Part 18

The genus Yucca comprises sixteen or eighteen species, and reaches its greatest development in Northern Mexico. Three species are to be found within our borders, two of which are arborescent, Y. arborescens, and Y. Mohavensis. Considerable confusion has hitherto reigned among the species, but they are now better understood.

They are all valuable to our Indians as basket and textile plants, and are useful to them in many other ways.

Owing to the structure of the flowers, self-fertilization seems impossible, and scientists who have made a study of the subject say that these plants are dependent upon a little white, night-flying moth to perform this office for them. This little creature goes from plant to plant, gathering the pollen, which she rolls up into a ball with her feet. When sufficient has been gathered, she goes to another plant, lays her egg in its ovary, and before leaving ascends to the stigma and actually pushes the pollen into it, seeming to realize that unless she performs this last act, there will be nothing for her progeny to eat. This seems an almost incredible instance of insect intelligence; but it is a well-authenticated fact.

Yucca Mohavensis, commonly called "wild date," or "Spanish bayonet," is more widely distributed within our borders than either of our other species. Its large panicle of overpoweringly fragrant white waxen bells is a striking object wherever seen. On the coast this yucca is often stemless, but in the interior, where it is more abundant, it rises to a considerable height, and culminates upon the Mojave Desert, where the finest specimens are found.

The fruit, which ripens in August and September, turns from green to a tawny yellow, afterward becoming brownish purple, and eventually almost black. This has a sweet, succulent flesh, and, either fresh or dried, is a favorite fruit among the Indians. Dr. Palmer writes that this is one of the most useful plants to the Indians of New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California. They cut the stems into slices, beat them into a pulp, and mix them with the water in washing, as a substitute for soap.

The leaves are parched in ashes, to make them pliable, and are afterward soaked in water and pounded with a wooden mallet. The fibers thus liberated are long, strong, and durable, and lend themselves admirably to the weaving of the gayly decorated horse-blankets made by the tribes of Southern California. They also make from it ropes, twine, nets, hats, hair-brushes, shoes, mattresses, baskets, etc.

FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL.

Smilacina sessilifolia, Nutt. Lily Family.

Rootstock.--Slender; branching; creeping; scars not conspicuous. Stem.--About a foot long (sometimes two); usually zigzag above; leafy. Leaves.--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate; two to six inches long; shining above; spreading in a horizontal plane. Flowers.--White; few; in a simple terminal raceme, on pedicels two to seven lines long. Perianth.--Of six, distinct, spreading segments. Segments.--One and one half to four lines long; lanceolate. Stamens.--Six; half the length of the segments. Ovary.--Three-celled. Style short. Berry.--Nearly black; three to five lines through. Hab.--Monterey to British Columbia.

The False Solomon's Seal is one of the prettiest plants in our woods in March, and in many places it almost hides the ground from view. It has a graceful, drooping habit that shows its handsome, spreading leaves to full advantage, and its few delicate little white blossoms are a fitting termination to the pretty sprays.

S. amplexicaulis, Nutt., is a very handsome, decorative plant, with fine, tall, leafy stem, and large, feathery panicle of tiny white flowers. The broadened white filaments are the most conspicuous part of these blossoms, which are less than a line long. The berries are light-colored, dotted with red or purple.

MIST-MAIDENS.

Romanzoffia Sitchensis, Bongard. Baby-eyes or Water leaf Family.

Leaves.--Six to eighteen lines across; smooth. Flowers.--White, pink, or purple. Calyx.--Deeply five-parted. Corolla.--Funnel-form; five-lobed; four lines long. Stamens.--Five. Ovary.--Two-celled. Hab.--Coast Ranges, from Santa Cruz northward.

In appearance these delicate herbs resemble the saxifrages, and they affect much the same sort of places, decking mossy banks and stream borders with their beautiful scalloped leaves and small white flowers.

The genus was named in honor of Nicholas Romanzoff, a Russian nobleman, who, by his munificence, enabled some noted botanists to visit this coast early in the century.

STRAWBERRY CACTUS. CALIFORNIAN FISH-HOOK CACTUS. LLAVINA.

Mamillaria Goodridgii, Scheer. Cactus Family.

Oval, fleshy, leafless plants; mostly single, though sometimes clustered; three to five inches long; covered with prominences or tubercles. Tubercles.--Each bearing a flat rosette of short, whitish spines, with an erect, dark, fish-hook-like central one. Flowers.--Small; greenish-white. Outer Sepals.--Fringed. Petals.--About eight; awned. Stamens.--Numerous. Ovary.--One-celled. Stigmas five or six. Fruit.--Scarlet; an inch long. Hab.--San Diego and neighboring islands, and southward.

The dry hill-slopes about San Diego afford the most interesting field accessible to civilization, i.e. within our boundaries, for the gathering and study of the cacti.

Nestling close to the ground, usually under some shrub or vine, you will find the little fish-hook cactus, one of the prettiest and most interesting of them all. Its oval form bristles with the little dark hooks, each of which emanates from a flat star of whitish spines.

The flowers may be found in April or May, but it is more noticeable when in fruit. The handsome scarlet berries, like old-fashioned coral eardrops, protruding from among the thorns, are easily picked out, and they very naturally find their way to one's mouth. Nor is one disappointed in the expectation raised by their brilliant exterior--for the flavor is delicious, though I cannot say it resembles that of the strawberry, as some aver. To me it is more like a fine tart apple.

THIMBLE-BERRY.

Rubus Nutkanus, Mocino. Rose Family.

Stems.--Three to eight feet high. Leaves.--Palmately and nearly equally five-lobed; cordate at base; four to twelve inches broad; the lobes acute; densely tomentose beneath. Flowers.--Few; clustered; white, sometimes pale rose; an inch or two across, with rounded petals. Stamens and Pistils.--Numerous. Fruit.--Large; red; "like an inverted saucer;" sweet and rather dry. Hab.--Monterey to Alaska.

The thimble-berry is unequaled for the canopy of pure light-green foliage which it spreads in our woods. It would take the clearest of water-colors to portray its color and texture. The large white flowers, with their crumpled petals, are deliciously fragrant, but with us are never followed by an edible fruit, probably owing to the dryness of our summer climate. In Oregon and northward the berries are said to be luscious. There the bushes grow in the fir forests, where they seem most at home.

Rubus spectabilis, Pursh., the salmon-berry, has leaves with three leaflets, and large solitary, rose-colored flowers, which are followed by a salmon-colored berry. These shrubs are exceedingly beautiful when in full bloom.

COMMON WILD PEA.