Loosely branching shrubs, fifteen feet or so high. Leaves.—Alternate; petioled; ovate; smooth. Flowers.—Clustered at the ends of the branches. Calyx.—Campanulate; five-toothed. Corolla.—Tubular; eighteen lines long; with constricted throat; and border shortly five-toothed. Stamens.—Five, on the base of the corolla, adnate to the tube below. Anthers with two diverging cells. Ovary.—One-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate; two-lobed. Hab.—Throughout Southern California; introduced.
The tall, loosely branching, spreading form of the tree-tobacco is a familiar sight in the south about vacant lots and waste places. Its clusters of long, greenish-yellow flowers hang gracefully from the ends of the slender branches, and the ovate leaves are rather long-stalked. It is supposed to have been introduced from Buenos Ayres, and old inhabitants remember the time when but one or two plants were known. In thirty years it has spread rapidly, and is now exceedingly common.
WIND-POPPY. BLOOD-DROP. FLAMING POPPY.
Meconopsis heterophylla, Benth. Poppy Family.
Smooth herbs. Stems.—Slender; a foot or two high. Leaves.—Mostly petioled; pinnately divided into variously toothed, oval to linear segments. Flowers.—Solitary; on long peduncles; orange-vermilion to scarlet. Sepals.—Two; falling early. Petals.—Four; two to twelve lines long. Stamens.—Numerous. Filaments filiform; purple. Anthers yellow. Ovary.—Top-shaped; ribbed; one-celled. Style short. Stigma large; capitate; four- to eight-lobed. Hab.—Throughout Western California.
The wind-poppy is an exceedingly variable flower. In the central part of the State it is large and showy, its beautiful flame-colored blossoms being two inches across; while in the south it is usually very small, making tiny flecks of red in the grass, for which reason it is there called "blood-drop." It is an exquisite thing. Its petals have the delicate satin texture of the poppy; and their showy orange or scarlet blends suddenly at the center into a deep maroon. The bright-green, top-shaped ovary stands up in the midst of the slender stamens, whose yellow anthers show brilliantly against the dark maroon of the petals.
It blossoms in spring upon open hillsides, seeming to prefer those which are shaded for at least part of the day. It is very fragile, and falls to pieces at a touch, which makes it an unsatisfactory flower to gather.
WHISPERING BELLS.
Emmenanthe penduliflora, Benth. Baby-eyes or Waterleaf Family.
Six inches to a foot high; branched above; hairy; somewhat viscid. Leaves.—An inch or more long; pinnatifid. Flowers.—Straw-colored; at length pendulous. Corolla.—Campanulate; about six lines long. (Flower structure as in Phacelia.) Hab.—Lake County to San Diego.