2 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Canada. Tlu-}- do not take kindly to cultivation and are 

 exceedingly hard to domesticate, yet when once estahlished 

 where conditions suit them they increase rapidly both from 

 the seedling plants and the enlarging of the flower clumps. 

 They are known by various common names, Pasque flower, 

 wind flower, Mayflower and wild crocus being the most uni- 

 versally used. I have also heard them called rock roses, 

 from their growing on stonv knolls, and prairie hen flowers 

 because the prairie chickens sometimes eat them in early 

 spring. 



THE CHARM OF CALIFORNIA WILDFLOWERS 



By Ne;li. Crosby. 



THRIVING or walking through the country in springtime, 

 who is not delighted with the beautiful waldflowers that 

 are to be found in the woodlands or dotting the grassy mead- 

 ows? Most states can boast of many^ lovelv varieties peculiar 

 to their locality, but to California must be given, the credit for 

 producing such gorgeous profusion as to almost beggar des- 

 cription. On the burhing desert, over the fertile valleys, 

 dotted among the stunted growth in the foot-hills and reach- 

 ing far up into the mountains, in the spring and early summer 

 such splendor of color and bloom greets the eye that it is no 

 wonder California is called "the land of flowers and sunshine." 

 With so many varieties and sucli abundance of bloorn 

 literally carpeting the earth in many places, one cannot do the 

 subject justice without going into lengthy detail, but I shall 

 mention briefly, some of the most luxuriant specimens. In 

 the early spring the brodiaea or wild hyacinth, takes the lead 

 with its clusters of purplish blue blossoms, a very magnificent 



