36 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



usually much smaller. The Manzanita bark is a much deeper brown 

 than that of the Madrona, and there is no mistaking the large, de- 

 ciduous, magnolia-like leaves of the Madrona, while the small, light 

 colored, evergreen leaves of the Manzanita are curiously set on edge 

 to prevent evaporation. It is this ability to conserve its moisture 

 which is so valuable a feature in this plant, enabling it to thrive in 

 the sterile soil of the chaparral regions, where its presence is little 

 short of a benediction in the wilderness. This shrub sems to love 

 the dry, sunny hillsides, and together with its close friends and 

 companions, the Ceanothus or Wild Lilac and the beautiful Chapar- 

 ral Pea (Pickeringia), with its bright pink blossoms, they supply 

 those otherwise arid regions, during their successive seasons of 

 bloom, with a variety and charm unequaled by that of any other 

 portion of the State. 



The Manzanita blooms when other flowers do not. At Christ- 

 mas time and before, and from New Year's Day on into the late 

 spring, its little waxen globes, with perhaps a rosy glow tinting 

 their pure whiteness, give of their nectar to the bees. It is a splendid 

 honey flower, for the bees may strengthen and prepare themselves 

 with its aid during the otherwise lean winter months, and be in good 

 shape to build up big honey stores when the rush of wild flower 

 season comes upon them suddenly in the spring. 



The Mountain Quail in the Sierras and the smaller California 

 Quail in the coast foothills all love the Manzanita red berries and 

 enjoy many gay picnicking parties in fruiting time. I find it diffi- 

 cult to decide when the chaparral presents the happier appearance, 

 with the busy bees in blossom time or with the greedily feasting 

 birds in berry season. 



In the language of flowers, the family name Heath stands 

 for "solitude," though it seems that this relative has not its place 

 in the dictionary of that language. It may be left to the choice of 

 the individual whether these delicately tinted, nectar-laden, waxen 

 urns, so refreshing in the wilderness of tangled chaparral, in the 

 "between seasons" of flowers, enlivened with the businesslike huni 

 of harvesting bees, might not stand for joy, or hope, or happiness. 

 Nor is the Manzanita solitary in its cheerful fruiting season, bidding 

 welcome to bird visitors and to various small furry friends. 



The Manzanita's lovely flowers have been described as "like 

 little classic vases set in alabaster." 



