Part 29

Rootstock creeping. Radical-leaves.--Long-petioled; elliptic oblong; two to ten inches long. Stems.--Six inches to two feet high. Flowers.--Without sepals and petals, sunk in a conical spike; six to eighteen lines long; a small white bract under each flower. Spikes.--Subtended by from five to eight white petal-like bracts, six to fifteen lines long. Stamens.--Three to eight. Ovary.--Apparently one-celled. Stigmas one to five. Hab.--Southern to Central California.

Just as the fervid glow of the sun is beginning to transform the green of our southern hill-slopes to soft browns, the still vividly green lowland meadows suddenly bring forth myriads of white stars, which in their green setting become grateful resting-points for the eye. These are the blossoms of the famous Yerba Mansa of the Spanish-Californians. Among these people the plant is an infallible remedy for many disorders, and so highly do they prize it, that they often travel or send long distances for it.

The aromatic root, which has a strong, peppery taste, is very astringent, and when made into a tea or a powder, is applied with excellent results to cuts and sores. The tea is also taken as a blood-purifier; and the plant, in the form of a wash or poultice, is used for rheumatism, while the wilted leaves are said to reduce swellings. In the medical world it is beginning to be used in diseases of the mucous membrane.

SHEPHERD'S PURSE.

Capsella Bursa-pastoris, Medic. Mustard Family.

Among our commonest and most harmless weeds is the shepherd's purse, which has been introduced from Europe in the past. It may be easily recognized by its tiny white cruciferous flowers and its shapely little triangular, flat pods, which have a peppery taste. It is used medicinally, and valued as a remedy for many different maladies. In Europe, a common name for the plant is "mother's heart," and Mr. Johnston says that children play a sort of game with the seed-pouch. "They hold it out to their companions, inviting them to 'take a haud o' that.' It immediately cracks, and then follows a triumphant shout, 'You've broken your mother's heart!'"

Equally common is the Lepidium, or pepper-grass, the small round, flat pods of which also have a peppery taste. Both of these belong to the great Mustard family.

MARIPOSA TULIP.

Calochortus venustus, Benth. (and varieties). Lily Family.

Stems.--A foot or two high; branching. Leaves.--Narrow; grasslike; channeled; glaucous; decumbent. Flowers.--Erect; cup-shaped; white, lilac, pink, claret, magenta, purple, or rarely light yellow; of uniform color or shaded; plain or variously oculated, stained, or blotched. Petals.--One or two inches long; slightly hairy below. Gland.--Large; roundish; densely hairy. Capsule.--Lanceolate; four or five lines broad. (See Calochortus.) Hab.--Dry sandy soil, in the Coast Ranges and Sierra foothills, from Mendocino County to Los Angeles.

I once emerged from the dense chaparral of a steep hillside upon a grassy slope, where myriads of these lovely flowers tossed their delicate cups upon the breeze. As I passed from flower to flower, I noticed many insect guests regaling themselves upon the nectar. Bees and flies jostled one another and crawled amid the hairs below, and beautifully mottled butterflies hovered over them.

As originally described, this flower was white or pale lilac, with a more or less conspicuous, usually reddish, stain, or blotch, near the top, a brownish spot bordered with yellow in the center, and a brownish striate base. But it varies so widely from this type, in both color and spots, that neither is a reliable character from which to determine the species. Some of the oculated forms of C. luteus are so similar that they are readily confused with this, but a careful examination of the gland and the form of the capsule, together with the character of the soil in which the plants grow, will identify the species.

COMMON NIGHTSHADE.

Solanum nigrum, L. Nightshade Family.

Hab.--Along streams near the coast.

This may be easily distinguished from S. Xanti by its very small white flowers, whose corollas are but three or four lines across, and much more deeply and pointedly lobed, the lobes having a tendency to turn backward as the flowers grow older; also by its thinner, duller leaves, and much smaller, black berries, the size of peas.

It is considered a violent narcotic poison, both berries and leaves having caused death when eaten. It is used in the medical world, in the form of a tincture for various maladies, and it is said that in Bohemia the blossoming plant is hung over the cradles of infants to induce sweet slumber; while in Dalmatia the root is fried in butter and eaten to produce sleep, and is also used as remedy for hydrophobia.

Solanum Douglasii, Dunal, is a similar species, with larger flowers, which are usually white, though sometimes light blue.

BUTTERFLY TULIP.

Calochortus luteus, var. oculatus, Wats. Lily Family.

Hab.--Sierras and Coast Ranges, from Fresno County to Oregon.

Of all our lovely Mariposa tulips, this charming form is perhaps the most like the insect for which it is named. Its creamy or purplish flowers have an exquisitely tinted dark-maroon eye, surrounded by yellow, and it is often streaked in marvelous imitation of the insect's wing. It was doubtless this form Miss Coolbrith had in mind when she wrote the beautiful lines below:

"Insect or blossom? Fragile, fairy thing, Poised upon slender tip and quivering To flight! a flower of the fields of air; A jeweled moth, a butterfly with rare And tender tints upon his downy wing A moment resting in our happy sight; A flower held captive by a thread so slight Its petal-wings of broidered gossamer Are, light as the wind, with every wind astir, Wafting sweet odor, faint and exquisite. O dainty nursling of the field and sky! What fairer thing looks up to heaven's blue, And drinks the noontide sun, the dawning's dew? Thou winged bloom! thou blossom butterfly!"

WESTERN BOYKINIA.

Boykinia occidentalis, Torr. and Gray. Saxifrage Family.

Stems.--Slender; a foot or two high. Leaves.--Round-reniform; palmately three- to seven-lobed; one to three inches broad; the lobes coarsely toothed. Flowers.--In long-peduncled, loose panicles; white; four lines across; parts in fives. Calyx.--With acute teeth. Petals.--On the sinuses of the calyx. Stamens.--On the calyx, opposite its teeth. Filaments short. Ovary.--With its two cells attenuate into the slender styles. Hab.--Coast Ranges, from Santa Barbara to Washington.

The tufted leaves, and exquisitely delicate saxifrage-like clusters of the Boykinia, fringe our streams in early summer.

SOAP-PLANT. AMOLE.