^o- 



RECR RATION 



WILD HOLLYHOCK 



grandmother's garden, but the flowers are 

 much smaller, being only about two inches 

 across and having red, velvety petals which 

 shade almost to black. They are among the 

 earliest flowers to come after the rains, and 

 though not so handsome as some of the more 

 common ones they are none the less wel- 

 come. 



The blue larkspur (Delphinium) is a 

 much later flower and seems, as I look back 

 to childhood, to be an exact counterpart of 

 the dark, rich blue flowers that flourished in 

 grandmother's garden. The Spanish-Cali- 

 fornians called these larkspurs "espuela del 

 caballero" — "the cavalier's spur." 



During the dry summer months there 

 springs north in the canyons a most gorgeous 

 larkspur — a brilliant scarlet flower which 

 in color is quite unlike anything I ever saw 

 in the cultivated plants. 



The wild hollyhock (Sidalcea malvce flora) 

 grows about two feet high and has a single 

 blossom, about two inches in diameter, 

 which, though so much smaller than the 

 tame plants, are unmistakably hollyhocks. 



The California four-o' clocks (Mirabilis 

 californica) open their magenta-colored 

 blossoms late in the afternoon, as do their 



cultivated sisters. These wild flowers are 

 much smaller than the tame ones, their 

 stems are more woody and their leaves 

 darker and more glossy. 



The plant which is called wild heliotrope 

 (Phacilia tanaceti) is, botanically, not a real 

 heliotrope, yet its bright violet-blue blossoms , 

 though coarser and lacking the fragrance of 

 the tame plants, are not unlike the cultivated 

 flowers. These cheerful flowers grow along 

 the railroad embankments, in sandy and 

 gravelly places, making these otherwise 

 desolate spots things of beauty. 



No old-time garden would be complete 

 without its portulaca. Here an California 

 we have a wild variety (Calandrinia can- 

 lescens) which has a delicate purplish-pink 

 blossom with white centres and black- veined 

 petals. As in the case of all these flowers — 

 save the heliotrope — the blossoms are small- 

 er than the tame ones, still there is a marked 

 resemblance to the cultivated blossom. 



The peony, the larkspur, the hollyhock, 

 the four-o'clock and the portulaca — what 

 memories you bring forth! Memories of a 



FOUR-0 CLOCK 



