Leaf of S. multilobatus.
S. Riddellii.
S. Lemmoni.
White Squaw-weed—Senecio cordatus.
African Senecio
Senècio élegans
White and mauve
Spring
California
A handsome plant, which is noticeable on account of its unusual coloring. The stout, smooth stem is two or three feet tall, with smooth, slightly thickish leaves, the margins rolled back, a very peculiar shade of light bright yellowish-green. The handsome flowers are an inch and three-eighths across, with bright deep yellow centers and white rays shading to mauve at the tips, and form a large flat-topped cluster. This is a native of Africa and is not yet common in this country, but grows on the sand dunes near San Francisco.
There are many kinds of Baccharis, all American, chiefly shrubs.
Groundsel-tree
Chaparral Broom
Báccharis pilulàris
Whitish, yellowish
Autumn
Cal., Oreg., Wash.
A branching evergreen shrub, from two to five feet high, with smooth dark green, leathery leaves, an inch or less long, rather wedge-shaped, usually coarsely toothed. The flower-heads are very small, without rays, and are crowded at the ends of the twigs. Some plants have only staminate flowers and some only pistillate ones, and the effect of the two sorts is very different, for the staminate flowers are ugly, but the pistillate ones are provided with quantities of long, white, silky pappus, giving a beautiful, snowy appearance to the shrub. This is very variable, being a fine shrub in favorable situations, and is common along the coast on the sand dunes, on low hills and on high mountain slopes.
There are a great many kinds of Aster, most abundant in North America, difficult to distinguish, the flowers never yellow. Though there are some fine ones in the West, they are not so numerous or so handsome as in the East.
Aster
Aster Chamissónis
Purple
Summer, autumn
Cal., Oreg.
This is one of the commonest kinds and is quite handsome, from two to five feet high, with leafy, branching stems and alternate, lance-shaped leaves, from two to five inches long, usually toothless, without leaf-stalks. The many flowers are an inch or more across, with yellow centers and white, violet, or purple rays, the bracts of the involucre in several rows, with short and rounded tips. This is rather variable. A. radulìnus, Broad-leaf Aster, has stiff, rough leaves, sharply toothed towards the broad tips, and usually many flowers, an inch or so across, with whitish rays. This is rather common on dry hills in California and Oregon, blooming in summer and autumn. A. Andersóni, of Yosemite, has toothless, grasslike root-leaves and one beautiful flower, an inch across, with purple rays.
