Part 46

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to the disagreeableness of these leaves. I suspect the odor lies mostly in the slimy, soapy sap, and is not very noticeable if they are not bruised or cut.

When the plants are in bloom, in May and June, they are very handsome, the large spoon-shaped, golden spathes being conspicuous at some distance. As this spathe withers away, the flower-stalk continues to grow, and its little greenish-yellow blossoms become brown.

The peppery root is highly esteemed for medicinal purposes, and is gathered and made into a salve, which is considered a specific for ringworm, white swelling, inflammatory rheumatism, etc. The root is said to enter largely into the composition of a patent medicine called "Skookum."

Mr. Johnson, of the U.S. Forestry Department in Oregon, tells me that the bears are very fond of this root, and dig industriously for it, often making a hole large enough to bury themselves, and he mentions having seen whole fields plowed up by them in their search for it.

This plant belongs to the same family as the skunk-cabbage of the East and the calla-lily. It has been found in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

BLAZING-STAR.

Mentzelia laevicaulis, Torr. and Gray. Loasa or Blazing-star Family.

Stems.--Stout; two or three feet high; white. Leaves.--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate; sinuate-toothed; two to eight inches long. Flowers.--Sessile, on short branches; light yellow or cream-color; three or four inches across. Calyx-tube.--Cylindrical; naked; limb five-cleft nearly to the base. Petals.--About ten; oblanceolate; acute. Stamens.--Numerous on the calyx; almost equaling the petals. Ovary.--One-celled; truncate at summit. Style three-cleft. Capsule.--Fifteen lines long. Hab.--San Diego to the Columbia River, and eastward to Wyoming.

After most other flowers have departed, the magnificent blossoms of the Mentzelia come forth. It seems as though they had waited for the firmament to be clear of other stars before bursting upon the sight. Their enormous blossoms are crowned by the soft radiance of the long stamens, "like the lashes of light that trim the stars."

These plants are furnished with barbed hairs, which cause them to cling to whatever they come in contact with. They are of tall and spreading habit, and are often found in the dry beds of streams, where their flowers open in the daytime--unlike those of M. Lindleyi, which open at night.

M. Lindleyi, Torr. and Gray, is one of the most brilliantly radiant of all our flowers. Its charming blossoms, which open on the edge of evening, are of a delicate silken texture, and of the richest gold. When the flowers first open, the stamens lie flat upon the petals; but they gradually rise up, forming a large tuft in the center of the flower. The faded sepals crown the long seed-vessel, like the flame of the conventional torch seen in old pictures. This grows in the Monte Diablo Range; and Niles and Alum Rock are convenient places to find it. It is cultivated in Eastern gardens under the name of Bartonia aurea.

STONECROP.

Sedum spathulifolium, Hook. Stonecrop or Orpine Family.

Leaves.--Alternate; fleshy; spatulate; six to ten lines long; sessile; crowded in rosettes at the ends of the decumbent branches. Scapes.--Four to six inches high. Flowers.--In compound, one-sided, loose cymes; their parts four or five; pale-yellow. Sepals.--United at base. Petals.--Lanceolate; three lines long. Stamens.--Twice the number of the petals. Pistils.--Equaling the number of the petals; attenuate into the short styles. Ovaries.--One-celled. Hab.--Middle California to Vancouver Island.

Blooming somewhat earlier than the "hen-and-chickens," but in similar situations, the stonecrop often clothes rock-masses with beautiful color. The common name, "orpine," was given on account of the yellow, or orpine, flowers; and the name "stonecrop," from its always growing in stony places.

PRICKLY-PEAR. TUNA.

Opuntia Engelmanni, Salm. Cactus Family.

Erect, bushy, spreading shrubs without leaves, with flattened stems produced in successive, compressed oval Joints. Joints.--Six to twelve inches long; studded sparsely with bundles of stout spines. Flowers.--Solitary; sessile; yellow or red; about three inches across. Sepals, petals, and stamens numerous in many series, their cohering bases coating the one-celled ovary and forming a cup above it. Petals.--Spreading. Style one, with several stigmas. Fruit.--Purple; oval; pulpy; juicy; two inches long. Hab.--Southern California, Los Angeles, San Diego, etc.

The genus Opuntia is divided into two sections, consisting respectively of flat-stemmed and cylindrical-stemmed plants, the former commonly known as "prickly-pear," or "tuna," the latter as Cholla cactus.

Of the former, O. Engelmanni is our commonest wild species. It is the one seen from the car-windows growing in great patches upon the Mojave Desert, and it is abundant upon dry hills all through the south. There are two varieties of it--var. occidentalis, Engelm., the form prevalent in the interior, and var. littoralis, Engelm., found upon the sea-coast from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

These plants have a very leathery, impermeable skin, from which evaporation takes place but slowly, which enables them to inhabit arid regions. The fruit is sweet and edible, and the Indians, who are especially fond of it, dry large quantities for winter use. They make of the fresh fruit a sauce, by long-continued boiling, which they regard as especially nutritious and stimulating after it is slightly fermented. They also roast the leaves in hot ashes and eat the slimy, sweet substance which is left after the outer skin and thorns have been removed.

Cattle-men of the southern plains plant the different species as hedges about their corrals, and feed the succulent joints to their stock after burning off the spines.

Several Mexican species were planted in the early days about the Missions by the Padres, as defensive hedges, and remnants of these redoubtable fortifications, ten to fifteen feet high, are still to be seen stretching for miles through our southern fields.

In Mexico the Opuntia tuna is largely cultivated for the rearing of cochineal insects.

VENEGASIA.

Venegasia carpesioides, DC. Composite Family.

Several feet high; leafy to the top. Leaves.--Alternate; slenderly petioled; cordate or ovate-deltoid; crenate; two to four inches long; thin. Flower-heads.--Large; two-inches across, including the rays; yellow; slender-peduncled; composed of ray- and disk-flowers. Rays.--Over an inch long; six lines wide; two- or three-toothed; fertile; about fifteen. Involucre.--Broad; of many roundish-green scales; becoming scarious inward. Hab.--Santa Barbara and southward.

This plant, with its ample thin leaves and large yellow flowers, would arrest the attention anywhere. It often grows under the shade of trees in cool cañons, where its blossoms brighten the twilight gloom. It is an admirable plant, and has but one drawback--its rather unpleasant odor. It is the only species of the genus which was named in honor of an early Jesuit missionary, Michael Venegas. It is especially abundant and beautiful about Santa Barbara.