Leaves.—With petioles somewhat widened at base and ciliate; the upper all opposite. Corolla.—Nine to twelve lines wide; light blue to white; distinctly blue-veined or more or less sown with purple dots. Scales of the corolla long, narrow, hairy, with expanded tips extending nearly to the sinuses. Ovary.—Rounded; with twelve to twenty-four ovules. (Otherwise as N. insignis.) Syn.—Nemophila Menziesii, Hook. and Arn. Hab.—Rather widespread.

[BLUE-EYED GRASS—Sisyrinchium bellum.]

This beautiful Nemophila is a more fragile flower than its sister, the baby-blue-eyes. Its delicate corolla is usually white in the center, blending to azure-blue upon the rim, and dotted and veined with the same. At its best, it is an inch across. It affects the borders of moist woodlands, rarely venturing far out into the openings. There it nestles amid the tender herbage, often producing its ethereal flowers in such profusion that it seems as though bits of the sky had fallen to earth. In the south these blossoms do not seem so truly at home—for they are never so large nor so fine.

CALIFORNIAN MILKWORT.

Polygala Californica, Nutt. Milkwort Family.

Stems.—Two to eight inches high. Leaves.—Six to twelve lines long. Flowers.—Rose-purple. Sepals.—Five; two of them large and spreading like wings; six lines or less long. Petals.—Three; united to each other and to the stamen-tube; the middle one hooded above and beaked. Stamens.—Eight. Filaments united into a sheath, which is open above. Anthers one-celled; opening terminally. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style enlarging upward; curved like a button-hook. Pod.—Rounded; flat; three or four lines across. Syn.—P. cucullata, Benth. Hab.—The Coast Ranges southward to Santa Barbara and beyond.

In late spring the little flowers of the milkwort are common upon dry hill-slopes in the shade of the trees. The small plants have a very grown-up look, as though their age might be greater than indicated by their stature. At first glance, one is quite certain to mistake these plants for members of the pea family, as the blossoms have wings and a keel like the papilionaceous flower. But a careful counting of sepals, petals, and stamens will reveal their separate identity.

A curious feature of this plant is the fact that it bears another kind of flower near the root. This is without petals, and is destined, for some strange reason, to bear the seed. The upper flowers seem mostly for show, though one does occasionally mature fruit.

P. cornuta, Kell., found in the Sierras, is a larger plant, with greenish-white flowers.