MOUNTAIN MAHOGANY.
Cercocarpus parvifolius, Nutt. Rose Family.
Shrubs two to twenty feet high; branching from a thick base. Leaves.—Alternate; short-petioled; cuneate; serrate across the summit; more or less silky above; densely hoary-tomentose beneath; six to eighteen lines long. Flowers.—Mostly solitary; axillary. Calyx.—Narrowly tubular, with a deciduous campanulate five-lobed limb. Petals.—None. Stamens.—Fifteen to twenty-five; on the calyx. Ovary.—One-(rarely two-) celled. Style simple. Fruit.—An akene with a silky tail, at length becoming three or four inches long. Hab.—The Coast Ranges from Lake County to Southern California.
The mountain mahogany is a common shrub upon the interior hills of the Coast Ranges; and when one has once made its acquaintance, it is always easily recognized by its wedge-shaped, dark-green leaves, prominently veined and notched at the summit. Its flowers, having no petals, are green and inconspicuous; but the long, solitary plumes of its little fruit are very noticeable and pretty. Its wood is the heaviest and hardest we have.
Mr. Greene says that its leafy twigs have a sweet, birchy flavor, rendering them excellent food for cattle in late summer.
DUTCHMAN'S PIPE. PIPE-VINE.
Aristolochia Californica, Torr. Birthwort Family.
Stem.—Woody; climbing. Leaves.—Alternate; short-petioled; large; ovate-cordate, two to four inches long. Flowers.—Greenish, veined with purple. Perianth.—Pipe-shaped; the lobes of the lip leather-colored within. Anthers.—Six; sessile; adnate in pairs to the thick style under the broad lobes of the stigma; vertical. Stigma.—Three-lobed. Ovary.—Inferior; six-angled; six-celled. Fruit.—A large, leathery pod two inches long. Hab.—The Coast Ranges, from Monterey to Marin County.
This odd flower is found rather sparingly in our middle Coast Ranges from February to April, and in some parts of the Sierra foothills, reaching even to the Yosemite. As it flowers before the large leaves come out, and the blossoms are much like dead leaves in color, it requires keen eyes to find it. It usually grows on low ground, in a tangle of shrubs under the trees, often festooning gracefully from branch to branch. Before the flowers are fully open, the buds resemble ugly little brown ducks hanging from the vine.
The common blue-black butterfly is often seen hovering over this vine, and it is said that its caterpillar is so fond of the fruit that it rarely permits one to ripen.