GOLDEN DICENTRA.

Dicentra chrysantha, Hook. and Arn. Bleeding-heart Family.

Stems.—Glaucous and smooth; two to five feet high. Leaves.—The larger ones a foot long or more; finely dissected into small linear lobes. Flowers.—Erect; yellow; six to nine lines long; in a loose terminal panicle a foot or two long. Sepals.—Two; small; caducous. Corolla.—Flattened and cordate; of two pairs of petals; the outer larger, saccate at base, and with spreading tips; the inner much narrower, spoon-shaped, their tips cohering and inclosing the anthers and stigma. Stamens.—Six. Ovary.—One-celled. Style slender. Stigma two-lobed. Hab.—Dry hills, Lake County to San Diego.

[ST. JOHN'S-WORT—Hypericum concinnum.]

The arrangement of the essential organs in the genus Dicentra is very curious and interesting. The six stamens are borne in two companies of three each, which stand in front of the outer petals, and have their filaments more or less united at the base. The central stamen in each group has a two-celled anther, while its neighbor on either hand has but a one-celled anther. The stigma-lobes often bend downward prettily, like the flukes of a little anchor.

To this genus belongs the beautiful Oriental bleeding-heart of the garden; and we have two or three interesting native species.

D. chrysantha is usually a somewhat coarse plant, lacking the grace of D. formosa, the Californian bleeding-heart. The pale leaves, which are minutely and delicately dissected, are suggestive of the fronds of certain Japanese ferns. But the flower-stalks are often stiff and sparsely flowered, and the blossoms, which are erect, not pendulous, have an overpowering narcotic odor, much like that of the poppy. These plants may be found upon dry hillsides or in sandy washes in early summer, where the brilliant yellow blossoms are quite conspicuous. One view of these flowers is not unlike the conventionalized tulip.

This species is said to thrive well in cultivation and make a very effective plant when grown in rich garden soil.

CALIFORNIAN DANDELION.