268 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



from familiar to all Californians, is a creeping turf- 

 plant whose botanical name, Lippia repens, is easy 

 enough to pronounce to be popularized. Evergreen 

 of leaf and taking kindly to almost any sort of soil, 

 it spreads by rooting at the joints until it forms solid 

 mats of verdure, even choking out many sorts of 

 weeds that flourish in grassplots. These are as 

 pleasant to walk on and as yielding to the tread as 

 Turkish carpet, and the little plant is as cheerful 

 under the pressure of human feet as blue grass, or 

 a New Mexican Penitente flat on a church door-step 

 begging to be trodden on for his sins' sake. Fur- 

 thermore it is tolerant of neglect, and will survive 

 a whole dry season without watering or mowing, 

 though for the best effect it should have both about 

 once a month, during the summer. Lippia has 

 therefore taken an assured place in California as a 

 substitute for lawn grass in situations where the lat- 

 ter is difficult to keep up, as in garden paths and on 

 dryish slopes. Under trees and in unsunned cor- 

 ners, it has a tendency to grow erect, and I know a 

 garden where a somewhat shady bench has been 

 completely blanketed, legs and seat, by the aspiring 

 little creeper which was originally set out as a turf. 

 Not the least interesting feature of lippia is its 

 bloom. With the coming of warm spring days, 

 after an enthusiastic spell of inching into such new 



