Thistles.
Carduus Californicus.
C. candadissimus.
There are a good many kinds of Anaphalis, natives of the north temperate zone, but only one in North America.
Pearly Everlasting
Anáphalis margaritàcea
White
Summer
U. S., etc.
This is the prettiest of the Everlastings, from one to three feet tall, with a leafy stem, covered with white wool, and alternate, toothless leaves, which are rather long and narrow, gray-green and more or less woolly on the upper side, pale and woolly on the under. The flower-heads are numerous, forming close, roundish clusters. The heads are without rays, but the tiny, yellow, tubular flowers are surrounded by many small, white, papery bracts, resembling petals, making the involucre the conspicuous feature and forming a pretty little, round, white head. This is common in dry places, East and West, and found in Asia. There is a picture in Mathews' Field Book. Rosy Everlasting, Antennària ròsea, has the same general appearance, but the bracts are pink, giving a pretty pink tint to the flower-cluster, and is found in the Northwest at high altitudes. Another kind of Everlasting is Gnaphàlium microcéphalum, Cudweed, a mountain plant of the Northwest and California, with similar foliage, but with larger, looser clusters of cream-white flowers, conspicuous at a distance, though not pretty close by. There is a picture of a similar species in Mathews' Field Book.
There are several kinds of Encelia.
Encelia
Encèlia eriocéphala
Yellow
Spring
Southwest
A handsome, desert plant, with rough, purplish stems, a foot and a half tall, dull-green, hairy leaves, and flowers over an inch across, in loose clusters, with bright golden-yellow rays, yellow centers, and woolly involucres. This makes fine conspicuous clumps of bright color on the pale desert sand.
Golden Hills, Brittle-bush
Encèlia farinòsa
Yellow
Spring
Arizona
A conspicuous shrubby plant, from two to four feet high, with many stout, branching stems, grayish, downy twigs, and large clumps of downy, gray-green leaves, from which spring the long, slender flower-stalks, bearing loose clusters of handsome flowers. They are each over an inch and a quarter across, with bright yellow rays and orange centers and are well set off by the rather pale foliage. This grows on hillsides among the rocks and gives a golden hue which may be seen at a distance of seven or eight miles.
