ALPINE WILLOW-HERB. ROCK-FRINGE.
Epilobium obcordatum, Gray. Evening-Primrose Family.
Stems.—Decumbent; three to five inches long. Leaves.—Opposite; ovate; sessile; four to ten lines long. Flowers.—One to five; bright rose-pink; over an inch across. Calyx.—With linear tube and four-cleft limb. Petals.—Four; erect and spreading; obcordate. Stamens.—Eight; four shorter. Filaments slender; exserted. Ovary.—Linear, four-celled. Style filiform; much exserted. Stigma four-lobed. Seeds silky-tufted. Hab.—The Sierras from Tulare County northward.
Though low of stature, this little willow-herb is a charming plant, with large rosy flowers. At an elevation of eight thousand feet or more in the mountains, it nestles amid the rocks, fringing their crevices with a profusion of brilliant bloom. Though it often costs a hard climb up rocky crags to secure it, we feel well repaid by its bright beauty.
Hosackia Purshiana, Benth. Pea Family.
Soft-woolly throughout. Stems.—Erect or loosely spreading over the ground. Leaves.—Sessile. Leaflets.—One to three; ovate to lanceolate; three to nine lines long. Flowers.—Yellowish-pink; solitary; two or three lines long. Peduncles usually exceeding the leaves; with a single leaflet below the flower. Calyx-teeth.—Linear; much exceeding the tube, about equaling the corolla. Pod.—Narrow; twelve to eighteen lines long; five- to seven-seeded. (See Hosackia.) Hab.—Throughout the State.
This little plant is very abundant and widespread. It makes its appearance after the drouth sets in, and often spreads over the ground in considerable patches. Its woolly or silky foliage has a pale cast, and its small, solitary, pinkish flowers, which are quite numerous, are not unattractive.