210 RESOURCES OF CALIFOEXIA. 



important are the orange, camelia japonica, laurastinus, myo- 

 poriim, ericas, casuarina, daphne, eucalyptus, metrosideros, and 

 thirty varieties of acacia, twenty of them from Austraha. It 

 might be ahnost said that we have no hot-houses in the state, 

 but only green-houses, for it is scarcely ever necessary to make 

 a fire, even to protect the most dehcate of tropical plants. 



Our climate is very favorable to the growth of evergreens, 

 especially to those strange and beautiful ones from Austraha, 

 w^ith the graceful growth and the brilliant, feathery foliage. 

 Two of the most striking features of our ornamental horticul- 

 ture are the malva and mayo trees. The former, a native of 

 the southern part of this state, grows to be about fifteen feet 

 high, continues green throughout the year, and is always cov- 

 ered with abundant foliage and a wreath of lai'ge crimson flow- 

 ers, resembling the flowers of the crimson hollyhock in size, 

 shape, and color. The mayo-tree is an evergreen, originally 

 from Chile, always brilliant with abundant yellow flowers. 



Among the most common and beautiful creeping vines 

 grown in California is the Australian bean, which has a dense, 

 bright, evergreen foliage, and abundant flowers throughout the 

 year. It climbs strings, and is therefore well suited to shade 

 verandas and to grow in the front of porticoes. 



The rose, the honeysuckle, the veronica, the oleander, the 

 laurastinus, the euonimus japonica, and the verbenas — espe- 

 cially the lemon verbena — may safely be said to make twice as 

 nmch wood in a year as they do on the Atlantic coast. The 

 geraniums in San Francisco are almost trees. Rose-sprouts 

 often grow twenty feet in a season, and other plants in propor- 

 tion. There is scarcely any tree or shrub cultivated in the At- 

 lantic states which does not thrive equally as well here, except 

 the weeping willow. 



California has thus far furnished very little for our gardens. 

 There are many singular plants in our mountains, but few 

 have found favor with our gardeners. The malva and the ce- 

 anothus are the chief ornamental shrubs, indigenous in Califor- 

 nia, adopted for cultivation. 



