An Excerpt from Jim Conrad's Nature
Notes
issued from California's Sierra Nevada
Foothills in 2005
MOCK ORANGE
Mock Orange, Philadelphus lewisii, is a
much-branched bush up to ten feet high, in late spring capable of being gorgeously arrayed
with dense clusters of 25¢-size white flowers. The flowers of some Mock Orange species
are fragrant but ours isn't terribly so. Indians used the slender stems to make shafts for
arrows. Our species' Latin name honors Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Mock Orange, Philadelphus lewisii, is a
much-branched bush up to ten feet high, in late spring capable of being gorgeously arrayed
with dense clusters of 25¢-size white flowers. The flowers of some Mock Orange species
are fragrant but ours isn't terribly so. Indians used the slender stems to make shafts for
arrows. Our species' Latin name honors Meriwether Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.