Lonicera hispidula, Dougl. Honeysuckle Family.

Woody; climbing and twining. Leaves.—Opposite; short-petioled; oval; pale; one to three inches long; the upper pairs uniting around the stem. Flowers.—Pink; in spikes of several whorls. Calyx.—Minute; growing to the ovary; border five-toothed. Corolla.—Tubular; six lines to an inch long; bilabiate; the lips strongly revolute; the upper four-lobed, the lower entire. Stamens.—Five; much exserted. Ovary.—Two- or three-celled. Style slender. Stigma capitate. Berries.—Scarlet; translucent. Hab.—Throughout the State.

In early summer the climbing honeysuckle with its pale foliage flings its long arms over neighboring trees and shrubs, showing glimpses here and there of small pinkish flowers. But it is far more noticeable in the fall, when its long pendulous branches are laden with the fine clusters of translucent, orange-red berries. It is quite variable and has many forms, which are all considered varieties of the one species.

[TREE-MALLOW—Lavatera assurgentiflora.]

PINK PAINT-BRUSH. ESCOBITA.

Orthocarpus purpurascens, Benth. Figwort Family.

Stems.—Six to twelve inches high. Leaves.—Variously parted into filiform divisions. Bracts.—About equaling the flowers; tipped with crimson or pale pink. Corolla.—About an inch long; the lower lip only moderately inflated and three-saccate; the upper long, hooked, bearded, crimson. Stigma.—Large. (See Orthocarpus.) Hab.—Widely distributed.

The bright-magenta tufts of the pink paint-brush are often so abundant that they give the country a purplish hue for miles at a stretch. The Spanish-Californians have a pretty name for these blossoms, calling them "escobitas," meaning "little whisk-brooms."

O. densiflorus, Benth., is a very similar species; but its corolla has a straight upper lip, without hairs.