Oxalis Oregana, Nutt. Geranium Family.

Herbs with sour juice. Leaves.—With three leaflets; petioles two to even twelve inches long. Leaflets one or two inches broad; usually light-blotched. Scapes.—One to six inches long; one-flowered. Sepals.—Five. Petals.—Five; nine to twelve lines long; white or rose-colored, often veined with darker color; usually having an orange spot at base. Stamens.—Ten. Ovary.—Five-celled. Styles five. Hab.—Coast woods, from Santa Cruz to Washington.

In deep woods, "where no stir nor call the sacred hush profanes," the beautiful leaves and delicate flowers of the redwood-sorrel cover the ground with an exquisite tapestry, which catches the shimmer of the sunlight as it sifts down through the tall trees. If the goddess Nanna in passing left the print of her pretty fingers upon the clover, perhaps some wood-nymph may have touched the leaves of this charming plant. Each day as twilight deepens, the leaflets fold gently together and prepare to sleep.

The small yellow oxalis—O. corniculata, L.—becomes a troublesome weed in our lawns.

ROCK-CRESS.

Arabis blepharophylla, Hook. and Arn. Mustard Family.

Stems.—Four to twelve inches high. Radical-leaves.—Broadly spatulate; one or two inches long. Cauline-leaves.—Oblong; sessile. All.—Ciliate. Flowers.—Purplish-pink. Sepals.—Four; generally colored. Petals.—Four; six to nine lines long; clawed. Stamens.—Six; two shorter. Ovary.—Two-celled. Stigma button-shaped. Pod.—Linear; an inch or more long; flattened. Hab.—The Coast, from San Francisco to Monterey.

The bright magenta-colored blossoms of the rock-cress may be looked for in early spring along the hills of the Coast Ranges. This plant is said to be very beautiful in cultivation. The generic name was bestowed because many of the well-known species are natives of Arabia, while the formidable specific name means "eyelash-leaved," referring to the ciliate leaves.

[REDWOOD-SORREL—Oxalis Oregana.]