38 



TREES AND FLOWERS OF 



{yellow) 



{blue) 



BUTTERCUP 



BLUE MUSTARD 



Buttercup (Ranunculus). Buttercups are numer- 

 ous in the Park, seeking moist places, both in the 

 open and in partly shaded locations. They blossom 

 early, and continue until nearly the middle of the 

 season, where conditions are favorable. There are sev- 

 eral kinds of buttercups to be found: the common, 

 yellow-petaled kind, the so-called abortive buttercup 

 with petals so small as to be invisible, and one exceed- 

 ingly interesting little plant with round leaves, that 

 is found growing right in the streams of warm water 

 running from the hot springs. 



Blue Mustard (Thelypodium) . This plant is a 

 fairly frequent roadside weed, especially in dry plac- 

 es at the lower elevations. It is abundant near Mam- 

 moth Hot Springs. It is a somewhat bushy plant, 

 about eighteen inches or two feet high, with stout, 

 tough steins. There is an abundance of small blue or 

 purplish, four-petaled flowers, borne at the ends of 

 the branches, giving the whole arrangement a rounded 

 or umbrella-shaped appearance. The flowers are suc- 

 ceeded by seed-pods, long and very slender, which point 

 upwards on their curved stems. The plant is in bloom 

 during July and part of August. 



