Part 57

The Lavateras are Old-World plants, with the exception of a few species which are natives of the islands of our southern coast. In the early days the Padres planted the above species (L. assurgentiflora) plentifully around the old Missions, and thence it has spread and become spontaneous in many localities. It can be seen in San Francisco, planted as wind-break hedges about the market-gardens, where it thrives luxuriantly as long as it is protected from cattle.

The leaves and twigs abound in mucilage, and are very fattening and nutritious food for sheep and cattle, who are very fond of it.

WILD HONEYSUCKLE.

Lonicera hispidula, Dougl. Honeysuckle Family.

Woody; climbing and twining. Leaves.--Opposite; short-petioled; oval; pale; one to three inches long; the upper pairs uniting around the stem. Flowers.--Pink; in spikes of several whorls. Calyx.--Minute; growing to the ovary; border five-toothed. Corolla.--Tubular; six lines to an inch long; bilabiate; the lips strongly revolute; the upper four-lobed, the lower entire. Stamens.--Five; much exserted. Ovary.--Two- or three-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate. Berries.--Scarlet; translucent. Hab.--Throughout the State.

In early summer the climbing honeysuckle with its pale foliage flings its long arms over neighboring trees and shrubs, showing glimpses here and there of small pinkish flowers. But it is far more noticeable in the fall, when its long pendulous branches are laden with the fine clusters of translucent, orange-red berries. It is quite variable and has many forms, which are all considered varieties of the one species.

PINK PAINT-BRUSH. ESCOBITA.

Orthocarpus purpurascens, Benth. Figwort Family.

Stems.--Six to twelve inches high. Leaves.--Variously parted into filiform divisions. Bracts.--About equaling the flowers; tipped with crimson or pale pink. Corolla.--About an inch long; the lower lip only moderately inflated and three-saccate; the upper long, hooked, bearded, crimson. Stigma.--Large. (See Orthocarpus.) Hab.--Widely distributed.

The bright-magenta tufts of the pink paint-brush are often so abundant that they give the country a purplish hue for miles at a stretch. The Spanish-Californians have a pretty name for these blossoms, calling them "escobitas," meaning "little whisk-brooms."

O. densiflorus, Benth., is a very similar species; but its corolla has a straight upper lip, without hairs.

CLARKIA.

Clarkia elegans, Dougl. Evening-Primrose Family.

Stems.--One to six feet high; simple or branching. Leaves.--Alternate; broadly ovate to linear; dentate; an inch or more long. Petals.--About nine lines long; with long, slender claws and rhomboidal blades; pink. Stamens.--Eight; all perfect. Filaments with a hairy scale at base. Stigma.--Four-lobed. Capsule.--Six to nine lines long; sessile. (Otherwise as C. concinna.) Hab.--Widely distributed.

This plant is a very common one along our dusty roadsides in early summer, and it shows a facility in adapting itself to quite a range of climate and condition. It grows from six inches to six feet high, is nearly smooth or quite hairy, and has rather large flowers or quite small ones. Its scarlet stamens, purple-pink petals, and often deeper purple sepals make an odd combination of color. It often grows in showy masses, making patches of glowing color under the shade of trees.

CHAPARRAL PEA.

Pickeringia montana, Nutt. Pea Family.

Evergreen, much branched, spiny shrubs, four to seven feet high. Leaves.--With from one to three leaflets. Leaflets.--Three to nine lines long. Flowers.--Magenta-colored; solitary; sessile; seven to nine lines long; papilionaceous. Stamens.--All ten distinct. Pod.--One-celled; two inches long. Hab.--The Coast Ranges, from Lake County to San Diego.

Upon wild mountain-slopes where are heard the fluting notes of a certain shy bird that rarely comes near habitations, the chaparral pea often makes dense, impenetrable thickets. It would be impossible to mistake it for any other shrub, with its solitary magenta-colored pea-blossoms, which often cover the bushes with a mass of color. Its green branchlets terminate in long, rigid spines, which are often clothed with small leaves nearly to the end.

Woe to him who tries to penetrate the chaparral when it is composed of this formidable and uncompromising shrub! The result is quite likely to be a humiliating progress upon hands and knees before he can extricate himself, probably with torn garments and scratched visage.

HEDGE-NETTLE.

Stachys bullata, Benth. Mint Family.

Rough, pubescent herbs. Stem.--Ten to eighteen inches high; four-angled. Leaves.--Opposite; ovate or ovate-oblong; cordate; coarsely crenate; wrinkly veined; petioled; an inch or two long. Flowers.--Pinkish; in a narrow, interrupted spike. Calyx.--Five-cleft. Corolla.--Eight lines long; bilabiate. Upper lip erect; lower deflexed, of three unequal lobes, spotted with purple. Stamens.--Four. Filaments hairy. Anthers divergently two-celled. Ovary.--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma two-cleft. Hab.--Throughout the State.

The hedge-nettles are common weeds, of which we have several species. S. bullata, so called on account of its leaves, which look as though blistered, is the most widespread. It is quite variable in aspect, and we are constantly meeting it in new guises and being deceived into believing it something finer than it really is, through some subtle change in its usually homely little pink flowers.

TWINING HYACINTH.

Brodiaea volubilis, Baker. Lily Family.

Coated corm about one inch in diameter. Leaves.--All radical; broadly linear; a foot or more long. Scape.--Twining; two to even twelve feet long; naked. Umbel.--Many-flowered. Perianth.--Five to eight lines long; rose-color without, whitish within. Stamens.--Three; alternating with three notched staminodia. Filaments winged; very short. Ovary.--Three-celled. Style short. Stigma capitate. Syn.--Stropholirion Californicum, Torr. Hab.--Sierra foothills, from Mariposa County northward.

In this plant we see the Brodiaea disporting itself in a very odd manner, having vinelike aspirations. It produces several long leaves, which lie prostrate upon the ground, and then the stem puts in its appearance and commences a wonderful series of evolutions not to be outdone by any contortionist. It twists and clambers and climbs, reaching a height of five or six feet, often having expended twice that amount of stem in its convolutions.