58 PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



The young tender shoots and leaves furnish an esteemed salad; the 

 seeds when dried and ground contribute to the relish and wholesome- 

 ness of our food, and also contain invaluable medicinal properties. In 

 the southern part of California, where this plant flourishes in its full 

 perfection, it often attains a height of from fifteen to eighteen feet, 

 providing shelter to the weary toiler, from the fervent rays of the south- 

 ern sun, as he partakes of his noontime luncheon beneath its grateful 

 shade, and the "fowls of the air come and lodge in its branches" as in 

 Palestine ages ago. The great stalks, coming from such tiny seed, are 

 utilized in various ways. They are used as fuel, and it is said that 

 fences are sometimes built of them. A large field of mustard when 

 covered with its soft yellow bloom, glinting in the sun, appears a 

 veritable cloth of gold. 



We might go on indefinitely enumerating the plants of varied beauty 

 and excellence ; the task seems limitless. The abundance of the annuals 

 of the Pacific states, the wide diversity of species, some of which may 

 be found flourishing every day of the year, is a source of comment by 

 all conversant with the subject. Many of them are beautiful; all of 

 them are useful. 



May the time soon come when all can say with the poet Words- 

 worth: 



"To me the meanest flower that blows can give 

 Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



San Francisco, Cal. 



NATIVE PERENNIALS. 



BY MRS. W. S. CHANDLER. 



The term "perennial" is employed by botanists to indicate those 



plants which live on for a number of years. Different climates affect 



lants; some which are annual in cold climates are perennial in warmer 



regions. The term "perennial" is, in general, applied only to herbaceous 



plants, referring principally to their roots. 



Perennial herbaceous plants, like shrubs and trees, are capable of 



producing flowers and fruit year after year, in which they differ from 



nual and biennial plants, which are fruitful only once." We are in- 



o the perennials for some of our earliest flowers. 



On >f the first, the trillium sessile, comes to us about the middle 



of December. What a sight to come upon a colony of these lovely 



flowers, with their pure white waxen cups and large green leaves, on 



winch mother nature has traced strange characters in a language all 



