Part 43

Stems.--Six inches to a foot long. Leaves.--Alternate; lanceolate or oblong-linear; pinnatifid or entire. Flower-heads.--Solitary; yellow; three to six lines across; without rays. Involucre.--Of two ranks of nearly equal, scarious-margined scales. Hab.--Common everywhere.

These little weeds are natives of the Southern Hemisphere, but are now common everywhere. They affect wet places, and their little flowers, like brass buttons, are very familiar objects along our roadsides. The foliage when crushed gives out a curious odor, between lemon-verbena and camphor.

DEER-WEED. WILD BROOM.

Hosackia glabra, Torr. Pea Family.

Woody at base; two to eight feet high; erect or decumbent. Stems.--Many; slender; branching; reed-like. Leaves.--Sparse; short-petioled; mostly trifoliolate. Leaflets three to six lines long; oblong to linear-oblong; nearly glabrous. Flowers.--In numerous small axillary umbels; yellow; four lines long. Calyx.--Less than three lines long; five-toothed. Corolla.--Papilionaceous. Stamens.--Nine united and one free. Pod.--Elongated; exserted. Seeds two. (See Leguminosae.) Hab.--Common throughout the State.

This graceful, willowy plant, whose slender branches are closely set with small golden-yellow flowers, in which there is often a hint of red, is as ornamental as any of the small-flowered foreign Genestas, or brooms, we grow in our gardens; but because it is so very abundant throughout our borders, we have become blind to its merits. It is especially beautiful and symmetrical in the south, where the low, bushy plants often spread over several feet of ground; and on the mesas of Coronado, the plants growing not far removed from one another, lend to the natural scene the aspect of a garden. There it is in full flower in April; but in the north the blossoms are usually later in arriving, and it is often June before they show themselves; then making whole hill-slopes dull-yellow among the chaparral.

It is a great favorite with the bees, and for them holds untold treasure in honey-making sweets. Among the mountaineers it is known as "deer-weed" and "buck-brush," as both deer and stock are said to feed upon it and flourish, when pasturage is scarce, though they rarely touch it when other food is plenty.

TREFOIL SUMACH. FRAGRANT SUMACH. SQUAW-BERRY.

Rhus Canadensis, var. trilobata, Gray. Poison-Oak or Cashew Family.

Shrubs two to five feet high; spreading. Leaves.--Three-foliolate. Leaflets.--Sessile; wedge-shaped; six lines to an inch long; pubescent, becoming smooth. Flowers.--Yellowish; minute; borne in short, scaly-bracted spikes preceding the leaves. Fruit.--Viscid; reddish; two or three lines in diameter; pleasantly acid. Syn.--R. aromatica, var. trilobata, Gray. Hab.--Dakota to Texas, and west to California and Oregon.

The dense foliage of these little bushes has a strong odor, which is not altogether agreeable, while their small fruit has a pleasant acid taste, and is much relished by the Indians.

Dr. Edward Palmer writes that this shrub furnishes the Indians of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern California with one of the most valuable of basket materials. The young twigs, which are much tougher than those of the willow, are soaked, scraped, and split. The baskets are then built up of a succession of small rolls of grass, over which the split twigs are closely and firmly bound. The baskets thus made are very durable, will hold water, and are often used to cook in, by dropping hot stones into them till the food is done. The wood exhales a peculiar odor, which is always recognizable about the camps of these Indians, and never leaves articles made from it.

This is grown in England as an ornamental shrub.

GOLDEN STARS.

Bloomeria aurea, Kell. Lily Family.

Bulb.--Six lines in diameter. Leaf.--Solitary; about equaling the scape; three to six lines broad. Scape.--Six to eighteen inches high. Flowers.--Yellow; fifteen to sixty in an umbel. Perianth.--About an inch across. Stamens.--Six; with cup-shaped appendages. Ovary.--Three-celled. Style club-shaped. Stigma three-lobed. Hab.--The Coast Ranges, from Monterey to San Diego.

Just as the floral procession begins to slacken a little before the oncoming of summer, the fields suddenly blossom out anew and twinkle with millions of the golden stars of the Bloomeria. These plants are closely allied to the Brodiaeas, and by some authorities are classed as such. They are especially characterized by the structure of the stamens, which rise out of a tiny cup. Under a glass this cup is seen to be granular, somewhat flattened, and furnished with two cusps, or points. The anthers are a very pretty Nile or peacock green.

Another species--B. Clevelandi, Wats.--is easily distinguished from the above by its numerous narrow leaves and its green-nerved perianth. This is found at San Diego, upon the mesas in midspring, growing abundantly in spots which, earlier in the season, have been mud-holes. Its open flowers are so outnumbered by the numerous undeveloped green buds, that, even though it grows in masses, it is not very showy, but makes the ground a dull yellow. But its flower-clusters are feathery and delicate.

There is another plant which closely resembles the Bloomerias. This is the "golden Brodiaea"--Brodiaea ixioides, Wats. But the filaments, instead of having a cuplike appendage, are winged, with the little anthers swinging prettily upon their summits. This is found in the Coast Ranges, from Santa Barbara northward, also in the Sierras. It is a beautiful flower; especially when seen starring the velvet alpine meadows in August.

Another plant--Brodiaea lactea, Wats.--the "white Brodiaea" has flowers similar to the above, but pure white (sometimes lilac), with a green mid-vein. This is common in late spring from Monterey to British Columbia.

YELLOW SWEET CLOVER.

Melilotus parviflora, Desf. Pea Family.

Hab.--Widely naturalized from Europe.

In early summer the breezes come laden with fragrance from the sweet clover. This is easily recognized by its tall stems, its fragrant leaves, with three small, toothed leaflets, and its small crowded racemes of minute yellow flowers a line long.

A white form--Melilotus alba, Lam.--is found in the north. Its flowers are vanilla-scented.

This plant is a highly valued remedy in the pharmacopoeia for various ailments, and its sweet-scented flowers have been used for flavoring many products, such as Gruyère cheese, snuff, and tobacco. In Europe the blossoms are packed among furs to give them a pleasant odor and keep away moths.

CALIFORNIAN COMPASS-PLANT. SUNFLOWER.

Wyethia angustifolia, Nutt. Composite Family.