30 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



as palms by the "man in the street," but one needs 

 only to take a good look at the long narrow sword- 

 like leaves to know they are not palms. 



The fruiting of the palms that one usually sees in 

 California is a noteworthy first sight to the visitor. 

 The individual blossoms are small, but are borne in 

 tight clusters, each like a huge hand enveloped in a 

 yellowish mitten, thrust out from the base of the 

 leaf stalks. By and by, the compact mass emerges 

 from its envelope and divides into a pendulous pan- 

 icle of bloom, each blossom succeeded in due time 

 by a berry-like fruit. This varies in color with the 

 kind of palm purple, red, orange, or yellow and 

 consists usually of a fleshy pulp, spread thin over a 

 comparatively large amount of stone. In the case 

 of the Canary Island palm, the fruit very much re- 

 sembles the date and may be nibbled at, but for seri- 

 ous consumption it is not at all in the class of its 

 famous cousin, the true date. 



Quite as conspicuous as the palms in Southern 

 California, is the so-called pepper tree (Schinus 

 molle], whose graceful, evergreen leafage droops in 

 a way to remind one of the weeping willow of the 

 East. Not the least of its charms both to visitors 

 and residents, are the bunches of pretty red berries 

 which glow amidst the foliage through a large part 

 of the year, though most noticeable in the winter. 



