NEMOPHILA Meeting and Field Guide CALIFORNIA BOTANICAL SOCIETY MARCH 1, 1919 NUMBER 2 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 Will be held at the Faculty Club, University Campus, Saturday, March 8, 1919, at 6:30. (Enter north wing, north entrance, via stone bridge over Straw- berry creek, just east of Botany building and Sather Tower.) The dinner will be in honor of Dr. W. L. Jepson. The toastmaster will be Professor C. B. Bradley. It is expected by the dinner committee that this year’s dinner will be equally happy and successful with that of last year, and all members are urged to keep the date free. Come and bring your friends. Plates, $1.50 Notify Secretary, Miss Anna E. Ehlers, 2520 Durant Ave., Berkeley, Phone, Berkeley 1675, and send check not later than March 5. THE ANNUAL MEETING Will be held Saturday, April 12, 7:45' p. m., in Room 116, Hilgard Hall, U. C. Campus. Election of officers. Nominations for officers for the next year should be sent to the Secretary at once. The lecture will be by Prof. P. B. Kennedy on the “Flora of Nevada.” FIELD TRIPS Sunday, Mar. 16. Huckleberry Ridge (head of Redwood Canon). Leader, Miss Crystal Harford. Meet at end of Rock Ridge car line, Oakland, at 9:30 A. M. Bring lunch. 6 Sunday, Mar. 23. Residence district of Piedmont for study of garden landscapes. Leader, Miss Kath- erine Jones. Meet at St. Mary’s College, Oakland, at 1 P. M. Take Piedmont car and go to end of line. Sunday, Mar. 30. San Andreas and Pilarcitos lakes. Study of flowering plants and mosses. Those who desire may turn back at the first lake; about 4 miles round trip. An effort will be made to reach the upper lake region and ridge; round trip, 14 miles. Take 8:05 A. M. train to Millbrae from Third and Townsend Sts., San Francisco. Bring lunch. Leader, Prof. F. T. Bioietti. Sunday, April 6. Marin county. Vicinity of San Rafael. Take 9:45 A. M. Sausalito Ferry from San Francisco. Buy San Rafael return trip. Get off at Ross station for walk to Lake Lagunitas (very fine Madrone trees about the lake.) Afterwards the party will visit the garden of Mr. Menzies at San Rafael for the study of barberries and other plants. The study of Berberis is of special interest at this time on account of the possible connection of our native species with the grain rust eradication movement. Bring lunch. Leader, Miss Harriett Walker. Sunday, April 20. Belladonna garden, at San Leandro, of Dr. Albert Schneider, Prof, of Pharmaceu- tical Botany, College of Pharmacy, University of Cali- fornia. The plants will be in bloom and ready for har- vesting. Take 8:45 A. M. train, First and Broadway, Oakland, and get off at Russell Station. One-half mile walk. Those who desire may bring lunch and spend the day in the garden and vicinity, returning by S. P. train. About 2 miles from street car line. Sunday, April 27. Lake Merced. Take car 17 at Ferry Building, San Francisco, transferring at Parkside to Parkside car ; go to end of line. Meet there at 10 A. M. Bring lunch. Leader, Miss Alice King. Field trips are not only for members, but for all interested in the native flora of California. Bring your friends with you for these trips. 7 THE VIOLETS OF CALIFORNIA At the Society’s meeting' Oct. 6, 1918, Mrs. Dudley Baird exhibited a set of colored illustrations of California violets done by Schuyler Matthews of New York, from fresh material and also sets of herbarium specimens, the species of which were determined by Dr. Ezra Brainerd, the well-known authority on violets. The eighteen species known in California are as follows : Viola Langsdorfii, (collected only in California at Fort Bragg) ; V. glabella ; V. ocellata ; V. euneata ; V. sarmentosa ; V. Macloskeyi; V. venosa; V. purpurea; V. Beckwithii; V. Sheltonii; V. praemorsa; V. chrysantha; V. adunca; V. lobata; V. Hallii; V. pedunculata; V. occidentals ; V. nephrophylla. ECOLOGY OF YOSEMITE PARK At the meeting on Dec. 14, 1918, Professor H. E. McMinn of Mills College lectured on the “Ecological Distribution of Plants in Yosemite National Park.” The lecturer first described the general topography of the region and its relation to the vegetation. The three main belts of vegetation he characterized as Foothill, Timber and Arctic-alpine. The lecture was illustrated by many beautiful and instructive lantern slides. RUBBER IN RABBIT BRUSH Professor H. M. Hall lectured before the Society Feb. 8, on native sources of rubber with especial refer- ence to its occurrence in the genus Chrysothamnus. In 1904 fragmentary samples of a desert shrub were sent in for identification from Inyo Co. The sender later suggested that this shrub might contain rubber, as the Indians had been observed chewing the twigs. In promot- ing his search for this shrub Dr. Hall made analyses of various desert shrubs and was finally guided to the par- ticular shrub sought by Indians near Benton, Mono Oo, This shrub was a form of Chrysothamnus nauseosus, the bark of which contains 4% rubber, sometimes as high as 6%. Rubber was also found in Chrysothamnus tereti- folius, Stenotus sp., and Ericameria ericoides of the coast sand dunes. 8 YERBA BUENA LEAVES E. B. Babcock, Professor of Genetics in the Uni- versity of California, is now doing Y. M. 0. A. work in France. Miss Anna M. Lute, formerly in charge of the U. S. Seed-testing station at Berkeley, is now in the Branch Seed Laboratory, at Perdue University, Lafayette, Indiana. Dr. Helen M. Gilkey, is assistant Professor of Botany in the Oregon Agricultural College, at Corvallis, Oregon. Dr. Janet Perkins, for many years a member of Dr. Adolf Engler’s staff at the Botanical Garden at Steglitz near Berlin, was present at the meeting of the Society on Feb. 8. Dr. Perkins said: “The lecture of the evening was well prepared and interestingly delivered. The Society may well take pride in its organization.” The officers of the Society are: Prof. P. B. Kennedy, President; Mr. A. L. Walker, 1st Vice-President; Mrs. Inez Ray Smith, 2nd Vice-President ; Miss Anna E. Ehlers, Secretary-Treasurer, 2520 Durant Ave., Berke- ley; Prof. C. B. Bradley, Corresponding Secretary, 2689 Durant Ave., Berkeley; Mr. C. W. Carruth, 2nd Cor- responding Secretary, 2824 13th Ave., Oakland. The Publication Committee has appointed as Editor of Nemophila, Miss Elizabeth Ferguson, 1 Mosswood Road, Berkeley, (Tel. B. 4876), to whom items for the meetings and field trips should be sent. 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 notices it is because you are two years behind on dues. Send your dollar to the Secretary, Miss Ehlers, 2520 Durant Avenue, Berkeley.