Part 59

Stems.--One to three feet high; sometimes stout. Leaves.--Linear to linear-lanceolate; entire; an inch or two long; distant. Flowers.--Nodding in the bud. Calyx-tube.--Two to four lines long. Petals.--Deep rose-color, sometimes yellowish at base with a dark spot; nine to fifteen lines long. Capsules.--Smoothish; eight to eighteen lines long; its sides two-ribbed; sessile or short-pediceled. (See Godetia.) Hab.--From the Columbia River southward to Ventura.

In early summer the rosy flowers of this Godetia make bright masses of color along dry banks and hill-slopes. Its blossoms are very variable as to marking. Sometimes the petals have a bright crimson blotch at the base and sometimes they are without it, both forms often occurring upon the same plant. In some seasons all the flowers are without the blotch.

G. grandiflora, Lindl., found in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, is probably the most showy species we have. The plants are a foot or two high and covered all over with the wonderful flowers, which are often four inches across. These are delicate pink, blotched with rich crimson.

G. Bottae, Spach., is an exquisite species found in the Coast Ranges, from Monterey to San Diego. Its very slender stems lift the fragile, satiny cups above the dried grasses in charming companies. These blossoms also vary much. Among the prettiest forms is one which is pale rose or lilac, blending to white at the center, delicately striate with purple-dotted lines, and having a rich purple spot in the center. This often grows with the lilac butterfly-tulip, Calochortus splendens, and at a little distance is so similar, it is difficult to distinguish it from the lily. But the lily rarely or never grows in throngs. The capsules of this species have pedicels from three to nine lines long.

BLEEDING-HEART.

Dicentra formosa, DC. Bleeding-heart Family.

Leaves.--Ternately dissected, with toothed leaflets. Scapes.--Six inches to two feet high. Flowers.--Rose-colored to pale pink, sometimes almost white or yellowish; nodding. (Floral structure as in D. chrysantha.) Hab.--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Middle California to British Columbia.

The bleeding-heart is a rather shy flower, and never makes itself common enough to dull our enthusiasm for it. It fully merits its specific name, for it is a plant of elegant form throughout, from its shapely divided leaves to its graceful clusters of pendent hearts. It is found in the woods of our Coast Ranges, but may be seen to best advantage when nestling amid the lush grasses of Sierra meadows.

INDIAN RHUBARB. UMBRELLA-PLANT.

Saxifraga peltata, Torr. Saxifrage Family.

Rootstock.--Thick; creeping. Leaves.--Radical; long-petioled; a foot or more across when mature; nine- to fourteen-lobed; centrally depressed. Scapes.--One to three feet high. Calyx.--Five-lobed. Petals.--Five; roundish; three lines or more long; purplish-pink. Stamens.--Ten. Ovaries.--Two; distinct. Stigmas capitate or reniform. Hab.--The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Mt. Shasta; also Mendocino County.

Upon the borders of our swift-flowing mountain streams, where the water-ouzel flies up and down all day, sometimes filling the air with melody as he passes, may be seen the large lotus-like leaves of this great Saxifrage. They stand with their dark, warm stems in the water; or, poising upon the brink, they lean gracefully over it, making myriad reflections in the brown depths below, while every passing breeze awakens a quick response among them.

Early in the season, before the coming of the leaves, these plants send up tall stems with dense, branching clusters of handsome purplish-pink flowers. The leaves, small at first, continue to grow until late summer, when they have reached their perfection; after which they begin to deepen into the richest of autumn hues.

This plant is commonly called "Indian rhubarb," because the Indians are extravagantly fond of the stalks of the leaves and flowers. It is now cultivated in Eastern gardens.

GREAT WILLOW-HERB. FIREWEED.

Epilobium spicatum, Lam. Evening-Primrose Family.

Stems.--Often four to seven feet high. Leaves.--Scattered; willow-like. Flowers.--Purplish-pink; an inch or more across. Calyx-tube.--Linear; limb four-parted; often colored. Stamens.--Eight. Anthers purplish. Ovary.--Four-celled. Seeds silky-tufted. Syn.--E. angustifolium, L. Hab.--The Sierras; eastward to the Atlantic; also in the North Coast mountains. Found also in Europe and Asia.

This plant has received one of its English names, because its leaves are like those of the willow and its seeds are furnished with silken down, like the fluff on the willow.

It is our finest and most showy species of Epilobium, and is also found in the Eastern States, where it is still known by a former name--E. angustifolium, L. Owing to the fact that it grows with special luxuriance in spots which have been recently burned over, it is commonly known as "fireweed." It may be found in perfection in the Sierras in August, where its great spikes of large pink flowers make showy masses of color along the streams and through the meadows, commanding our warmest admiration.

In the fall the tall, pliant, widely branching stems of the "autumn willow-herb"--E. paniculatum, Nutt.--stand everywhere by the roadside. The small pink flowers, half an inch across, terminate the almost leafless stems, and later are replaced by the dry, curled remains of the opened capsules and the feathery down of the escaping seeds.

ALPINE HEATHER.

Bryanthus Breweri, Gray. Heath Family.

Dwarf evergreens; six inches to a foot high; woody. Leaves.--Alternate; linear; three to seven lines long. Flowers.--Purplish-rose; on glandular pedicels. Calyx.--Five-toothed; small. Corolla.--Saucer-shaped; six lines or so across. Stamens.--Seven to ten. Anthers two-celled; opening terminally. Ovary.--Five-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate. Hab.--The High Sierras.

This little plant, to which Mr. Muir fondly alludes in his charming book, "The Mountains of California," may be found blooming in July and August in the Sierras. Sometimes it nestles in rocky crevices in the cool drip of the snow-banks, and again it ventures boldly out into the openings, where it spreads its rich carpet, covered with a wealth of rosy bloom. From the abundance of this little heathling about its shores, one of our mountain lakes has received the name of "Heather Lake."

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Silene Gallica, L. Pink Family.

Hairy. Stems.--Generally several. Leaves.--Spatulate; six to eighteen lines long. Flowers.--In terminal, one-sided racemes; four or five lines long; short-pediceled. Petals.--Pale rose-color or almost white; barely exceeding the calyx. (Flower-structure as in S. Californica.)

This little weed has come to us from Europe, and it is now so widely distributed, both near the sea and inland, that it is hard to believe it is not native. The slender racemes are from two to four inches long, and the little flowers vary from white to pale pink. They can boast none of the showy beauty of their relatives, the Indian pink and the Yerba del Indio.