THE WILD FLOWERS

OF CALIFORNIA

THEIR NAMES, HAUNTS, AND HABITS

BY

MARY ELIZABETH PARSONS

ILLUSTRATED BY

MARGARET WARRINER BUCK

THIRD THOUSAND

WILLIAM DOXEY

AT THE SIGN OF THE LARK

SAN FRANCISCO

1897

Copyright, 1897

William Doxey

The Doxey Press

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• PAGE
  
• Prefacevii
• Table of Platesxiii
• How to Use the Bookxix
• Explanation of Termsxxii
• Important Plant Families and Generaxxxi
• Introductoryxlii
• Preludexlvii
• Flower Descriptions:--
• I. White3
  
• II. Yellow109
  
• III. Pink193
  
• IV. Blue and Purple255
  
• V. Red335
  
• VI. Miscellaneous369
  
• Index to Latin Names393
• Index to English Names399
• Index of Technical Terms405
• Glossary406

PREFACE

To the thoughtless a flower is often a trivial thing—beautiful perhaps, and worthy of a passing glance—but that is all. But to the mind open to the great truths of the universe, it takes on a deeper significance. Such a mind sees in its often humble beginnings the genesis of things far-reaching and mighty. Two thousand years ago one grain of the shower of pollen wafted upon the wind and falling upon a minute undeveloped cone, quickened a seed there into life, and this dropping into the soil pushed up a tiny thread of green, which, after the quiet process of the ages, you now behold in the giant Sequoia which tosses its branches aloft, swept by the four winds of heaven.

Whether manifesting itself in the inconspicuous flower upon the tree or in the equally unassuming inflorescence of the vegetable, or unfurling petals of satin or gauze of brilliant hue and marvelous beauty, the blossom is the origin of most that is useful or beautiful in the organic world about us. Strip the world of its blossoms, and the higher forms of life must come to a speedy termination. Thus we see the flower playing a wonderfully important part in the cosmos around us. It becomes henceforth not only a thing of beauty for the gratification of the æsthetic sense, but the instrument by which Nature brings about the fullness of her perfection in her own good season.

There is perhaps no nature-study that can yield the same amount of pure and unalloyed pleasure with so little outlay as the study of the wild flowers. When one is interested in them, every walk into the fields is transformed from an aimless ramble into a joyous, eager quest, and every journey upon stage or railroad becomes a rare opportunity for making new plant-acquaintances—a season of exhilarating excitement.

Mr. Burroughs, that devout lover of nature, says: "Most young people find botany a dull study. So it is, as taught from the text-books in the schools; but study it yourself in the fields and woods, and you will find it a source of perennial delight.