THE SHRUBS OF CALIFORNIA. 47 



cultivated, and would make a fine border for roads or walks. The wild 

 plums and cherries, the raspberries and blackberries, the hard-hack, or 

 Spiraea, with its rosy plume, the feathery meadow-sweet (Holodiscus], 

 with its graceful panicle of innumerable white flowers, tht; bridal wreath 

 (Physocarpus or Neillia), with its long stems trailing over other shrubs 

 covered with corymbs of cherry-like flowers, later turning to fruits of 

 scarlet, the service berry (Amelanchier) , the thorn-apple (Crataegus), 

 the wild pear (Pyrus), and apple (Peraphyllum), the mountain ash 

 (Sorbus), and mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus), all belong to this 

 useful and beautiful family. 



Three highly decorative shrubs come from the poppy family. One 

 is the Dendromecon, or yellow-flowered tree poppy. It never becomes 

 a true tree. It showers its yellow petals over the other shrubs, and 

 glorifies the brush by floating disks of light. The flowers are numerous, 

 and as large as a dollar, except in half-starved specimens, where the 

 supply of water or the nourishment in the soil is scarce. The Eomnoyas 

 are so well known in cultivation that it is scarcely necessary to speak of 

 them as desirable plants to cultivate. They are amongst the most showy 

 of the Californian shrubs, and their great beauty makes them every- 

 where desirable where the climate is not too cold. 



Three or four species of barberry belong to California. All have 

 compound leaves, with spiny-toothed leaflets, bunches of yellow flowers 

 at the summit of the stems, and, later, purple berries. The latter give to 

 these shrubs the name of Oregon grape, and under that name the plant is 

 classed as one of great medicinal value. 



In some parts of California the most prevalent shrubs are species of 

 wild sage, known by various names. They are more common in southern 

 California, and are the chief source of the honey for which California 

 is so famous. They are not especially noted for beauty, and would 

 scarcely be considered worthy of cultivation. 



In the mallow family there are several species of shrubs. The one 

 known as tree mallow (Lavatera assurgentiflora Kellogg] is familiar to 

 every one, it is so generally used for hedges around the vegetable gar- 

 dens in San Francisco. It is known in a native state only on the islands 

 off the coast of California, where the genus Lavatera is also represented 

 by other species. This genus is found nowhere else in North America, 

 all the other Lavateras being confined to the region of the Mediterranean 

 and the islands off the southern European coast. 



Besides this interesting genus, there are different species of Malvas- 

 trum in different parts of the state, some of them very attractive when in 

 flower. The flowers of all are either pink or white. 



Nearly related to these members of the Mallow family is one of the 

 most gorgeous shrubs to be found anywhere. This is the Fremontia,. 



