen shrubs, three to eight feet high. Leaves.--Ovate to oblong-lanceolate; leathery; smooth and shining. Flowers.--In axillary clusters: small; pinkish. Calyx.--Minutely fine-toothed. Corolla.--Campanulate; two or three lines long. Stamens.--Ten; anthers opening terminally. Ovary.--Globose; five-celled. Style filiform. Berries.--Small; reddish, turning black. Hab.--The Coast Ranges from Monterey to Vancouver Island.

When in bloom our Californian huckleberry is a delightful shrub. Its leaves, which are of a particularly rich, shining green, are set at a characteristic angle to the red stems, contrasting finely with their warm tones; and the effect is heightened by the clusters of small pink and white waxen bells scattered here and there amid the foliage.

The huckleberry is at its best upon the high ridges of the Coast Ranges, where it becomes especially luxuriant in the fog-nurtured region of the northern portion of the redwood belt. There its abundant berries become juicy and delicious, and are much sought for preserving and pie-making. Its branches, when cut, keep admirably in water and are favorite greens for household decoration.

STAR-FLOWER. CHICKWEED-WINTERGREEN.

Trientalis Europaea, var. latifolia, Torr. Primrose Family.

Root.--Tuberous. Stem.--Four to eight inches high; with a whorl of oval-pointed leaves one to four inches long. Flowers.--White or pink; eight lines across. Calyx and rotate corolla seven-parted, sometimes six- to nine-parted; divisions pointed. Stamens.--As many as the corolla-lobes, and opposite them. Ovary.--One-celled. Style filiform. Hab.--The Coast Ranges, from Monterey northward.