Part 69

Erigeron glaucus, Ker. Composite Family.

Six to twelve inches high, having a tuft of radical leaves and some ascending stems. Leaves.--Obovate or spatulate-oblong; one to four inches long; pale; somewhat succulent; slightly viscid. Flower-heads.--Composed of dull-yellow disk-flowers and bright-violet ray-flowers. Disk.--Eight lines or so across. Rays.--Six or eight lines long; narrow; numerous; in several rows. Hab.--The Coast, from Oregon to Southern California.

Almost anywhere upon our Coast, "within the roar of a surf-tormented shore," we can find the beautiful blossoms of the beach-aster. We may know them by their resemblance to the China asters of our gardens, though they are not so large. They present a most delightful combination of color in their old-gold centers, violet rays, and rather pale foliage.

TOAD-FLAX.

Linaria Canadensis, Dumont. Figwort Family.

Stems.--Slender; six inches to two feet high. Leaves.--Mostly alternate on the flowering stems, but smaller and broader ones often opposite or whorled on the procumbent shoots; linear; smooth. Flowers.--Blue; in terminal racemes; like those of Antirrhinum, but the tube furnished with a long, downward-pointing spur at base. Hab.--Throughout California.

The delicate blue flowers of the toad-flax are not uncommon in spring, and the plants are usually found in sandy soil. The little blossoms are very ethereal and have a sweet perfume. I once saw a deep blue band upon a mesa near San Diego, which vied in richness with the ultramarine of the sea just beyond. It stretched for some distance, and at last curved around and crossed the road over which I was passing, when it proved to be made up of millions of these delicate flowers. The color effect seemed cumulative, for the mass was so much richer and deeper than the individual flowers.

CATALINA MARIPOSA TULIP.

Calochortus Catalinae, Wats. Lily Family.

Stems.--Two feet high; loosely branching; bulbiferous. Leaves and bracts linear-lanceolate. Flowers.--Erect; eighteen lines or so long. Sepals.--Green without; scarious-margined; whitish within; with purple spot at base; one inch long; acute. Petals.--White; with garnet base; bearing a round gland covered with hairs. Filaments garnet. Capsule.--Narrowly oblong; three-sided; obtuse; an inch or two long. Seeds flat; horizontal. (See Calochortus.) Hab.--From San Luis Obispo County to San Bernardino; and the islands off the Coast.

This is one of the earliest Mariposas to bloom in the south. Its beautiful, stately white cups have a garnet base within, and this, with its oblong, obtuse capsule and horizontal seeds, clearly identifies it. These blossoms are favorite resting-places for the bees, who are often beguiled in them from their labors and lulled to a gentle slumber. We have frequently startled the little truants from these siestas, and with amusement watched them struggling for a moment before regaining consciousness and whizzing away once more upon their round of duties.

This may be designated our maritime Calochortus, as it is found mostly near the Coast or upon its islands.

C. splendens, Dougl., found in the Coast Ranges from Lake County to San Diego, is sometimes confused with the above. It is a beautiful flower, whose petals are a clear rose-lilac without spots or marks, with long, whitish, cobwebby hairs on their middle third. Its anthers are purple or lilac, three to six lines long.

DOG-VIOLET.

Viola canina, var. adunca, Gray. Violet Family.

Stems.--Leafy; several from the rootstocks. Leaves.--Ovate; often somewhat cordate at base; acute or obtuse; six to eighteen lines long; obscurely crenate. Stipules foliaceous; narrowly lanceolate; lacerately toothed. Flowers.--Violet or purple; rather large. Lateral petals bearded. Spur as long as the sepals; rather slender; obtuse; hooked or curved. (Otherwise as V. pedunculata.) Hab.--The Coast Ranges, from San Francisco to Washington.

... "violets Which yet join not scent to hue Crown the pale year weak and new."

Nestling amid the grasses on many a moist mesa by the sea, the modest flowers of the dog-violet may be found at almost any time of year. They vary greatly in the length of their stems, according to the season and the locality of growth.

THISTLE-SAGE.

Salvia carduacea, Benth. Mint Family.

Leaves.--All radical; thistle-like; with cobwebby wool. Stems.--Stout; a foot or two high. Flower-whorls.--An inch or two through. Calyx.--Bilabiate; with five spiny teeth. Corolla.--Lavender; an inch long. Upper lip erect; two-cleft. Lower fan-shaped; white-fringed. Stamens.--On the lower lip. Proper filaments very short, with one short and one long fork, each bearing an anther-cell. (Otherwise like S. Columbariae.) Hab.--Western and Southern California.

Upon the dry, open plains of the south, the charming flowers of the thistle-sage make their appearance by May. Upon the train we pass myriads of them standing along the embankments, and seeming to beckon mockingly at us, well knowing the train almost never stops where we can get them.

These plants present the most remarkable blending of the rigid, uncompromising, touch-me-not aspect and the ethereal and fragile. In each of the several stories of the flower-cluster there are usually a number of the exquisitely delicate flowers in bloom at once, standing above the hemisphere of densely crowded, spiny calyx-tips. Nothing more airy or fantastic could well be imagined than these diaphanous blossoms. The upper lip of the corolla stands erect, its two lobes side by side, or crossed like two delicate little hands. The lower lip has two small and inconspicuous lateral lobes and one large central one, which is like the ruff of a fantail pigeon and daintily fringed with white. The color combination in these blossoms is charming. To the sage green of the foliage and the lilac of the blossoms is added the dash of orange in the anthers that puts the finishing touch. The whole plant has a heavy, dull odor of sage.

This species is also sometimes called "chia," and its seeds are used in the same manner as those of our other Salvia, but to no such extent.

VIOLET BEARD-TONGUE.

Pentstemon heterophyllus, Lindl. Figwort Family.

Woody at base; many-stemmed. Stems.--Two to five feet tall. Leaves.--Lanceolate or linear; or the lowest oblong-lanceolate; diminishing into narrow floral bracts. Panicle.--Narrow. Pedicels one- to three-flowered; short and erect. Corolla.--Rose-purple, or violet suffused with pink; an inch or more long; ventricose-funnel-form above the narrow, slender tube. (See Pentstemon.) Hab.--Western California, specially southward.

The beautiful flowers of the violet beard-tongue are often seen among the soft browns of our dusty roadsides in early summer. They are truly charming flowers, and we marvel how any one can pass them by unnoticed. I have seen them especially showy in the southern part of the State, in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, where the plants often spread over two or three feet, sending up innumerable slender flower-covered wands. The undeveloped buds are of a characteristic greenish-yellow tone, making an unusual contrast to the expanded flowers and the rather pale foliage. The structure of the anthers is quite interesting, each cell consisting of a little bag with bristly margins, the two together being heart-shaped in outline.