A BOTANICAL ACCOUNT OF CALIFORNIA. 



363 



the only plants observed in the pine-woods. 

 On our return through a steep ravine, I 

 round a shrubbj Cercis, with pink {lowers, 

 a Prunus, and again Cyclobothra. 



By the Ipril the prairies in the 



Sacramento Valley assumed a different as- 

 pect; two weeks ago they were a carpet of 

 flowers, which have now disappeared, and 

 a yellow, sickly tinge pervades the whole: 

 such is the rapidity of vegetation under the 

 cloudless sky of a tropical sun. Bulbous 

 plants now make their appearance ; the 

 most common being Triteleia laxa, which 

 not only grows in the open prairie, but also 

 in the shaded and damp lowlands ; a pure 

 white variety of it I also found ; it is, how- 

 ever, by no means common. One of the 

 species of Calochortus is also very frequent ; 

 a whitish variety occurs occasionally along 

 with Brodiaea congesta, and another Lilia- 

 ceous plant. 



Being now aware of the rapidity of Cali- 

 fornian vegetation, I lost no time in collect- 

 ing such seeds as were worth taking, and 

 returned to my head-quarters by the begin- 

 ning of Ma}% Most kinds had, during the 

 fortnight since I first saw them in flower, 

 ripened their seeds, and it was with diffi- 

 culty I found a few grains of the beautiful 

 little Leptosiphon aureus, and similar plants, 

 which, between their taller neighbors, had 

 almost become invisible. 



An excursion to " the Butes," an isolated 

 group of mountains between the Sacramen- 

 to and Feather rivers, furnished me with 

 species of Campanulaceae, Labiatas, Scro- 

 phularinese, and Compositor; a Gilia, a 

 Linum, a Trifolium, two species of Ascle- 

 pias, Clarkia elegans, Lupinus densiflorus, 

 and an Umbellifer, called Yerba de la vi- 

 vora, the leaves and stem of which are uni- 

 versally used with success against the bite 

 of rattlesnakes. From the rocky summit of 

 the Butes a beautiful view is obtained of 

 the Sacramento Valley ; during the time of 

 my visit, the lower country, owing to the 

 melting of the snow in the mountains, and 

 consequent inundations, presented an im- 

 mense lake 



Another excursion I made to the moun- 

 tains led along the right bank of the Chuba 

 river, over the now parched up prairie. A 

 ride of fifteen miles brought me to the foot 

 of the mountains. The lower ran^e, as in 



the former visit higher up in the valley, is 

 occupied by a Ceanothus, a few live oaks, 

 and Pinus Sabiniana. Following a small 

 rivulet, I found there a Mentha, and ano- 

 ther Labiate plant, Stenactis, a shrubby 

 Labiate with large white flowers, and Col- 

 linsia tinctoria. This new species of Col- 

 linsia is of stronger growth, though less 

 striking, than C. bicolor; it grows chiefly 

 in the dry sandy bed or on the banks of the 

 rivulet, and produces its yellowish flowers 

 mottled with purple much later than C. 

 bicolor. On a subsequent occasion, when I 

 returned to this place to procure seeds of it, 

 my hands were stained yellow by the gland- 

 ulous hairs which cover the seedpods, from 

 which circumstance I named it Collinsia 

 tinctoria. Another interesting plant I found 

 on this excursion is Nemophila speciosa, 

 with white petals, one-third of which is 

 tipped with purple. It grows generally 

 near rivulets, or in damp and partly shaded 

 places. If the few seeds I procured should 

 vegetate, it will prove a great acquisition to 

 that handsome genus. The higher part of 

 this range of mountains is less accessible 

 than on the former visit. My endeavors to 

 proceed farther were eventually frustrated 

 bv the steep banks and swollen state of the 

 Chuba. 



By the beginning of June I set out again, 

 in company with Mr. Cordua and an Indian, 

 to visit if possible the snowy heights of the 

 mountains, generally termed by emigrants 

 from the United States the Californian 

 Mountains. After Crossing the Chuba river, 

 we struck across the prairie, and entered 

 the mountains near Bear Creek, where we 

 encamped towards evening in a grove of 

 Pinus Sabiniana and oaks. The vegeta- 

 tion here differed in nothing from that ob- 

 served on the right bank of the Chuba on 

 a former visit. Calochortus, which had 

 been very common throughout the Sacra- 

 mento Valley, was still in flower here, the 

 white variety being more frequent than the 

 yellow. Early the following morning we 

 were en route again, passing through an in- 

 terminable wood of Pinus Sabiniana and 

 oaks. Here I observed a pretty little Al- 

 lium, with purple flowers, an Asarum, a 

 Viola, a Polemonium (?,) Hosackia bicolor, 

 and Mimulus bicolor, the two last luxuriating 

 in the sandy bed of dried up rivulets. As- 



