TOAD-FLAX.
Linaria Canadensis, Dumont. Figwort Family.
Stems.—Slender; six inches to two feet high. Leaves.—Mostly alternate on the flowering stems, but smaller and broader ones often opposite or whorled on the procumbent shoots; linear; smooth. Flowers.—Blue; in terminal racemes; like those of Antirrhinum, but the tube furnished with a long, downward-pointing spur at base. Hab.—Throughout California.
The delicate blue flowers of the toad-flax are not uncommon in spring, and the plants are usually found in sandy soil. The little blossoms are very ethereal and have a sweet perfume. I once saw a deep blue band upon a mesa near San Diego, which vied in richness with the ultramarine of the sea just beyond. It stretched for some distance, and at last curved around and crossed the road over which I was passing, when it proved to be made up of millions of these delicate flowers. The color effect seemed cumulative, for the mass was so much richer and deeper than the individual flowers.
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