CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM.
Fremontia Californica, Torr. Hand-tree Family.
Shrubs or trees from two to twenty feet high. Leaves.—Alternate; petioled; round-cordate to round-ovate; moderately three- to five-lobed or cleft; woolly or whitish beneath; the larger two inches wide. Flowers.—Short-peduncled on very short lateral branches; numerous; one to three inches across; having three to five small bractlets. Calyx.—Corolla-like; brilliant gold, five-cleft nearly to the base; the lobes having a rounded, hairy pit at base. Corolla.—Wanting. Filaments.—United to their middle; each bearing a linear, adnate, curved, two-celled anther. Ovary.—Five-celled. Style filiform. Hab.—Dry Sierra foothills, from Lake County southward.
No more beautiful sight is often seen than a slope covered with the wild slippery-elm in blossom. The bushes are almost obscured from view by the masses of large golden flowers. This shrub takes on various forms; sometimes sending out in every direction long slender branches, which are solid wreaths of the magnificent blooms; and again assuming a more erect, treelike habit. It has been hailed with delight in the gardens of our Southern States, and heartily welcomed in France and England. Why do not we honor it with a place in our own gardens, instead of giving room to so many far less beautiful exotics?
It flowers in early summer, and its season of bloom is said to last only about two weeks, but the brilliant hibiscus-like blossoms, drying upon their stems, maintain for a long time a semblance of their first beauty. The branches are tough and flexible, and are often cut for whips by teamsters. Among the mountaineers it is generally known as "leatherwood." But this name properly belongs to another entirely different plant, Dirca palustris.
[CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM—Fremontia Californica.]
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The bark of the Fremontia so closely resembles that of the slippery-elm in taste and other qualities, that it is difficult to distinguish between them; and it is used in the same manner for making poultices.
We are told that this shrub thrives best upon a disintegrated granite soil, and reaches its finest development upon the arid slopes bordering such rainless regions as the Mojave Desert. It was first discovered by General Fremont when crossing the Sierras, about half a century ago, and was named in his honor. It is closely related to the mallows.