CHAPTER IX 



on classification, Chapters XIII and XIV, are to be taken up. 

 Even in this way, many common and interesting flowers will be 

 missed. Some larkspurs are sure to be found long before they are 

 discussed in Chapter XV. If the children collect these, they should be 

 taught the name and encouraged to find out the parts of the flowers, 

 note the insect guests, etc. Often a member of the Portulaca family, 

 either t Ca!andrinia Menziesii, T. & G., or C. elegans, Spach, will be 

 very abundant along waysides or in grain fields. The plant has fleshy 

 leaves and numerous bright, rose colored or magenta flowers. The 

 amount of pollen compensates for the lack of honey, and the great 

 number of little, black seeds should by all means be noted, since their 

 abundance probably accounts for the persistence of the plant in culti- 

 vated soil. 



Have the children at least note the fact that themalva weed, Malva 

 parviflora. Linn., has flowers, and that the "cheeses" are the ovaries. 

 If there is time to compare these flowers with those of the wild holly- 

 hock, Sidalcea, or with the shrubby Malvas, the family characteristics, 

 especially the column of united stamens, numerous pistils and mucil- 

 aginous juice, can be noted. The flowers of some members of the 

 rose family will have to be noted here, if at all; the wild blackberry, 

 Rubus ursinus, for instance, also some strawberry-like flowers, Poten- 

 tillas. In collecting in well shaded places some herbaceous saxifrages 

 will probably be encountered, Tellima affinis perhaps, or Saxifraga 

 reflexa. Fleshy leaf rosettes belonging to the "live-for-ever" family, 

 Crassulacese, will be encountered, but they usually bloom rather late, 

 and will be mentioned in Chapter XV, along with the Cacti. The large 

 pea family, Leguminosse, and the geranium family come in the next 

 chapter, and a chapter on irregular sympetalous flowers follows. 



Nearly all members of these families now in bloom will last for 

 some weeks, though probably not that pretty little Labiate, the skull- 

 cap, Scutellaria tuberosa, Benth. But some of the most common 

 Umbelliferse, and some attractive Compositse are likely to be missed 

 entirely. Let the children at least note the existence of these flowers 

 and give them common names when possible. The family name can 

 be easily developed. There is one Umbellifer, a Sanicula, with flow- 

 ers in low, yellow clusters, appearing as early as January; this can be 

 called yellow mats or meadow sanicle; there is also an early, purple- 

 flowered sanicle. The tidy tips, Layia platyglossa, Gray, and L. 

 elegans, with their yellow, white-tipped rays are among the prettiest 

 and best known of California Compositse. In Southern California 

 there are two other early Compositse about the size and general ap- 

 pearance of the tidy tips, but lacking the white tips; their botanical 



75 



