74 AS CALIFORNIA FLOWERS GROW 



the white Forgetmenot, the Buttercup, and the 

 golden Brodiecea are small and scrawny as if worn 

 out by long travels from the sea. The yellow Violet 

 is a wood dweller, pallid and shrinking in compari- 

 son with the glowing Johnny-Jump-Up. The blue 

 and the white Violet are smaller and more delicate. 

 The Squaw Grass is a poor diminutive of the beau- 

 tiful plume that waves on Mount Tamalpais. But 

 that ends the list of blossoms that grow less beautiful 

 with ascent. 



The Columbines are glorified sisters of the Coast 

 beauties, and crowd so closely over every sunny hill- 

 side that they tint the slopes red. The Castilleja 

 bursts into every shade and tint of red and yellow 

 that man ever dreamed of, and the color bracts are 

 longer and more plentiful. The Star of Bethlehem 

 and the Breath of Heaven expand in the higher 

 altitude, and the False Solomon's Seal and its sister 

 Smilacena are as common as the Buttercups at the 

 Coast. The Hound's Tongue is an irradiated devel- 

 opment, seeming flecks of sun-kissed sky scattered 

 through the woodlands. The Lupine family is well 

 represented, and is as well equipped for securing 

 insect aid as any of the species. One exquisite crea- 

 ture in iridescent lavender displays a keel of purest 

 gold to lure the giddy fly. When she has accom- 

 plished her purpose and received pollen, from an- 

 other blossom, she changes her brilliant keel to 



