SUPPLEMENT 



and rustling, and cling until the fruit is mature. Eriodictyon gluti- 

 nosum, Benth., is the yerba santa, whose medicinal value, discovered 

 by the Indians, is still appreciated by the medical profession. This 

 species is generally confined to the mountains of Southern California, 

 but the species E. tomentosum, Benth., is common in lower altitudes. 

 The Kriodictyons are shrubs with thick leaves and bluish flowers in 

 scorpioid clusters ; the leaves of the yerba santa are resinous, and the 

 flowers are frequently white. E. tomentosum is worthily named, for 

 the "tomen turn," or dense hairs, clothes not the leaves only, but 

 stems, calyxes and even the violet corollas. The flowers seem to be 

 pollinated by bees. 



California has a wild heliotrope, Heliotr opium Curassavicum , 

 Linn., a low, succulent plant, common near the sea and in moist alkali 

 soil the world over ; it blooms in summer, having small white or 

 bluish-white flowers. Of the Borraginacese that bloom in the spring 

 time, those with the yellow flowers belong to the genus Amsinckia, 

 and the white ones to different genera not agreed upon by botanists. 

 There are supposed to be several species of Amsinckia in Southern 

 California, but the one so common as a roadside weed is A. spectabilis, 

 F. & M. The ability of this plant to withstand drought, is probably 

 its strongest point, but it is generally well equipped. Its flowers are 

 uncommonly large for this family ; they have abundance of honey and 

 prominent honey guides; sometimes they are slightly irregular. Any 

 one studying their pollination will be impressed with the variability 

 in the length of stamens and pistils ; some plants have flowers with 

 anthers well above the stigmas, others have stigmas always above the 

 anthers. If it were not for many intermediate forms we should con- 

 sider these flowers dimorphic, and possibly they are developing in 

 this direction. True dimorphism is explained in any book that treats 

 of pollination, the English primrose being the favorite illustration. 

 If an insect come from a plant with high anthers to one with high 

 stigmas and low anthers, it cross pollinates this flower, and pollen 

 from the low anthers adheres to its tongue ; passing to flowers of the 

 other form with this supply of pollen, the insect cross pollinates the 

 low stigmas and gets a fresh supply of pollen from high anthers, and 

 so on. There are also flowers with well marked trimorphism ; I have 

 found no clear case of either among native California flowers. The 

 bristly calyx of Amsinckia spectabilis, which gives it its name of 

 "woolly breeches," is persistent and aids in seed distribution. 



As stated above, great confusion still prevails over the nomenclature 

 of our wild white forget-me-nots ; three genera, Krynitzkia, Plagio- 

 bothrys and Pectocarya are represented in the vicinity of Los 



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