SOME GROUPED FLOWERS 55 



CHAPTER IV. 



SOME GROUPED FLOWERS. 



A handsome shrub that is widely distributed over 

 the State is the Ceanothus or California Lilac. 

 Every one has admired it, as it adds color to the 

 landscape, sometimes a vivid blue, sometimes a 

 smoky haze, sometimes a creamy white. Sometimes 

 it crawls along the ground, making the Squaw Car- 

 pet of the Sierras; at others, it towers to over twenty 

 feet, as in the Lilac of the Coast Range. Sometimes 

 its leaves are broad and leathery; sometimes long 

 and narrow; sometimes it is hairy, sometimes spiny; 

 but with all its variations of stem and leaf, it has 

 one habit common to all its species. It bunches up 

 its little flowers close together, so that they will 

 make a mass of color that will be seen at a distance. 

 It does not make the flower groups the same shape 

 on different species. Sometimes they form a flat 

 head, sometimes a plume; but always they store up 

 such quantities of nectar that its fragrance perfumes 

 the whole countryside. Even the nectar differs in 

 the species. Sometimes it is just unalloyed sweet- 

 ness; at others, it has the odor of mixed flour and 

 water. 



