82 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



low flowers having a heavy narcotic odor like poppies. Its heart- 

 shaped blossoms are inverted, not drooping, but erect ; and the spurs 

 on either side make an easy landing place for the bees, for they are 

 honey flowers and take this particular season for blooming when 

 they are more certain of the attention of honey bees searching for 

 nectar. 



Dicentra ochroleiica Engelm. is much like the Golden Ear Drops 

 in habits and has a touch of purple on the tips of the inner petals, 

 and as its specific name, ochroleuca, indicates, it is yellowish-white 

 in color. 



The Steer's Head, D. uniflora Kell., is an Alpine flower of the 

 Sierra Nevada Mountains, and may be found lifting its one little 

 flesh-colored flower beside the receding snows during the summer. 

 It is a tiny plant but a few inches high and the flower about half an 

 inch long. It is sometimes called "squirrel's corn," which is the 

 common name of a relative to this plant growing in the Eastern 

 States. These flowers, like the Bleeding Heart, are apt to be 

 variable in appearance and may sometimes have a white or purple 

 coloring. 



Wild Flowers 



'7 knozv that I can never be 

 So happy as when I wandered free 

 With the wild flowers for my company, 

 That elfin dancer of the wood, 

 The larkspur in her scarlet hood, 

 Her sister in a bonnet blue, 

 The baby-eyes of heavenly hue, 

 The jewel-flower, the four o' clocks, 

 The lupines in their purple smocks, 

 The poppies in their golden frocks^ 

 The woodland star in polar white, 

 The sun-cup with her chalice bright, 

 Aye! even the weeds that deck a clod 

 Breathe tender loving thoughts of God!' 



EDITH ELLERY PATTON. 



