Part 32

Chamaebatia foliolosa, Benth. Rose Family.

Shrubby; a foot or two high; branching freely; glandular pubescent throughout; fragrant. Leaves.--Alternate; finely dissected; ovate or oblong in outline; two or three inches long. Flowers.--White; few in terminal cymes. Calyx.--Five-lobed. Petals.--Five; spreading; three or four lines long. Stamens.--Very numerous; short. Ovary.--Solitary. Style terminal. Fruit.--A leathery akene. Hab.--The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Nevada County.

One of the most conspicuous plants to be met on the way to the Yosemite is the Chamaebatia. It is exceedingly abundant, covering considerable areas and filling the air with its balsamic fragrance, strongly suggestive of tansy, though to many not so agreeable as the latter. It is a beautiful plant, with its feathery leaves and strawberry-like flowers; but by the roadside, where its viscid leaves and stems have caught the dust, it is often but a travesty of itself.

Mrs. Brandegee writes of it: "Along the line of the railroad in Placer County it is often called 'bear-clover,' perhaps in accordance with our felicitous custom of giving names, because it bears not the least resemblance to clover, and the bear will have nothing to do with it."

LARGE-FLOWERED DOGWOOD.

Cornus Nuttallii, Audubon. Dogwood Family.

Shrubs or trees, fifteen to seventy feet high. Leaves.--Opposite; obovate; acute at each end; three to five inches long. Flowers.--Numerous; small; greenish; in a head surrounded by an involucre of four to six large, yellowish or white bracts, often tinged with red, and eighteen lines to three inches long. Calyx.--Four-toothed. Petals and Stamens.--Four. Ovary.--Two-celled. Fruit.--Scarlet; five or six lines long. Hab.--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Monterey and Plumas Counties to British Columbia.

Our large-flowered dogwood more nearly resembles the Eastern C. florida than any other species, but it is a much handsomer shrub than the latter. It reaches its maximum size in Northern Oregon and Washington, where, in the season of its blossoming, it is a sight never to be forgotten. Its masses of large white flowers, like single Cherokee roses, contrast finely with the deep, rich greens of the fir forests, in which it often grows. In its northern range, its leaves turn beautifully, and it becomes one of the most brilliant masqueraders in the autumn pageant.

The wood is very hard, close-grained, and tough, and is used as a substitute for boxwood in the making of bobbins and shuttles for weaving, and also in cabinet-work.

MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS.

Habenaria leucostachys, Wats. Orchis Family.

Root.--A fusiform tuber. Stems.--One to four feet high; leafy throughout. Leaves.--Lanceolate; diminishing upward. Flowers.--Bright white, in a spike. Perianth segments.--Two or three lines long. Lip.--Four lines long, with a slender spur four to six lines long. Anther.--On the column just above the stigma. Ovary.--One-celled. Hab.--Mountains throughout California.

From July to September we may look for the milk-white rein-orchis in moist meadows. It is especially abundant in the Sierras, where its charmingly fragrant, pure-white spikes are particularly effective against the lush green of the alpine meadows.

JAMESTOWN-WEED. JIMSON-WEED. THORN-APPLE. COMMON STRAMONIUM.

Datura Stramonium, L. Nightshade Family.

Stems.--Two or three feet high; stout. Leaves.--Alternate; ovate; coarsely angled; long-petioled. Flowers.--In the forks of the stem; short-pediceled; white. Calyx.--Tubular; angled; five-toothed; over an inch long. Corolla.--Funnel-form; three inches long; with an expanded five-angled border. Stamens.--Five; included. Filaments long and slender; adnate to the corolla below. Style long. Ovary.--Two-celled; each cell nearly divided again. Fruit.--Larger than a walnut; prickly. Hab.--Waste grounds near habitations; introduced.

The jimson-weed, which is a native of Asia, has become quite common in waste places. It is a rank, ill-smelling, nauseating weed, possessing narcotic, poisonous qualities, but its flowers are rather large and showy. The leaves and seeds are made into the drug called "stramonium," which is used as a remedy in neuralgia, spasmodic cough, and other disorders.

As the plant usually grows by roadsides or in the vicinity of dwellings, children are not infrequently poisoned by its fruit and leaves. The poison manifests itself in dryness of the throat, rapid pulse, and delirium; and even death may ensue, preceded by convulsions and coma.

This plant is also called "mad-apple," "apple of Peru," and "Devil's apple."

It has a near relative--D. suaveolens, HBK.,--a large shrub with dark-green leaves and very large, pendulous white flowers. This is common in Californian gardens, and is known popularly as "floriponda," or "angels' trumpets." It sheds a powerful fragrance upon the air at night, which is not noticeable by day.

YARROW. MILFOIL.

Achillea Millefolium, L. Composite Family.

Stems.--A foot or two high. Leaves.--Alternate; sessile; twice-pinnately parted into fine linear, acute, three- to five-cleft lobes; lanceolate in outline; two to four inches long; strong-scented. Flower-heads.--Crowded in a flat cluster; white, sometimes pink; four lines across, including the rays; made up of white disk-flowers and obovate white rays. Hab.--All around the Northern Hemisphere.

The yarrow, which is a common weed in most countries of the Northern Hemisphere, has long been known to botanists and herbalists, and was formerly in high repute for its many virtues. The leaves steeped in hot water are still considered very healing applications to cuts or bruises; and among the Spanish-Californians the fresh plants are used for stanching the blood in recent wounds.

This plant received the name Achillea, because the great hero of the Trojan war was supposed to have been the first to discover its virtues.

In Sweden it is used as a substitute for hops in the brewing of beer. Among the superstitious, even of the present day, it is regarded as a most potent love-charm, when plucked by a love-lorn maiden from the grave of a young man, while repeating the proper formula.

In the spring, the plants first develop a rosette of finely dissected, feathery leaves, which lie flat upon the ground. Later, when these are well grown, it sends up its tall flower-stalks, crowned with close, flat clusters of small white blossoms.

M. Naudin, who has an intimate knowledge of the plants of dry countries, recommends the yarrow for lawn-making where irrigation is impossible. "It grows freely in the driest of weather, and makes a handsome turf. It must be frequently cut, however, to prevent it from throwing up flower-stems. It will not succeed on a lime-impregnated soil."