226 STUDIES, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIAL 



Throughout these magnificent forests there is hardly any 

 admixture of exogenous trees, and those that do occur 

 only form an undergrowth to the far loftier coniferse. A 

 few small oaks and maples are sometimes seen, but more 

 generally there is only an undergrowth of beautiful shrubs, 

 the most conspicuous being the fine Californian dog-wood 

 (Cornus nuttalii), whose flowers, formed of the white 

 involucres, are six inches across; and the lovely white 

 azalea, whose delicate blossoms are beautifully marked 

 with yellow. Besides these are the handsome Californian 

 laurel and the white or blue flowered Ceanothus, while the 

 " madrono " and " manzanita " (species of Arbutus and 

 Arctostaphylos), are found in the drier portions of the 

 forest and at a lower elevation. 



The ground under the pines and firs is usually rather 

 bare, but in favourable places there are some curious or 

 beautiful creeping or herbaceous plants. Some of the 

 drier slopes are completely carpeted with a curious little 

 rosaceous plant (Cha7noebatiaf olio losa), having white flowers 

 like those of a bramble and the most minutely divided 

 tripinnate foliage, each leaflet looking about the size of a 

 pin's head. Perhaps the most remarkable herbaceous 

 plant of these forests is the Sarcodes sanguinea, a leafless 

 parasite allied to our native monotropa, but of an intense 

 crimson colour and very large, being often more than a 

 foot high and two or three inches diameter. It is called 

 the " snow-plant " in California, because it appears before 

 the snow has wholly melted and is most striking and 

 beautiful when growing out of it. This plant is accurately 

 represented in one of the pictures in the " North " gallery 

 at Kew. On the sides of the rocky streams growing in 

 fissures which are often under water, the large peltate 

 saxifrage seems quite at home, although in our gardens it 

 will grow and flower even in the driest situations. The 

 fine shrubby Penstemon newherryi also adorns the rocky 

 margins of the streams, the beautiful Bi-placus glutinosus 

 of our greenhouses is a common wayside shrub, while the 

 lovely blue Brodiseas and painted Calochorti or butterfly- 

 tulips, are as common as our bluebells and poppies. The 

 fine yellow Cypripedium montanum is occasionally found 



