ijo BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



flowers at the top of the stem, and with pinnatifid leaves at the base. 



Nicotiana glauca. A small tree growing very plentifully in Los 

 Angeles. The leaves are large, very smooth and glaucous Branches 

 of a light green, with small clusters of yellow, tubular flowers. It 

 seems to blossom all the year round, and its favorite pL ce of growth 

 is on the banks of zanjas in cultivated or waste ground. Perhaps in- 

 troduced. Not given in the Flora of California. 



Datura niefcloidcs, DC. A splendid species of the genus. The 

 flowers are often eight inches in length and four or five in diameter. 

 The corolla is of a creamy white, with quite an agreeable odor. 

 The plant forms a small bush three or four feet high, and though 

 regarded as a common weed, it is well worth the attention of gar- 

 deners. 



Abromia maritima. A very handsome plant, growing in mats 

 close to the ground. It is clammy pubescent all over, and the flowers 

 are in close umbels, and of a bright purple. What makes it seem 

 prettier than it otherwise would, is perhaps, the fact that it grows in 

 barren sandy places, and the flowers contrast beautifully with the dry 

 sand. ^ 



Platanus rac.mosa, Nutt. , is the representative of the sycamore of 

 the east. It has much the same habit of growth, and general appear- 

 ance, but the leaves are three to five cleft instead of being toothed. 

 The wood is so hard that it will often turn the edge of an ax or 

 hatchet. It grows to be one of the largest trees «'f Southern California, 

 and one in the yard of a brewery in Los Angeles must be between 30 

 and 50 feet in circumference. A specimen of P. occidentalis is men- 

 tioned in the Gazette for June which is 48 feet in circumference. 



Quercus agrifolia, Nee, the Live Oak of California is the relative 

 of Q. virens, the Live Oak of Florida. It is found in the canons of 

 the mountains in the south and also all over the San Joaquin valley. 

 The leaves are evergreen, coriaceous, and with sharp pointed serra- 

 tions. It branches quite low down and in open ground like the San 

 Joaquin valley, its top is rounded and symmetrical, forming a crown 

 fit to grace the lawn of a nobleman. It grows very large, lor I meas- 

 ured one which was 21 feet in diameter, 3 feet from the ground. 



Anemopsis Californica, Nutt. A marsh plant, with ovate leaves, 

 and flowers in a dense spike, with an involucre of white leaves. The 

 Mexicans make a salve of the bruised leaves and use it to bring down 

 the swelling of bruises and sprains. 



Yucca Whipplei, Torr., is very handsome. The flower stem is often 

 ten feet high and is covered for about one half its height with a dense 

 mass of bell shaped white flowers. The leaves are long, serrulate, 

 and with hard sharp points. When they get old they become frayed 

 at the edges, hanging in long filaments on each side. 



Calochortus splendens. Dough, is well named. The flowers are 

 large, open cup shaped, situated on long peduncles, and of a bright 

 blue, the petals fringed on the inner side with numbers of yellow 

 hairs. At a distance it is a very striking plant. 



Polypodiwn Californiciwi^ Kaulf. , is similar to P. vulgare, \.., but 



