CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN THEIR HOMES 



send out some of their most brilliant flowers during the 

 summer months. You will find them in the mountains, or 

 on shaded slopes and along streams in lower altitudes. 



In the next group there are some common cultivated 

 plants, the olive, jasmine and lilac, but not many native 

 Californians. There are the gentians, which are found 

 only in mountain meadows, and milkweeds, which are 

 rather abundant in parts of Southern California. The 

 milkweed flowers are not very showy, but they have plenti- 

 ful stores of honey, and the story of their pollination is one 

 of the most wonderful known. If you have sharp eyes and 

 can watch the insects visiting the flowers, you can find out 

 part of the story for yourselves. 



There is another group of about the same rank that 

 has few California members. It includes the cucumber 

 family, the melon, pumpkin and the like, belonging here, 

 also our wild cucumber vine and the chilicothe. 



The highest group of all is called Aggregate, which 

 means that the flowers are crowded together; and the high- 

 est family in this group, and hence the highest of all plant 

 families, is the social family Composite, which we have 

 already discussed. Does it seem strange to you that this 

 family with its ten thousand species, has not one that is 

 of any marked use to man ? For this reason it receives 

 little assistance from him. In fact some species, like the 

 thistle and cocklebur, flourish in spite of constant war 

 against them. Of course this means that this is the 

 largest and strongest of families, simply because its mem- 

 bers have learned so well to take care of themselves. 



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