64 



WILD LIFE IN CALIFORNIA 



tent occurrence of wild flowers which a 

 study of the subject would develop. 



It is known among botanists and some stu- 

 dents of our wild flowers that there is an 

 epilobium and another flower belonging to 

 the liliaceae that are frequently found in pro- 

 fusion in burned-over brush land or forest 

 tracts. The former is commonly called Fire 

 Weed. It is a purple flower and grows in 

 other places, but it makes its greatest attrac- 

 tion in the burned-over areas by the mass of 

 color arising from the thick setting of the 

 plants. The other plant is commonly known 

 as Bear Grass, Basket Grass and Squaw 

 Grass. Its botanical name is Xerophyllum 

 terrax. It is quite common throughout the 

 Coast Range and is known as far north as 

 British Columbia. 



The plants look something like large 

 clumps of bunch grass, but with broader and 

 longer leaves, which turn outward with more 

 graceful curves. It is said that the Indian 

 womei made their finest baskets with the 

 leaves from this plant. The blossom forms 

 on the end of a fast growing stalk and con- 

 sists of a spike of closely arranged little 

 cream-colored flowers. The stalk sometimes 

 reaches a height of six feet or more, and 

 continues to send forth new buds and 

 flowers daily from the terminal end from 

 the time it makes its first appearance above 

 the surrounding leaves until it reaches its 

 limit of growth. Nearly all the botanical 

 books on the flowers of California describe 

 the plants as blossoming only once in from 

 five to seven years, and then dying, whereas 

 it is claimed by some observers that it blooms, 

 in the Coast Range at least, only on a 

 section of country that has been burned 

 over. However that may be. it is only on 

 sections of redwood forest that had been re- 

 cently visited by fire that I have met with the 

 plant in bloom. In truth, although I had 

 known the plant by commonly meeting it in 

 the mountain for years, I was not aware of 

 its floweirng quality until I saw its blossoms 

 in great profusion, acres of them, in a patch 

 of Mendocino redwood country which had 

 been crossed by a severe forest fire during 

 the previous year. It was a remarkable 

 sight. Yet you would not care to say it was 

 beautiful, charming, etc., for the picture 

 still bore too many features of the destruc- 

 tive work of the fire of the year before, 

 but it was attractive and a subject fit for the 

 artist's brush that can faithfully mingle the 

 innocent and beautiful with the tragic and 

 terrible. In the seasons following the years 

 when the fires that traversed portions of the 

 flanks of Mt. Tamalpais, destroying so much 

 vegetation, the basket plants caused much 

 surprise and comment among frequenters of 

 the section, by the sudden change in its 

 character, from little more than bunches 

 of what appeared to be ordinary grass to 

 very showy blooming plants. 



Another, thing that tends to confirm the 

 opinion that it is the conditions of soil 

 brought about by a forest fire that stimu- 

 lates the plant into throwing up flower 

 stalks is the fact that every plant to be 



found located well in on the burned-over 

 area is made to blossom. If it were the 

 peculiar habit of these plants not to bloom 

 until 5 to 7 years old then die, the plants 

 in the burned district would not all be in 

 blossom at the same time. Obviously the 

 plants I saw in Mendocino could not have 

 been all of the same age, yet all were in 

 flower. Next year, or in the following sea- 

 son, upon visiting this particular burnt dis- 

 trict I found numerous basket grass plants 

 but not a single one in blossom, nor have I 

 seen another flower there since, though 

 several seasons have come and gone. 



The discussion of this subject has by de- 

 grees led us away some distance from the 

 locality of which I started to write, but I 

 will take a short cut back, by mention of 

 two or three of the plants and shrubs that 

 seemed more conspicuous and attractive by 

 reason of their beauty and rariety, found on 

 my trip through the canyon. One and the 

 most common was the Red-osier Dogwood, 

 Oornus stolonifera. This is a very handsome 

 shrub and when covered with its clusters of 

 cream-white flowers and yellow stamens is 

 quite fragrant. Its branches and twigs of 

 dark red carry leaves the upper surface of 

 which are rich green, with pale green be- 

 neath. Its blossoms apparently were abund- 

 antly supplied with nectar, judging from the 

 great quantity of insect life upon and about 

 the shrubs. No less than four different 

 orders of insects were represented by about a 

 dozen different species. The shrubs in the 

 canyon of Mt. Diablo were most shapely and 

 grew to a height of eight or ten feet and 

 ivould be ornaments in a private garden. 

 Apparently the plant requires considerable 

 moisture, for I did not find it anywhere at 

 any distance from the bed or banks of th« 

 jreek. 



I had been told that the Western wall- 

 flower, Erysimum asperum, was to be found 

 in abundance in places on the mountain. As 

 I haa never found a specimen in all my 

 rambles about Pleasanton and Livermore I 

 was more than anxious to meet this stranger. 

 Although I kept a watchful eye on the look- 

 out for its occurrence in places favorable to 

 its growth I did not find a single plant of it 

 in the canyon, but while returning home by 

 way of the new, or Toll Road, I found it in 

 spots almost as thick as the mustard of which 

 the wall flower is a very near relative. In 

 fact a careless observer might not discover 

 any difference in their appearance, but of 

 course there is. The wall flower is larger and 

 has a richer color and is very fragrant. It 

 is said that it is found to vary from the 

 yellow to orange and even purple in some 

 parts of the south coast. 



Another of California's showy trailing vines, 

 much admired when in bloom, is the wild 

 plematis, C. lasiantha. The vines trail over the 

 brush and rocks and their yellowish flowers 

 of an inch and a half or more in diameter 

 make a pleasing contrast to its dark green 

 foliage. It is said that in some localities of 

 the Sierra Nevada mountains as well as of the 

 Coast Range at times the plants are so num- 



