Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 69 



The Western Azalea, Rhododendron occidentals Gray 



By Roland Rice 



The Western Azalea grows along stream borders and the edges 

 of meadows and woodlands in many sections of the Coast Range 

 and in the Sierras. Unlike its more colorful relative, the Rhodo- 

 dendron or Rose Bay, it is delightfully fragrant; the spices and 

 perfumes of the Orient and Arabia can never be as sweet to a Cali- 

 fornian. Its perfume lingers in one's memory forever as a pleasing 

 "nepenthe" of vacation days, reminiscent of pleasant places, mossy 

 boulders, the calm pools and foaming riffles of trout-haunted 

 streams, and these fragrant shrubs, with their glorious buff and 

 white blossoms massed amid the rich green foliage. The banks of 

 towering trees and wooded hills form a wonderful background for 

 these beautiful flowers. 



The Azalea-blossomed banks of the upper San Lorenzo River, 

 with its trout, is one of the best remembered pictures of my child- 

 hood. Although I visited those regions but infrequently, the cool 

 glory of their fragrant, flowery banks is indelibly impressed upon 

 my memory. Mountain lovers always cherish such visions of 

 loveliness, and John Muir, in his book "My First Summer in the 

 Sierras," records his delight in these bushes. "The Western Azalea, 

 R. occidentale," he writes, "is very showy and fragrant and every- 

 body must like it, not only for itself, but for the shady alders and 

 willows, ferny meadows and living water associated with it." These 

 lovely flowers are a common sight in the Yosemite during the sum- 

 mer months. Visitors to that great playground of the Sierras will 

 find Azalea thickets offering incense from the abundant blooms like 

 a dream of the tropics. 



A botanist who frequents Mt. Tamalpais has stated that Azaleas 

 may be found in bloom on some favored slope of that region during 

 any month of the year. Such cases are an exception. In the Bay 

 Regions the pale-flowered Azaleas are found in the shady depths of 

 the canons ; while on sunny slopes, a pink-flowered variety may be 

 seen. Their blossoms are somewhat funnel-shaped and are two or 

 three inches long, with one of the spreading lobes having a blotch 

 or stripe of color, which is variously described as buff, yellow, 

 salmon, apricot, or sulphur-colored, and occasionally pink. The 

 colors vary slightly according to locality. The loosely branching 

 shrubs are from two to twelve feet tall ; the leaves are a smooth, 

 rich green, about four inches long, with sharply pointed tips, and 

 cluster on the ends of the twigs with the splendid flowers, whose 

 profusion of bloom frequently all but screens the foliage. When 

 the light frosts of autumn touch the deciduous leaves, a later glory 

 is added to the Azalea thickets, by their tints of flaming scarlet and 

 crimson. But this "glory of the mountains" has its detractors, and 

 in common with its close relative, the handsome Rhododendron, the 

 Azalea comes under the ban of the bee keepers. Cattle will not 

 eat the shrub, but sheepmen have learned to fear its poison. John 

 Muir wrote that sheepmen had a different name for these bushes; 



