LUPINE, ALFALFA AND BUR-CLOVER 



especially for scattering seed. The Geranium family, which 

 includes the filaree as well as the cultivated geraniums, is 

 an example. The filaree, like the bur-clover, is believed 

 to have been brought to California from Europe, perhaps 

 with the grain seed imported by the fathers in the good old 

 mission days. The filaree and bur-clover take kindly to 

 our climate, the rainy season giving them all the time they 

 need to mature their numerous seeds; and how they have 

 spread themselves over this great state of ours ! from the 

 lovely fertile valleys overlooking the sea, where the fathers 

 loved to plant their missions, up to almost inaccessible 

 mountain meadows two hundred miles from the coast, 

 and thousands - of feet above it; for with the filaree and 

 bur-clover came the sheep to carry the seeds in their wool 

 wherever sheep can go. 



You all know the filaree fruits; perhaps you call them 

 clocks; let us trace them back to the flowers. Watch the 

 little bluish flowers on your way to school in the morning; 

 notice how they turn to the sun, and find out where they 

 keep their honey. The filaree, like the bur-clover, prac- 

 tices such bountiful hospitality as it must have seen in the 

 old California days. Every flower provides five generous 

 drops of honey, which glisten in the sun and are free to all 

 who come. The pollen and stigmas are kept where the 

 larger guests will strike them; but the smaller ones will 

 not pay for their entertainment, and the filaree seems quite 

 able to pollinate itself; at any rate, it always ripens an 

 abundance of good seed. After the petals fall, the five 

 little pistils in the centre of the flower, also the part of the 

 flower that holds them, the receptacle, begin to grow, and 

 they grow, and grow, until they are about two inches long. 

 Now if you will sit down in the midst of the filaree on a 

 warm April or May morning, you can see the little brown 

 "clocks" shooting off from the parent plant in every direc- 

 tion; you can even hear the soft patter as they fall. Pick 



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