70 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



they called them "sheep-poison" and wondered "what the Creator 

 was thinking of when he made them," and John Muir adds, "so 

 desperately does sheep business blind and degrade, though supposed 

 to have a refining influence." Poisonous characteristics are all too 

 common with Azalea or Rhododendrons ; its relative, R. chrysan- 

 t hum, of Siberia, contains one of the most active narcotics known. 



In some parts of the State, and more particularly in Oregon, 

 the flowers are erroneously called honeysuckle; but they are not 

 related to that plant. The flowers are loved by bees and they depend 

 largely upon these insects for fertilization. Modern scientists are 

 prone to scout the centuries-old belief (which lingers even today), 

 that disastrous effects are apt to follow the eating of honey gathered 

 by bees from these flowers. Certainly we have not heard of such 

 fatalities in California, but they are not popular with bee men. 



The lovely Azalea, which seems to be a water-loving plant in 

 our State, was so named by the Greeks, because it was supposed to 

 prefer dry ground, and the name translated indicates dryness. 

 However, its specific name occidental means western, and our 

 Western Azalea haunts the moist regions and stream banks of our 

 mountains. 



The Azalea is classed as a Rhododendron with most botanists, 

 and so California has two Rhododendrons, Rhododendron occi- 

 dentale, which is our Western Azalea, and Rhododendron califor- 

 nica, the Rose Bay. Some botanists place the Azalea in a separate 

 genus because its leaves are deciduous, while Rhododendron, or 

 Rose Bay, are evergreen; but in spite of the noticeable difference 

 in the plant and its blossoms, the botanic distinctions are difficult 

 to establish. 



These handsome and ornamental shrubs suffer greatly from 

 rough handling, and motorists and campers have greatly retarded 

 their growth and attractive appearance in many localities. Only a 

 few members of the Heath Family, to which these plants belong, 

 have any important economic values, but they are among the most 

 interesting and delightful of growing things to Nature lovers. In 

 the language of flowers, the Azalea represents Temperance. 



"The old woods how I have loved it! The sweetest memo- 

 ries of life are entwined back there among the grasses and the 

 grapevines and oaks and beeches. Its beauty and silence and the 

 wild life in it were the unsolved mystery, of boyhood, and its deeper 

 study in later years has been a very great delight and inspiration. 

 I think I gain, by familiarity with its life, something of its vitality, 

 at least in spirit. The long vistas of the great trees, the sunshine 

 mottling the leaves and filling the open spaces beneath with beau- 

 tiful light, the immeasurable canopy and the shade, the birds singing 

 their loves and their joys, the squirrels frisking among the acorns, 

 and the atmosphere of age which pervades it, all have filled my mind 

 with never-to-be-forgotten impressions of the beauty and loveliness 

 of the old vvoods, and a memory abides that is a perpetual dream." - 

 HUSTON. 



