TELEGRAPH PLANT (Stephanomeria virgata, Benth.). Flow* 

 er heads an inch across or less, entirely of strap-shaped flor- 

 ets (4 to 16) white or flesh colored above, purplish on the back, 

 almost sessile along the leafless upper part of the wand-like 

 stem or slender panicled branches, open only in the early 

 morning. Leaves of lower stem wavy- toothed or deeply 

 divided, upper leaves small, linear. A smooth, upright, rigid- 

 stemmed annual, usually 2 to 6 feet high, but sometimes even 

 15 feet; very common on the dry plains and foothills of South- 

 ern California, eastward to Nevada and Utah, and northward 

 to Oregon; blooming July to October. 



A feature of the floral life of California is the presence of 

 many herbaceous plants which take no interest hi a world 

 that is not bone-dry, blooming only after the rainy season is 

 long past and most flowers have seeded and vanished. Among 

 these is the Telegraph-plant, which owes its name doubtless to 

 its tall, rigid, pole-like stems, practically leafless. The flowers 

 suggest those of chicory, save that they are not blue. Some 

 botanists prefer to call the plant Ptiloria virgata, Greene. 



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