48 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



lope." The following lines will recall to mind many similar visions 

 of loveliness on California shores : "One afternoon she thought the 

 long, sad waste before her window had caught some tint of gayer 

 color from the sunset ; a week later she found a blazing landscape of 

 poppies, broken here and there by blue lagoons of lupines, by pools 

 of daisies, by banks of dog roses, by broad, outlying shores of 

 dandelions." Alfalfa fields in the Sierra regions are sometimes 

 yellow with its blossoms early in the spring, before the first cuttings. 



An Algonquin tale, a legend of considerable beauty, tells us 

 that Shawwondasse, the South Wind, sighing under a Magnolia 

 tree, one day spied a slender maiden with golden tresses; but the 

 South Wind was languid with the scent of Magnolia blossoms, and 

 he neglected calling to the golden-haired divinity; until, one day, 

 he woke to find no longer the slender girl, with the crown of golden 

 glory, but a faded gray creature, the ghost of his dreaming. Then 

 knew he that his brother, the North Wind, with his chill breath, had 

 blighted her. As he gazed, stricken with sorrow, the white hair 

 fell from the maiden's head and she was gone. Other maidens with 

 golden glory came and went, but Shawwondasse sighed ever for the 

 slender girl with the yellow hair as he had first seen her. 



This same soft, silvery globe of dandelion down has furnished 

 the children from time immemorial with the "Blow Balls" so closely 

 associated with the days of childhood. 



Dandelion w4th globe of doum, 

 The school boy's clock in every town, 

 Which the truant puffs amain 

 To conjure lost hours again. 



Who is there among us that has not at some time in our lives 

 blown the feathery seeds from these blooms to see whether mother 

 wanted us. If a single downy plume was left on the stalk, we could 

 play a little longer; and if we wanted very much to play a little 

 longer, I fear we did not blow very hard. In the language of flowers 

 the dandelion is the "rustic oracle," while its seed globe means 

 "Depart." In the long ago these blow-balls were often consulted 

 by young people as oracles. A lover would gather one and, care- 

 fully plucking its light feathers, would whisper sweet messages as 

 he blew them toward the place where his sweetheart was waiting; 

 while the maiden, wishing to know that her lover was thinking of 

 her, puffed thrice at the soft down, and if there was then a single 

 feather left, she knew that she was not forgotten. 



These gossamer seed globes are also used as a barometer to 

 predict fine or stormy weather. If the down blows off the dandelion 

 when there is no wind, it is a sign of rain. Among the country 

 people of Switzerland the flower is known as the shepherd's clock, 

 for in that country it is said to open at five o'clock in the morning 

 and close at eight in the evening, and the shepherds often use it 

 to guess at the time of day. There are many superstitions regarding 

 the flower and to dream of them is supposed to denote misfortune 

 or treachery on the part of some loved one. In many ways these 

 blossoms are popular with children. In spite of their acrid taste, 



