362 



A BOTANICAL ACCOUNT OF CALIFORNIA. 



apparently dead, whilst here the Oaks were 

 sending forth their young leaves, and the 

 prairies were teeming with flowers, among 

 which I recognised many old acquaintances. 

 It was delightful to behold the variety of 

 colours over the extensive prairie, produced 

 by patches of a Leptosiphon, Gilia tricolor, 

 G. capitata, Oxyura chrysanthemoides, Pla- 

 tystemon californicum, Nemophila insignis, 

 and another species, two Composita;, a Vio- 

 la, Eschscholtzia crocea, E. califomica, a 

 Delphinium, and, in places where water 

 collects during the rainy season, a Marta- 

 gon, with dingy yellow flowers spotted with 

 brown, Mimulus tricolor, two inches high, 

 and Limnanthes pulchella, having an abun- 

 dance of delicate pink flowers. 



On April the 13th I left with Mr. L. for 

 his farm, seventy miles higher up in the 

 valley. Mr. L. had been in the lower 

 country, and came up thus far with his 

 goods in a large canoe, and was now pro- 

 ceeding with them in waggons. Crossing 

 Feather river, which here is eighty yards 

 broad, and of considerable depth, our course 

 lay five and twenty miles along that river, 

 through a beautiful wood of evergreen and 

 deciduous Oaks : here I found, in sandy 

 tracts, a Leptosiphon, with white fragrant 

 flowers ; and Collinsia, and C. bicolor, the 

 latter invariably growing at the foot of large 

 oaks. Leaving Feather river, we struck 

 across a prairie for twenty miles : here im- 

 mense fields of Eschscholtzia crocea, E. 

 califomica, and a Ranunculus, presented 

 themselves, each species growing by itself, 

 which with the plants observed on Mr. 

 Cordua's farm, and Lupinus nanus, two 

 Delphiniums, a Trifolium, several Composi- 

 tae, an QEnothera, and a Malvaceous plant, 

 produced a splendid effect. A small patch 

 of the beautiful little Leptosiphon aureus, 

 with golden flowers, I also found in the 

 open prairie ; it is, however, by no means 

 common. The prairies in the Sacramento 

 Valley are divided by small rivers, termed 

 " creeks" by the American setters : these 

 creeks generally have a border of oaks upon 

 their banks, which also extend over the 

 rich bottom lands. In the dry beds of these 

 rivers I observed plants which nowhere are 

 to be found on the prairie, the seeds of which 

 have evidently been carried down from the 

 mountains during the rains, as for example, 



Pentstemon azureum ; an Umbelliferous' 

 plant, with an aromatic tap-root, held in 

 repute among the Indians for its medicinal 

 properties ; in rather damp places, Clinto- 

 nia elegans, C. pulchella, and Limnanthes 

 alba. A four days' slow drive with the 

 waggons brought us to the farm of my 

 companion : the vegetation here differed in 

 no respect from that already observed in 

 the valley. 



An opportunity of visiting the mountains 

 was afforded me a few days after my ar- 

 rival, which I embraced with pleasure, as 

 from the hostile character of the mountain 

 Indians towards the settlers, it was not 

 deemed prudent for me to make an excur- 

 sion in that direction, attended by a guide 

 only; I therefore joined a party of settlers 

 who were going to the mountains to exa- 

 mine the timber, and if possible to find a 

 site for a saw-mill. On the first evening 

 we encamped under a large oak, near Pine 

 creek, a little mountain rivulet ; here I 

 found Asagrasa, a Lychnis, an Umbellifer r 

 Triteleia, with a head of pink flowers sup- 

 ported on a twining stem, five feet long ; 

 in the creek, a Saxifraga ; of shrubs and 

 trees, a Ceanothus, evergreen and decidu- 

 ous oaks, and Pinus Sabiniana. This spe- 

 cies of pine, of which I saw some small 

 trees near Monterey last year, rises here to 

 the height of fifty or sixty feet, with a stem 

 of six feet in circumference, and possesses 

 none of the regularity so characteristic of 

 the pine tribe. The branches, which in 

 other pines stand in whorls, are in this spe- 

 cies quite irregular (except when young,} 

 which, combined with the paucity of its 

 partly bent down, glaucous leaves, gives 

 the tree a peculiar appearance. Early the 

 following morning we ascended the gradual 

 acclivity, and passed through a brushwood 

 entirely composed of a species of Ceano- 

 thus. At noon we arrived at the edge of a 

 noble pine forest ; a few moments' rest, 

 during which one of our companions shot a 

 deer, enabled me to collect a Viola, an 

 Erythronium, a Prunus, a Lilium, and a 

 Cyclobothra. The species of pine com- 

 posing the forest is principally Pinus Ben- 

 thamiana, with a few trees of P. Lamber- 

 tiana, Abies nobilis, and a species of Thuja 

 intermixed, a Ceanothus, spreading on the? 

 ground, and Cornus florida, which were 



