CALIFORXIAN DRY-WIXTER FLOWERS. 773 



stragfjlino^, hispid, or glandular-viscid plant to thrive. The variety 

 hispida, Gray, was the most common form at Santa Barbara, and is a 

 very unpleasant thing to handle. A large quantity of the pinnately 

 divided leaves and prickly stems was gathered, as they were much in- 

 fested by a cluster-cup {yEcidium) fungus. At least one species of 

 Cuscuta was collected, viz., (J. Ccdifornica, Choisy ; but, as all the 

 dodders are parasitic, it is not strange to find them flourishing even 

 while their hosts were leafless and being robbed, so to speak, in their 

 sleep. The species is quite variable, and the extreme forms have been 

 defined under var. breciflora and var. longiloha ; both by Dr. Engel- 

 mann, the great and almost life-long student of these sickly parasites. 



The dry earth in old stubble-ground was in some places found en- 

 tirely covered with a carpet of Calendrinia Me.nzie.sii, Hook., a fleshy- 

 leaved acaulescent plant of the purslane family, and in habit not 

 unlike its cousin, the obese purslane [Portidaca oleracea, L.), so fre- 

 quently spreading over eastern fields and gardens with its low, fleshy 

 stems and leaves. Both seem equally well adapted for thriving in hot 

 and dry places. A downy mildew {Percnosjxjra) was, however, mak- 

 ing inroads upon this calendrinia, although not, perhaps, as fatal in its 

 work as to Claytonia perfoliata, Down. These two hosts are in ad- 

 joining genera, and the peronospora seems to be the same in both 

 cases. The claytonia was in flower, but as this " spring beauty " only 

 thrives in moist places, it does not come within the province of this 

 paper. Occasionally a flov.er of the popular forage plant of the foot- 

 hills, the altileria, or "pin-grass," was seen, but only when there was 

 some chance for moisture. This low, leafy crane's-bill {Erodium 

 cicutariiim, L., Her.) grows rapidly when the rains come and clothes the 

 pastures and foot-hills with a rich carpet of green, followed by a pro- 

 fusion of flowers, unless the cattle and sheep keep it closely cropped. 



As a transition to the woody plants, mention may be made of a 

 variety of black nightshade (Solanum 7iigrum, var. JJoi<glasii, Gray) 

 which grows abundantly in all parts of the country. It is, perhajDS, 

 most at home along the streams or upon the lower areas, but it may be 

 seen almost everywhere, forming clumps six feet high, and shrubby at 

 the base. It can usuall)^ be found bearing blossoms and fruit in all 

 stages of development, and is one of the coarser weeds that is quite 

 sure to find its way into cultivated ground and become thoroughly es- 

 tablished if sufficient time is given it. Much more attractive than the 

 above is Solanum umbelliferiirii, Esch., which forms long, straggling, 

 tomentose stems, that climb over surrounding shrubbery and peep out 

 here and there with small clusters of large, yellow-throated, blue 

 flowers. This forms one of the cheerful surprises as a person pushes 

 his way through the dust-laden underbrush. In the same localities 

 the flower-hunter will encounter tangling masses of a poison-ivy 

 {Rhus diversiloba, T. and G.), called by the natives "yeara" or 

 " poison-oak." The vines grow rapidly, and the shining, newly-devel- 



