The tall stems of the Californian figwort are common along roadsides, and become especially rank and luxuriant where the soil has been freshly stirred. The plants are so plentiful and so plebeian in appearance, that we are apt to class them in the category of weeds; but the fact that their little corollas are almost always stored abundantly with honey for the bees, saves them from this reproachful title.
They are cultivated by the keepers of bees. The odd, little dull-red or greenish flowers have a knowing look, which is enhanced by two of the stamens, which project just over the lower rim of the corolla, like the front teeth of some tiny rodent.
_Tellima grandiflora_, R. Br. Saxifrage Family.
_Radical-leaves._--Long-petioled. _Stem-leaves._--With shorter petioles, round-cordate; variously lobed and toothed; very hairy, with coarse, bristle-like hairs; two to four inches across. _Stems._--One to three feet high. _Flowers._--In long racemes; on short pedicels; green or rose-color. _Calyx._--Campanulate; five-toothed; ribbed; three to six lines long; adnate to the ovary below. _Petals._--Five; short-clawed; slashed above; two or three lines long; on the calyx. _Stamens._--Ten; very short. _Ovary._--One-celled; with a disklike summit, tapering into two stout styles with large capitate stigmas. _Hab._--From Santa Cruz to Alaska.
This robust plant bears no resemblance to its delicate relative, _T. affinis_. It is far more like the alum-root in habit and appearance, and its leaves are prettily blotched in the same manner. It grows along rich banks by shaded roads, and blooms from early spring onward. Its tall racemes of either rose-colored or greenish, obscure flowers look rather like the promise of something to come than a present fulfillment. The petals are small and inconspicuous at a distance; but when closely examined, reveal a delicacy and beauty of form entirely unsuspected.
[Illustration CALIFORNIAN BEE PLANT--_ScrophulariaCalifornica_.]
_Castilleia parviflora_, Bong. Figwort Family.
Hairy, at least above; six inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Laciniate-cleft or incised; sometimes entire; two inches or so long; mostly alternate. _Flowers._--With conspicuous colored bracts. _Calyx._--Tubular; about equally cleft before and behind; tinged with scarlet or yellow. _Corolla._--Tubular; six lines to over an inch long; the upper lip equaling the tube; the lower very short; three-toothed; the whole tinged with red or yellow. _Stamens._--Four; inclosed in the upper lip. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style long; exserted. _Hab._--Throughout California.