Part 54

Mirabilis Californica, Gray. Four-o'clock Family.

Stems.--From a woody base; a foot or two long. Leaves.--Ovate; six to fifteen lines long; rather thick. Flowers.--Magenta-colored; one to three in a campanulate, calyx-like, five-toothed involucre. Involucres nearly sessile. Perianth.--Six lines long; open funnel-form; five-lobed. Stamens.--Five. Anthers yellow. Ovary.--Globose; one-celled. Style filiform. Stigma capitate. Hab.--Southern California and eastward.

When the heat of the day is over and the morning-glories are folding together their faded chalices, the bright little four-o'clocks begin to open their myriad magenta-colored eyes upon the closing day, and they, together with the evening primroses, will keep the vigils of the night. These diaphanous little flowers, with their long stamens resting on the lower side of the perianth, are like diminutive azaleas.

They are very puzzling, and the part that baffles the young botanist is the calyx, which, as it sometimes has two or three corollas within it, cannot be considered a calyx at all, but must be called an involucre. In reality the corolla is absent, and the calyx, which is colored like a corolla, is called a perianth. This appears to sit upon the top of the round ovary, but in reality a green continuation of it is drawn down tightly over the ovary.

BEACH MORNING-GLORY.

Convolvulus Soldanella, L. Morning-glory Family.

Stems.--A foot or less long; trailing. Leaves.--Kidney-shaped; long-petioled; leathery; an inch or two broad. Flowers.--Pink to lavender; one to nearly three inches across, with a pair of thin bracts just below the calyx, partly enveloping it. (Otherwise as C. luteolus.) Hab.--The seashore from Puget Sound to San Diego.

The beach morning-glory trails its stems over the shifting sands of the seashore, making clusters of beautiful foliage, over which the large, delicate flowers raise their exquisite satin funnels.

CALYPSO.

Calypso borealis, Salisb. Orchis Family.

Bulb.--Small; solid. Stem.--Three to six inches high. Leaf.--An inch or two long. Sepals and petals light to deep rose-color; six to nine lines long. Lip.--Brownish pink, mottled with purple. Style.--Petaloid, oval, and concave, bearing the hemispherical anther on its summit underneath. Hab.--The northern Coast Ranges; also across the continent.

It has never been my good fortune to find this rare and exquisite little orchid, but beautiful specimens have been sent from the redwoods of Sonoma County and from Oregon. The books speak of it as growing in bogs; but I am told by those who gathered them that the little plants sit lightly upon the layer of needles that carpet the forest-floor. The roots scarcely penetrate the soil, so that the plants are easily disengaged without digging.

Nature produced a perfect work when she fashioned this little plant, so simple, so charming in every way, with its one dainty leaf and one unique blossom. The form of the column is peculiarly interesting, being that of a curving concave petal, bearing the anther, in the shape of a hollow hemisphere, on its upper edge.

WILD PORTULACA.

Calandrinia caulescens, HBK.; var. Menziesii, Gray. Purslane Family.

Decumbent, branching herbs, mostly smooth. Leaves.--Alternate; linear to oblanceolate; one to three inches long. Flowers.--In loose racemes; rose-color or magenta; about an inch across. Sepals.--Two; keeled. Petals.--Mostly five. Stamens.--Four to eleven. Ovary.--One-celled. Style slender. Stigma three-cleft. Seeds black, shining, lens-shaped. Hab.--From Lower California to Vancouver Island.

The wild portulaca is very abundant, and in seasons favorable to its development is a very noticeable little plant. Its succulent stems have a spreading habit and bear many satiny flowers of a deep purplish-pink, which open in the bright sunshine. The petals, which are veined with a slightly darker color, become white toward the center, and the little anthers are full of orange-colored pollen. These blossoms have a delicate, somewhat musky perfume.

Cattle are fond of the herbage, and the plants are considered excellent as potherbs and for salads. The seeds, which are a favorite food of the wild dove are very pretty, being lens-shaped, black and shining, with a granular surface.

THE PRIDE OF CALIFORNIA.

Lathyrus splendens, Kell. Pea Family.

Stem.--Climbing; six to ten feet. Leaflets.--About eight; scattered; very variable; linear to lanceolate or oblong; acute; mucronate; strongly three- to five-nerved. Tendrils.--Two- to five-parted. Stipules.--Small; semi-sagittate. Peduncles.--Stout; usually seven- to ten-flowered. Flowers.--Very large; brilliant crimson. Calyx.--Five-toothed; eighteen-nerved. Standard and keel an inch or more long. Pods.--Three inches long; smooth; compressed; ten- to twenty-seeded. Hab.--Parts of San Diego County, and southward.

Clambering over our wild shrubs, this wonderful pea gives them the appearance of being loaded with a magnificence of bloom quite unwonted. The blossoms are the richest and most gorgeous of crimsons throughout, and have such a superb air that it is difficult to believe they are not the product of centuries of careful selection by the gardener. The long standard turns back over the stem, continuing the gracefully outlined keel in a long compound curve. The blossoms hang from the stem in charming abandon, like a flock of graceful tropic-birds poising upon the wing before taking flight, or like a fleet of gayly decked pleasure-barges, with canopies thrown back, fit for the conveyance of a Cleopatra.

CALIFORNIAN WILD CURRANT. INCENSE-SHRUB.

Ribes glutinosum, Benth. Saxifrage Family.

Shrubs six to fifteen feet high. Leaves.--Three- to five-lobed; glutinous when young; three to five inches broad. Flowers.--Rose-pink to pale pink; in long drooping racemes. Calyx.--Petaloid; five-lobed. Petals and stamens five on the calyx. Ovary.--One-celled. Styles two; more or less united. Berries.--Blue, with a dense bloom; glandular-hispid. Syn.--Ribes sanguineum, Pursh. Hab.--The Coast Ranges; more common southward.

In early winter in the south, and somewhat later northward, the wild currant becomes a thing of beauty hardly to have been expected. The young foliage, of a clear brilliant green, is gayly decked with the long clusters of peculiarly fresh pink blossoms, which seem like the very incarnation of the spirit of Spring, producing a certain eblouissement, which quickens our sense into an anticipation of beauty on every side.

We are made aware of a strong, heavy fragrance emanating from this shrub, for which its numerous glands are responsible, and which has gained for it the popular name of "incense-shrub" in some localities.

The fruit, which ripens toward fall, is dry and bitter, or insipid.