Part 41

A very superior oil is made from the seed of the mustard, which is one of the strongest antiseptics known. It is especially adapted to the needs of the druggist, because it does not become rancid. The flour of mustard is now much used by surgeons to render their hands aseptic. Tons of the seed are exported from California every year.

ECHEVERIA.

Cotyledon lanceolata, Benth. and Hook. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.

Fleshy plants, with tufted radical leaves. Leaves.--Narrowly lanceolate; the outer ones two to four inches long; acuminate. Scapes.--Fifteen inches high; their lower leaves lanceolate; becoming above broadly triangular-ovate, clasping, acute; bearing on their summit a branching flower-cluster. Calyx.--Five-parted. Corolla.--Cylindrical; of five almost distinct, oblong, acute petals, four to six lines long, reddish-yellow. Stamens.--Ten. Ovaries.--Five; distinct; one-celled. Hab.--Los Angeles to San Diego.

These plants, which are of frequent occurrence in the south, usually affect dry, sandy soils. The fleshy foliage is of a warm tone, owing to a suffusion of pink in the leaves. These have a loose, erect habit, and are not crowded in dense rosettes, as are those of some species, and they are so weak that they pull apart easily. The tall flowering stems have but few leaves, and are sometimes nearly naked.

In early summer these plants put forth a strong effort, quickly sending up several tall, vigorous flower-shoots, drawing upon the nourishment stored in the fleshy leaves, which then become limp and shriveled.

Growing upon the coast at San Diego is a very curious and interesting species--C. edulis, Brew. This has cylindrical leaves, about the size of a lead-pencil, which grow in tufts, often a foot or two across. Its flowers are greenish-yellow. It is commonly known as "finger-tips." Its young leaves are considered very palatable by the Indians, who use them as a salad.

HEN-AND-CHICKENS.

Cotyledon Californicum, Trelease. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.

(For flower structure, see Cotyledon lanceolata.) Hab.--Central California.

The word "cotyledon" signifies any cup-shaped hollow or cavity, and has been applied to the plants of this genus on account of the manner of growth of the leaves, which is usually in a hollow rosette. The fleshy leaves are often covered with a bloom or a floury powder. These plants are familiar to most of us, as some of the species are extensively cultivated in our gardens as border-plants. Owing to their habit of producing a circle of young plants around the parent, they are commonly called "hen-and-chickens." We have several native species, which are usually found upon warm, rocky hill-slopes, or upon rocks near the sea.

C. Californicum is a beautiful form, with pointed, ovate leaves, of a light glaucous green, often tinged with pink. Its flowers are yellow, and have their petals distinct almost to the base, and its carpels are distinct. We are told that the Indians make soothing poultices of these leaves.

Another species--C. pulverulenta, Benth. and Hook.,--found from Santa Barbara to San Diego, is a very beautiful plant. It bears its leaves in a symmetrical rosette, like a diminutive century-plant. These leaves are usually covered with a dense white bloom, and the outer ones are spatulate, abruptly pointed, and two to four inches broad at the tip, while the inner are pointed. The plants are sometimes a foot and a half across, and send up as many as eight of the leafy flowering stems, which look like many-storied, slender Chinese pagodas. The blossoms are pale-red.

BLADDERPOD.

Isomeris arborea, Nutt. Caper Family.

Shrubby; evil-scented. Leaves.--Alternate; compound, with three leaflets. Flowers.--With their parts in fours. Petals.--Yellow; five to eight lines long. Stamens.--Eight; of equal length. Ovary.--One-celled. Style short. Pod.--Pendulous; inflated; pear-shaped; on a long stalk. Hab.--Santa Barbara to San Diego.

This low shrub is somewhat plentiful upon the mesas of the south. Its yellow flowers attract one to it, only to be repulsed by the dreadful odor of its foliage. It certainly ought to have some compensating utility for so repellent a characteristic. The ovary is so long-stalked, even in the flower, that it looks like an abnormal, inflated stigma.

This is the only species of the genus.

YELLOW GLOBE-TULIP. DIOGENES' LANTERN. GOLDEN LILY-BELL.

Calochortus pulchellus, Dougl. Lily Family.

Stems.--Somewhat flexuous, with spreading branches; two inches to a foot or more high. Radical leaf.--Equaling or exceeding the stem; four to twelve lines broad. Sepals.--Greenish or yellow; eight to twelve lines long. Petals.--Yellow; strongly arched; glandular ciliate. Gland.--A deep pit, conspicuously prominent on the outside of the petals, covered within by appressed hairs. (See Calochortus.) Hab.--Coast Ranges, from Monterey to Mendocino County.

We have no more charmingly graceful flower than the yellow globe-tulip. A single, long, grasslike leaf precedes the flexuous stem, with its quaintly arched and delicately fringed blossoms. There is a certain quizzical look about these flowers--something akin to the inquiring look of Diogenes, as he thrust his lantern into all sorts of out-of-the-way places in broad daylight. The margins of the petals look as though they had been snipped into a very fine, delicate fringe, unlike the slender, tapering hairs of C. alba.

The Indians are fond of the bulbs, which they eat with great relish, calling them "Bo."

YELLOW SAND-VERBENA.

Abronia latifolia, Esch. Four-o'clock Family.

Stems.--Prostrate; rubbery. Leaves.--Opposite; unequal; roundish; an inch or so across; petioled; leathery; gummy. Flowers.--Yellow; five or six lines long; in dense clusters, subtended by an involucre of five distinct bracts. Perianth.--Salver-shaped. Tube green; its base strongly angled or winged. Limb yellow; four or five-lobed. Stamens.--Mostly five, within the perianth. Ovary.--One-celled. Style filiform. Stigma club-shaped. Hab.--The seashore from Vancouver Island to Monterey.

The fragrant blossoms of the yellow sand-verbena may be found upon the beach at almost any time of year. The stout root, which often becomes several feet long, is sometimes eaten by the Indians.

SEA-DAHLIA.