NEMOPHILA Meeting and Field Guide CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL SOCIETY JANUARY 5. 1919 NUMBER 1 The purpose of the Society is to promote the botanical study and investigation of California plants, to diffuse knowledge con- cerning them, and by lectures, field-trips, exhibitions and publica- tions to deepen interest in the native flora amongst the people of California, THE ANNUAL DINNER Which was scheduled for January 11 has been tem- porarily postponed on account of the influenza. It will be fixed for the latter part of February most probably, CALENDAR OF lyiEETINGS. Friday, Jan, 17. Field trip, 2:30 P. M. Fireburn in Telegraph Canon. Meet at end of Claremont car line. Leader, Dr. W. L. Jepson. Sunday, Jan. 26. Field trip for study of fleshy fungi at Palo Alto. Meet at Palo Alto Station at 10 A. M. Train leaves Third and Townsend, S. F., at 9 A. M, Those intending to take the trip please notify the Sec- retary. Leader, Prof. James McMurphy, Stanford University. Saturday, Feb. 8. Regular meeting. Dr. H. M. Hall will lecture on “Native Sources of Rubber.” Uni- versity Campus, Hilgard Hall, 8:00 P. M. Sunday, Feb. 1 6 . Palo Colorado Ridge. Meet at end of Claremont car line, 7:30 A, M. Round trip, 16 miles. Leaders, Miss Anna E. Ehlers, Miss Helen Bergfried and Dr. W. L. Jepson. Those who prefer can take O. A. & E. train at 8:30, College and Shatter, get off at Haven Station, and wait for party. Bring lunch. Sunday, Feb. 23. Field study of native and intro- duced grasses in Strawberry Cafion. Accessible for autos. A written outline of the species will be pro- vided. Meet at 9:30 A. M., Botany Building, U. C. Campus. Leader, Dr. P. B. Kennedy. EARLY FLOWERING ON LAS TRAMPAS. Las Trampas Ridge is an interesting botanical local- ity. During several successive years I have found Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum in flower in the latter part of November. By the middle of December last the berries were nearly full grown. Garrya ellip- tica sometimes flowers in November here. Black Sage was in full bloom in the middle of December as it was a year ago. Psoralea physodes was another species in bloom at the same time. Jim Brush (Ceanothus sore- diatus also occurred in beautiful bloom. This is a fine locality for Christmas berry, but this year the ridge had absolutely no berries. — ^Walter Carruth. COMMITTEE ON DRUG PLANTS. The work of Yice-President Walker, chairman of the committee of drug plants, formed a highly interesting report at the meeting of the Society, December 14. Belladonna is now being successfully grown on a com- mercial scale in California and the Society desires by experimental cultures to establish the cultivation of other drug plants as California industries. Mills College, through Professor H. G. McMinn, has generously offered to provide garden space for the trials. YERBA BUENA LEAVES. Miss A. Bruce Walker, the recent secretary of the Botanical Society, is now at Sycamore Farm, Los Gatos. Mr. L. S. Smith, the active chairman of the com- mittee on field trips in 1915', is now Forest Assistant in charge of Grazing Investigations on the Modoc National Forest. The object of the leaflet, Nemophila, is to servo as a news-letter amongst members of the Society. It will contain the calendar, notes on the current activities of the Society and the work of committees, and natural history notes from the field. The idea of the leaflet originated with Mrs. Harriet P. Kelley, formerly Chair- man of the Exhibition Committee, and has been pro- moted by Professor Kennedy and Mr. H. A. Dutton. The heavy September, 1918, rainfall, followed by periods of warm, sunny weather in October, resulted in much extra-seasonal flowering. Spergularia macrotheca var. leucantha was in abundant flower in Solano County in September; Lasthenia conjugens flowered in the same region in November; Red Bud (Cercis occidentalis) flamed on the McCloud River in October, while the vine- yards of Napa Valley are now yellow with the flowering of Brassica campestris. Soon on the breezy hill-slopes may be found Nemophila’s sweet baby-eye of bhie. Flower of most dainty shape and lovely hue Of all the host Spring brings in yearly round; Here, where the sun has Midas- touched the ground, Eschscholtzia’s golden billows meet the view. Pledge of the sun’s love all the Summer through; Here pansies pied and buttercups abound. — ^Walter Carruth. The work of Miss Cynthia P. Leet in photographing mushrooms has been markedly successful. Photographs of living material of some twenty-five species have been made and the prints filed as records in connection with dried specimens. Madrono, the illustrated magazine of the Society, is for sale by the Secretary. Nos. 1 and 2, 50 cents each; No. 3, 25 cents. All members who are not in arrears for dues are sent the current issue free. The dues of the Society are only one dollar per year. Any one who is in sympathy with the objects of the Society may become a candidate for membership. If you are a member and do not receive the meeting no- tices it is because you are two years behind on dues. Send your dollar to the Secretary, Miss Ehlers, 2520 Durant Avenue, Berkeley. CALIFORNIA SPRING IN 1831. On the 22nd of December last (1830), I arrived here by sea, from the Columbia, and obtained leave of the Territorial Grovernment to remain for the space of six months, which has been nearly extended to twelve, as the first three months were occupied in negotiating this affair, which was finally effected to my satisfaction. I shall now endeavor to give you a brief sketch of my walks in California. Upper California extends from the Port of St. Diego, lat. 32° 30' to lat. 43° N., a space of six hundred and ninety miles from north to south. The interior is but partially known. Such parts of the country as I have seen are highly diversified by hills, covered with Oaks, Pines, Chestnuts and Laurels; extensive plains, clothed with a rich sward of grass; but no large streams. Well does it merit its name! The heat is intense and the dryness of the atmosphere invariable, 29° not infre- quently, which, if I mistake not, is not exceeded in Arabia or Persia. In this fine district how I lament the want of such majestic rivers as the Columbia! * * Early as was my arrival on this coast, spring had already commenced; the first plant I took in hand was Ribes speciosum Pursh (Bot. Mag. t. 3530; Bot. Reg. t. 1557), remarkable for the length and crimson splen- dour of its stamens; a flower not surpassed in beauty by the finest Fuchsia; and for the original discovery of which we are indebted to the good Mr. Archibald Men- zies, in 1780. The same day I added to my list Nem- ophila insignis [=N. Menziesii] Bot. Reg. t. 1713; Bot. Mag. t. 3485), a humble, but lovely plant, the harbinger of California spring, which forms as it were a carpet of tenderest azure hue. What a relief does this charming flower afford to the eye from the effect of the sun’s reflection on the micaceous sand where it grows. These, with other discoveries of less importance, gave me hope. From time to time I contrived to make ex- cursions in this neighborhood, until the end of April, when I undertook a journey southward, and reached Santa Barbara, 34° 25', in the middle of May, where I made a short stay, and returned late in June, by the same route, occasionally penetrating the mountain val- leys which skirt the coast. Shortly afterward I started for San Francisco, and proceeded to the North of that port. — From the Journal of David Douglas, Monterey, Upper California, Nov. 23rd, 1831.