SOME SUMMER FLOWERS 



beneath the anthers. In a few minutes they are back in 

 place ready to bury the next guest ; if guests come before 

 the stamens are back in place they must burrow among the 

 anthers, so in any case the guests get thoroughly covered 

 with pollen. Usually there are throngs of guests, especially 

 large woolly bees that need pollen for their babies ; and 

 such dusty bees as they are when they leave the flower, 

 perhaps hustled out by newcomers! 



Chaparral is a name Californians give to the several 

 kinds of hardy shrubs that form dense thickets on the dry, 

 rocky soil of our hills and mountains. Much of this 

 chaparral chooses summer months for flowering. Some of 

 the shrubby sages of Southern California are still in abun- 

 dant flower in June and July. Perhaps the plant most 

 commonly called chaparral is the chamisal, or grease- wood. 

 It is a hardy, woody, little shrub, with many small, evergreen 

 leaves that are like spines. It sends out its large plume- 

 like clusters of tiny white flowers throughout the summer 

 months, and as its flowers have no naughty tricks, like the 

 milkweed, they and the bees are of the greatest use to each 

 other. In fact the chamisal is counted in with the "bee- 

 pasture " plants. 



One of the Hriogonums, or wild buckwheats, is shrubby 

 enough to be classed as chaparral. You are sure to find it 

 on southern hills. It has more leaves and larger flower 

 clusters than most Eriogonums. The leaves, which grow 

 in clusters, are small, hard, and deep green above ; the 

 flowers are first white, then rose-colored, and finally golden 

 brown. This Hriogonum, too, is on the best of terms with 

 the bees. Its flowers furnish honey and pollen, and then 

 trust the bees to cross pollinate them, for, unlike most very 

 small flowers, they cannot pollinate themselves. Find out 

 why. 



Now this Eriogonum has a very troublesome plant 

 enemy. The picture, Fig. 68, shows a twig attacked by 



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