CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN THEIR HOMES 



The leaves of the wild currant are rather disagreeable; 

 they come early and have to look out for themselves, but 

 the pink and white flowers are lovely enough. Eastern 

 people say they resemble the trailing arbutus, their own 

 early spring flower that they love to talk and write about, 

 and they wonder that we do not care more for our pretty 

 early flowers. Some early wild gooseberries have long, 

 bright red flowers that serve honey to humming bird 

 guests, but do not exclude the larger bees. The goose- 

 berries are well protected by thorns, so they can afford beau- 

 tiful glossy leaves; they arrange their leaves so that they 

 get plenty of light and at the same time form a roof over 



Fig. 25. WIID GOOSEBERRY Ribes amarum. 



the flowers that will protect the pollen from rain. Perhaps 

 you will find the wild lilac in flower. One kind of early 

 lilac has leaves with the edges rolled back all around and a 

 thick fur on the under side. In the canons you will find 

 many other plants with rolled leaves, or leaves with fur or 

 fuzz or bloom on the underside only, and we shall talk 

 about the reason later on. 



How many of the native trees of your neighborhood 

 arejeafless now? Notice the cultivated ones, too. Have 

 any of them new leaves yet ? Trees are generally slower 

 than smaller plants in getting their new leaves, and most 



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