Part 66

Leaves.--Radical; grasslike; shorter than the stems. Stems.--Flat; clustered; six to eighteen inches high. Flowers.--Four to seven; contained in two nearly equal sheathing bracts. Perianth.--Six-parted; purplish-blue, with yellow center; six lines to an inch across. Stamens.--Three. Filaments united. Ovary.--Three-celled. Style filiform. Stigma spindle-shaped; three-cleft after fertilization. Hab.--Throughout California.

The blue-eyed grass is such a modest flower, one would never suspect it to be closely allied to the regal Iris. In late spring its quiet stars are found in our meadows everywhere. In the south it grows so luxuriantly and so determinedly that it has become a serious pest to the farmer, crowding more useful plants from the pasture.

Owing to the quaint manner in which its petals kink up when they fade, these blossoms are called "nigger-babies" by the children. Among the Spanish-Californians the plant is known as "azulea" and "villela," and is made into a tea, which is considered a valuable remedy in fevers. It is thought that a patient can subsist for many days upon it alone.

S. Californicum, Ait., the "golden-eyed grass," with bright yellow flowers, is found in wet places all up and down the Coast.

BABY-EYES. BLUE-VEINED NEMOPHILA.

Nemophila intermedia, Bioletti. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.

Leaves.--With petioles somewhat widened at base and ciliate; the upper all opposite. Corolla.--Nine to twelve lines wide; light blue to white; distinctly blue-veined or more or less sown with purple dots. Scales of the corolla long, narrow, hairy, with expanded tips extending nearly to the sinuses. Ovary.--Rounded; with twelve to twenty-four ovules. (Otherwise as N. insignis.) Syn.--Nemophila Menziesii, Hook. and Arn. Hab.--Rather widespread.

This beautiful Nemophila is a more fragile flower than its sister, the baby-blue-eyes. Its delicate corolla is usually white in the center, blending to azure-blue upon the rim, and dotted and veined with the same. At its best, it is an inch across. It affects the borders of moist woodlands, rarely venturing far out into the openings. There it nestles amid the tender herbage, often producing its ethereal flowers in such profusion that it seems as though bits of the sky had fallen to earth. In the south these blossoms do not seem so truly at home--for they are never so large nor so fine.

CALIFORNIAN MILKWORT.

Polygala Californica, Nutt. Milkwort Family.

Stems.--Two to eight inches high. Leaves.--Six to twelve lines long. Flowers.--Rose-purple. Sepals.--Five; two of them large and spreading like wings; six lines or less long. Petals.--Three; united to each other and to the stamen-tube; the middle one hooded above and beaked. Stamens.--Eight. Filaments united into a sheath, which is open above. Anthers one-celled; opening terminally. Ovary.--Two-celled. Style enlarging upward; curved like a button-hook. Pod.--Rounded; flat; three or four lines across. Syn.--P. cucullata, Benth. Hab.--The Coast Ranges southward to Santa Barbara and beyond.

In late spring the little flowers of the milkwort are common upon dry hill-slopes in the shade of the trees. The small plants have a very grown-up look, as though their age might be greater than indicated by their stature. At first glance, one is quite certain to mistake these plants for members of the pea family, as the blossoms have wings and a keel like the papilionaceous flower. But a careful counting of sepals, petals, and stamens will reveal their separate identity.

A curious feature of this plant is the fact that it bears another kind of flower near the root. This is without petals, and is destined, for some strange reason, to bear the seed. The upper flowers seem mostly for show, though one does occasionally mature fruit.

P. cornuta, Kell., found in the Sierras, is a larger plant, with greenish-white flowers.

WILD CANTERBURY-BELL.

Phacelia Whitlavia, Gray. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.

A foot or so high; very hairy and glandular. Leaves.--Alternate; petioled; ovate or deltoid; toothed; twelve to eighteen lines long. Flowers.--Purple. Calyx.--Five-parted. Corolla.--An inch or more long. Stamens.--Five; on the base of the corolla; appendaged at base; long-exserted, with the two-cleft style. Ovary.--Two-celled. Syn.--Whitlavia grandiflora, Harv. Hab.--From Los Angeles to San Bernardino.

The wild Canterbury-bell is one of the most charming flowers to be found anywhere. It affects the rich soil of half-shaded hill-slopes in the vicinity of streams, where it opens its beautiful fragile bells. Its stems are very brittle, and the blossoms fall early, the lower ones usually having passed away before the upper buds have emerged from the coil. The exceedingly long stamens and style give these blossoms an elegant, airy look.

P. Parryi, Torr., is another beautiful species, found from Los Angeles to San Diego. It resembles the above in foliage, color of blossoms, and the long stamens; but the form of the flowers is that of the Nemophila.

BIRD'S-EYES.

Gilia tricolor, Benth. Phlox or Polemonium Family.

Stems.--Slender; branching; six inches to a foot or more high. Leaves.--Twice pinnately parted into narrow linear lobes. Corolla.--Six lines long; with yellow tube; funnel-form throat, marked with deep violet-purple; and lilac or white limb. (See Gilia.) Hab.--Throughout Western California.

Whole slopes are often carpeted with this dainty Gilia, producing an effect which has been described as like light chinchilla. The little blossoms have a peculiarly fresh and winsome look, and are called "bird's-eyes" by the children. The corollas are delicate lilac, blending into white toward the center, while the throat has five purple spots within, which give way to bright gold below.

BABY-BLUE-EYES. CALIFORNIAN BLUEBELLS. MARIANAS.

Nemophila insignis, Dougl. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.

Tender, more or less hairy herbs. Stems.--Branching; six to twelve inches long. Leaves.--Pinnately parted into five to nine small, oblong, entire or two- to five-lobed divisions. Calyx.--Five-parted, with five extra, alternating, reflexed lobes. Corolla.--An inch or more across; from azure-blue, with a large, well-defined white center, more or less dotted, to deep blue. The throat furnished with ten short, wide, hairy scales, or plates. Stamens.--Five; on the corolla. Ovary.--One-celled. Style two-cleft. Hab.--Throughout California.

When skies are smiling and the earth is already clothed with a luxuriant and tender herbage, we find upon some balmy morning that the baby-eyes have opened in gentle surprise upon the lovely world. The spring breezes blow over no more beautiful and ethereal flowers than these. Companies of them open together, dotting the sward and luring us on from one to another, the one just beyond always seeming a little brighter blue or a little more captivating than those near at hand, till we are beguiled into filling our hands with them.

These delicate blossoms vary greatly in size and color. The largest and finest I ever saw grew upon the flower-sprinkled slopes of Lake Merced, near San Francisco. There the perfect azure corollas were an inch and a half across, with the large white circle in the center well defined.