Part 55

The genus Ribes includes the currant and the gooseberry, and furnishes us with several charming shrubs in California.

GROUND-PINK. FRINGED GILIA.

Gilia dianthoides, Endl. Phlox or Polemonium Family.

One to six inches high. Leaves.--Six lines or so long; linear to filiform. Flowers.--Rose or lilac, blending inward to white, with darker color or yellow in the throat. Calyx.--Five-cleft. Corolla.--Nine to twelve lines across; fringed. (See Gilia.) Hab.--From Santa Barbara to San Diego.

In March our southern meadows and hill-slopes are all aglow with the lovely flowers of this charming little Gilia. The plants are tiny, often no more than an inch high, but are ambitious out of all proportion to their size, covering themselves with blossoms exquisitely delicate in texture, form, and coloring, which literally carpet the earth with an overlapping mosaic.

It is a wonderful thought that upon every one of these countless millions of little flowers that clothe the fields Nature has bestowed such care that each is a masterpiece in itself.

COMMON FLEABANE.

Erigeron Philadelphicus, L. Sunflower Family.

Hairy, perennial herbs. Stems.--One to three feet high; leafy to the top. Root-leaves.--Spatulate or obovate. Stem-leaves.--Oblong; sessile, with broad clasping base; irregularly toothed. Flower-heads.--In a loose corymb. Disks.--Yellow; three or four lines across. Rays.--Innumerable; very narrow; flesh-color to rose-purple; about three lines long. Hab.--Widely distributed on the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts.

The feathery, daisy-like flowers of the common fleabane are of frequent occurrence in moist meadows or along the roadsides in spring. The ray-flowers are so narrow as to form a delicate fringe around the disk.

The common name arose from the belief that these plants were harmful to fleas.

TURKISH RUGGING.

Chorizanthe staticoides, Benth. Buckwheat Family.

A foot high or more, with widely spreading branches. Leaves.--All radical; oblong; obtuse; twelve to thirty lines long, including petioles. Involucres.--Loosely clustered; sessile; one-flowered; campanulate; with six bristle-like teeth. Perianth.--Pink; two lines long; six-lobed; not fringed. Stamens.--Mostly nine; on the perianth. Ovary.--One-celled. Styles three. Stigmas capitate. Hab.--From Monterey to San Diego.

In late spring the dry, open hills of the south are overrun with the soft lavender of the Chorizanthe. The flowers are small, but the whole plant is purplish, and the stems are quite as productive of color as the blossoms. In fact, the whole plant seems to consist of a scraggly interlacement of slender branches and small flowers, as the leaves, which nestle close to the ground, are not very noticeable.

CANCHALAGUA. CALIFORNIAN CENTAURY.

Erythraea venusta, Gray. Gentian Family.

Six inches to two feet high. Leaves.--Six to twelve lines long; pale apple-green. Calyx.--Usually five-parted. Corolla.--Bright pink, with yellow or white center; an inch or so across. Stamens.--Five; anthers spirally twisted after shedding the pollen. Ovary.--One-celled. Style slender. Stigmas two. Hab.--From Plumas County southward; more abundant southward.

Just as our attention has been called afresh to the fields by the sudden appearance of the "golden stars," or Bloomeria, in late spring, we find, as we stoop to gather them, a charming pink flower nestling close to the earth amid the grasses. Though low of stature, these firstlings of the season atone for it by brilliancy of color, and their pink blossoms have a peculiarly clean, fresh, wide-awake appearance, reminding one of a rosy-faced country wench.

While enjoying their bright beauty, we do not for a moment suspect that we are paying homage to the famous "canchalagua" of the Spanish-Californians. No well-regulated household among these people is without bundles of these herbs strung upon the rafters--for they are considered by them an indispensable remedy for fevers; also, an excellent bitter tonic, and are said to possess rare antiseptic properties.

FALSE MALLOW.

Malvastrum Thurberi, Gray. Mallow Family.

Shrubby at base; three to fifteen feet high; densely tomentose. Leaves.--An inch or two across; thick. Flowers.--Clustered in the axils of the leaves; or in an interrupted naked spike. Calyx.--Five-lobed; with one to three bractlets. Petals.--Five, about six lines long; rose-purple. Stamens.--United in a column. Ovaries.--Numerous; united in a ring. Styles united at base. Stigmas capitate. Hab.--The southern Coast Ranges and islands of the Coast.

Upon the mesas of the south we often see a shrubby member of the mallow family, with long, wandlike branches ornamented with closely set, pink flowers, of delicate texture and pleasant perfume. This is the false mallow. It is a very handsome and noticeable shrub when in full bloom. The anthers are golden brown, and the stigmas are spherical instead of filiform. Upon the seashore it blooms much earlier than in the valleys inland.

MESEMBRYANTHEMUM. FIG-MARIGOLD.

Mesembryanthemum aequilaterale, Haworth. Fig-marigold Family.

Succulent plants. Stems.--Elongating; forming large mats. Leaves.--Opposite; sessile; fleshy; three-angled; two inches or more long; oblong. Flowers.--Terminal; solitary; fifteen lines to two inches across; pink. Calyx.--With top-shaped tube and five-lobed border. Petals.--Very numerous; linear. Stamens.--Innumerable. Ovary.--Four- to twenty-celled. Stigmas six to ten. Hab.--The Coast, from Point Reyes southward.

The fig-marigold is a very common plant upon our seashore. It seems to flourish best toward the south, where it covers large tracts of sand with its succulent foliage, making mats of pleasant verdure in otherwise sandy wastes. Its stems often trail many yards down the cliffs, making beautiful natural draperies, decked with myriads of the pink blossoms. Because it is capable of withstanding the drouth in the most remarkable manner, it has been planted to produce verdure where irrigation is impossible. The very numerous slender petals give the flower the appearance at first sight of a Composita. The fruit is pulpy and full of very small seeds, like the fig, and has a suggestion of the flavor of the Isabella grape.