We wonder how these plants, which flourish in our driest seasons, can extract so much moisture from the parched earth, and of what practical use this resinous secretion can be in their economy. Though some of them are described as having a disagreeable odor, many of them have a very pleasant balsamic fragrance, which gives our summer and autumn atmosphere a peculiar character of its own. Whole fields and hillsides are tinged with their warm olive foliage, or are yellow with their golden flowers, which appear like a fall revival of the buttercups. The flowers open mostly at night or in early morning, closing in bright sunshine.
_Hemizonia luzulæfolia_ is a common species, whose flowers are redolent of the odor of myrrh.
[Illustration TARWEED--_Hemizonia luzulæfolia_.]
_Solidago Californica_, Nutt. Composite Family.
_Stem._--Rather stout; low or tall. _Leaves._--Oblong, or the upper oblong-lanceolate, and the lower obovate. _Flowers._--In a dense, pyramidal panicle, four to twelve inches long, with mostly erect racemose branches. _Heads._--Three or four lines long; yellow. _Rays._--Small; seven to twelve; about as many as the disk-flowers. _Hab._--Throughout California, to Nevada and Mexico.
Our State is not so rich in goldenrods as New England, yet we have several rather pretty species. _Solidago Californica_ is found upon dry hills, and blooms from July to October. It is said to thrive well under cultivation.
It differs from the "Western goldenrod" in having its flowers in a pyramidal cluster.
_Verbascum Blattaria_, L. Figwort Family.
_Stem._--Tall and slender. _Leaves._--Alternate; oblong; crenate-toothed; nearly smooth; the upper ovate, acute, clasping. _Flowers._--Yellow or white; purple-tinged; an inch or so across; in a terminal raceme; the pedicels much exceeding the calyx-lobes. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Wheel-shaped, with five rounded, somewhat unequal lobes. _Stamens._--Five. Filaments violet-bearded. Anthers confluently one-celled. Pollen orange-colored, copious. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style slender. _Hab._--The Upper Sacramento Valley, etc.; naturalized from Europe.
The mulleins are natives of Europe, which have found their way across the water to us. Two or three species are now common in some localities. The moth-mullein is so called because its blossoms have the appearance of a number of delicate moths resting upon the stem. This is a tall, green plant.