Lathyrus splendens, Kell. Pea Family.

Stem.—Climbing; six to ten feet. Leaflets.—About eight; scattered; very variable; linear to lanceolate or oblong; acute; mucronate; strongly three- to five-nerved. Tendrils.—Two- to five-parted. Stipules.—Small; semi-sagittate. Peduncles.—Stout; usually seven- to ten-flowered. Flowers.—Very large; brilliant crimson. Calyx.—Five-toothed; eighteen-nerved. Standard and keel an inch or more long. Pods.—Three inches long; smooth; compressed; ten- to twenty-seeded. Hab.—Parts of San Diego County, and southward.

Clambering over our wild shrubs, this wonderful pea gives them the appearance of being loaded with a magnificence of bloom quite unwonted. The blossoms are the richest and most gorgeous of crimsons throughout, and have such a superb air that it is difficult to believe they are not the product of centuries of careful selection by the gardener. The long standard turns back over the stem, continuing the gracefully outlined keel in a long compound curve. The blossoms hang from the stem in charming abandon, like a flock of graceful tropic-birds poising upon the wing before taking flight, or like a fleet of gayly decked pleasure-barges, with canopies thrown back, fit for the conveyance of a Cleopatra.

[WILD PORTULACA—Calandrinia caulescens.]

CALIFORNIAN WILD CURRANT. INCENSE-SHRUB.

Ribes glutinosum, Benth. Saxifrage Family.

Shrubs six to fifteen feet high. Leaves.—Three- to five-lobed; glutinous when young; three to five inches broad. Flowers.—Rose-pink to pale pink; in long drooping racemes. Calyx.—Petaloid; five-lobed. Petals and stamens five on the calyx. Ovary.—One-celled. Styles two; more or less united. Berries.—Blue, with a dense bloom; glandular-hispid. Syn.—Ribes sanguineum, Pursh. Hab.—The Coast Ranges; more common southward.

In early winter in the south, and somewhat later northward, the wild currant becomes a thing of beauty hardly to have been expected. The young foliage, of a clear brilliant green, is gayly decked with the long clusters of peculiarly fresh pink blossoms, which seem like the very incarnation of the spirit of Spring, producing a certain eblouissement, which quickens our sense into an anticipation of beauty on every side.

We are made aware of a strong, heavy fragrance emanating from this shrub, for which its numerous glands are responsible, and which has gained for it the popular name of "incense-shrub" in some localities.