42 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



Baby Blue Eyes 

 (Nemophila insignis Dougl.) 



By Bertha M. Rice 



Baby Blue Eyes, Nemophila insignis Dougl., is the daintiest 

 and fairest of wildings ; it is happily named, for its ethereal loveli- 

 ness makes as straight an appeal to our heart and reminds of naught 

 so much as that blue which is like the blue of a baby's eye. "Har- 

 binger of Spring" was the poetic title bestowed upon it by David 

 Douglas, the great Scotch botanist and explorer, nearly a cen- 

 tury ago. 



California, at that time, was an unexplored wilderness ; but the 

 fame of her wonderful wild gardens had been circulated abroad. 

 Among the exploring expeditions that had visited this coast were 

 a number of scientists, and many herbarium specimens had been 

 preserved, while seeds of the wild 'plants had been sent back to 

 European countries and planted in botanical gardens. A number 

 of these flowers were so beautiful and unusual in appearance that 

 in 1824 the Royal Horticultural Society of London sent David 

 Douglas, a young Scotch gardener and a well-known botanist, 

 famous for his love for flowers, as well as for his great knowledge 

 of plant life, to this coast for the purpose of collecting specimens 

 and seeds of its marvelous flowers and trees, not only for the 

 advancement of science, but for the enrichment of European gar- 

 dens. He sailed around the Horn, stopping first at Vancouver, 

 and then came on down to Washington and Oregon. He studied 

 extensively the coniferous forests of the coast, and although a 

 number of scientists had preceded him and had recorded more or 

 less information regarding its remarkable plant life, it is conceded 

 that David Douglas gave to the public its first accurate knowledge 

 of our world-famous trees and of many of our most beautiful 

 flowers. It was David Douglas who, during an exciting experience 

 with the Indians, first discovered the Sugar Pine (Pinus lamber- 

 tiana Dougl.). But there are several trees, including the Douglas 

 Spruce or Fir, and numerous field flowers that bear the name of this 

 brave and devoted scientist. 



David Douglas returned to England in a year or so, but came 

 back to California, in 1831, to make an exhaustive study of our 

 wild flowers. He landed at San Francisco and went immediately 

 to Monterey. It was then autumn, which is not California's favor- 

 able season of bloom. The Mexicans and Indians were somewhat 

 unfriendly to strangers at the time and they looked upon the young 

 botanist with suspicion. He persisted in his undertaking, however, 

 and soon discovered many rare plant species, entirely new to science. 

 Douglas passed through some exciting adventures and overcame 

 innumerable difficulties while botanizing in the wilderness. But 

 when spring arrived with all her floral splendors, we find this hard- 

 working Scotchman still pursuing his investigations, and enthusing 

 over an entirely new specimen a bonny blue blossom, whose shy 



