IN CALIFORNIA 39 



seasons, but in California one is sure to see some 

 display as early in the year as January. While 

 sometimes exceedingly showy in tones of red, the 

 flowers are usually white or cream color and look, 

 far above us in airy billows of foliage, like flecks of 

 foam or a sprinkling of snow. After a storm we 

 may pick from the ground a flower-laden twig that 

 has been blown down and examine the wonderful 

 creations. The bud is a tight-closed case varying 

 in size from a pea's bigness to a walnut's. 1 At its 

 appointed hour it neatly splits off the lid and from 

 the interior as a jack from his box, appears the 

 flower, which is nothing but a bristling mass of 

 countless glistening stamens, subtly fragrant and 

 delicate as the weave of fairy hands. The flowers 

 are produced sociably in umbels, or panicled clusters, 

 and in some species continue to open over a period 

 of several months and hum with wild bees which 

 haunt them for their nectar. The woody seed ves- 

 sels are as interesting in their way as the blossoms, 

 and are of various shapes and sizes according to 

 species smooth or wrinkled or ribbed, and fash- 

 ioned in form of tops, cups, pills, eggs, bells, urns 

 or what not. To collect the different sorts in one's 

 rambles, is almost as fascinating as collecting old 



i The word eucalyptus means " well-concealed," in reference to this 

 complete hiding of the floral organs in the box-like calyx. 



