SNOW-BERRY.
Symphoricarpos racemosus, Michx. Honeysuckle Family.
Shrubs two to four feet high. Leaves.—Opposite; short-petioled; cuneate to oblong; entire or lobed; nine to eighteen lines long. Flowers.—Small; mostly in terminal clusters. Calyx.—Adnate to the ovary; with five-toothed border. Corolla.—Campanulate; five-lobed; three lines long; waxen; pinkish; very hairy within. Stamens.—Five; on the corolla. Ovary.—Four-celled. Berries.—Waxen-white; six lines in diameter. Hab.—Widely distributed.
In early winter the pure-white clusters of the snow-berry, on their almost leafless stems, make flecks of light through the dun woods. At this season of few woodland attractions, these berries, together with the trailing sprays of the fragrant yerba buena and the long graceful leaves of the iris, are about the only trophies to be obtained upon a walk. In early spring, when their slender twigs first begin to leaf out, these little shrubs are among the most delicate and airy of growing things, and make a tender veil of green through the shadowy woodland. The blossoms, which arrive rather late, are inconspicuous.
TREE-MALLOW.
Lavatera assurgentiflora, Kell. Mallow Family.
Shrubs.—Six to fifteen feet high. Leaves.—Three to nine inches across. Flowers.—Pink, veined with maroon. Calyx.—Five-cleft, with an involucel below, like a second calyx. Petals.—Twelve to eighteen lines long. Filaments.—Numerous; united in a column. Styles.—Numerous; filiform. Carpels.—One-seeded, in a ring around an axis; separating at maturity. Hab.—The islands off the Coast; cultivated on the mainland north to Mendocino County.
The Lavateras are Old-World plants, with the exception of a few species which are natives of the islands of our southern coast. In the early days the Padres planted the above species (L. assurgentiflora) plentifully around the old Missions, and thence it has spread and become spontaneous in many localities. It can be seen in San Francisco, planted as wind-break hedges about the market-gardens, where it thrives luxuriantly as long as it is protected from cattle.
The leaves and twigs abound in mucilage, and are very fattening and nutritious food for sheep and cattle, who are very fond of it.