THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 89 



red in stems and the 3'oung leaf growth. Eupharhia is a 

 pale blue green with white flowers dotted along the 

 strings of stems. It is a solid mat, too, a lovely example 

 of leaf mosaic and no earth can be seen through its entire 

 surface ; it is sure to be admired by any one unless I ex- 

 cept the gardener who finds it something of a pest. 



Then we have Croton Californicus growing along the 

 banks of dr\^ streams, an ashy gray, scanty leaved plant 

 which I took for a relative of the smartweed till I exam- 

 ined it. 



Eumocarpus setigerus or "turkey mullein" is another 

 cousin, a dry-weather product, covered with the harshest 

 of hairs, thick and bristly and giving off when touched a 

 most repelling odor. This is low growing, too, yet has 

 stiff stems and branches spreading horizontally near the 

 ground. 



Then one day I bought a plant called by florists "The 

 Crown of Thorns," and of course my first move was to 

 analj^ze it. The stem is woody and thickly covered with 

 large spines or thorns and were it not for an occasional 

 green leaf and clusters of odd little red flowers, it might 

 be taken for a cactus. Nothing but an analysis could have 

 given me a clue to its identity, and suggest its name 

 Euphorbia splendens. 



Orange, California. 



BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS— VIII. 



THE SEPALS. 



Last in the list ot floral organs, and the least import- 

 ant to the flower, as a general rule, come the sepals. They 

 are found on the very outside of the blossom, are seldom 

 of an^' other color than green, and by the uninitiated are 

 likelj' to be considered as small green leaves. Green and 

 leaflike, they are for a certainty, but they occur so regular- 

 ly in flowers that we cannot help regarding them as be- 

 longing among the floral organs — especially as thty are 

 subject to the same laws of development and may be 

 joined into tubes and cups as petals often are. Moreover, 



