214 Pseonies. 



ruby red color in the common variety, but a highly valued form as 

 yet rare in cultivation has fruit of a delicate shade of yellow. The 

 red variety will probably always be first choice with growers, how- 

 ever. It varies from one to two inches in diameter, is of firm 

 texture, capable of bearing transportation well, and alw^ays meets 

 with a ready sale, either for table use in its fresh state, or for the 

 manufacture of delicately flavored jelly. 



It can be made to produce its fruit the year round. It is a 

 naturally heavy bearer, and the fruit may be found in the market 

 for fully six months out of the twelve. When loaded with its 

 tempting fruit thickly set among its glossy dark green leaves it 

 forms a striking and beautiful object, especially if pot grown and 

 dwarfed in habit ; but to be fully appreciated it should be seen as 

 planted out in orchards and groves in sub-tropical regions where 

 soil and other conditions are favorable. C. R. Orcutt. 



CAMASSIA ESCULENT A. 



Quamash or Camass of the Indians is common throughout the 

 northern Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific Coast. In the early 

 spring the handsome violet blue flowers may be found dotted 

 thickly over hundreds of acres of mountain meadows, resplendent 

 in all their native beauty. 



The flowers are borne on a straight stem, one or two feet high, 

 and each of the numerous flowers is an inch or more in diameter. 

 The narrow leaves, sent out from the large onion-like bulb in early 

 spring, are about a foot long. The bulb is edible, and once formed 

 an important article of food among the Indians, wdio would gather 

 the bulbs just after flowering and dry them for winter use. After 

 the bulbs are dried, by sun or fire, they are beaten into a flour or 

 paste and more thoroughly dried for longer preservation. The 

 plant is quite hardy, and extensively cultivated in Europe on ac- 

 count of its showy hyacinth-like spikes of flowers, which should be 

 more familiar in American gardens. . 



PsEONIAS. 



The genus Paeonia contains several oriental species or varieties in 

 common cultivation for their ornamental flowers. The Paeony is a 

 coarse perennial plant, and has two representatives on the Pacific 

 coast. 



P^eonia Brownii. — This species inhabits the subalpine regions 

 of the snowy mountains, from middle California northward through 

 Oregon and Washington, flowering, in June and July,' often near 



