Part 51

Larrea Mexicana, Moricand. Creosote-Bush Family.

Ill-smelling, resinous shrubs, four to ten feet high; diffusely branched. Leaves.--Opposite; with two unequal leaflets. Leaflets.--Three to six lines long; pointed; sessile. Flowers.--Solitary; yellow. Sepals.--Five; silky; deciduous. Petals.--Five; three or four lines long. Stamens.--Ten; on a small ten-lobed disk. Filaments winged below. Ovary.--Five-celled; Style slender. Hab.--Inland deserts of the southern part of the State.

The most plentiful shrub growing in our southern desert regions is the creosote-bush, so called because its sticky leaves burn with a black smoke and a rank odor, between creosote and carbolic acid.

These shrubs often cover vast tracts of arid soil, and in places are the only growth to be seen. The evergreen foliage is of a warm olive tone, and is borne at the ends of many slender, grayish branches. The small, stemless, opposite leaves, each divided almost to its base into two leaflets, spread butterfly-like upon the slender branchlets. The leaf-nodes are swollen into small, warty prominences, which are especially resinous.

In many localities, especially in Arizona, the branches of this shrub are thickly incrusted with a certain gummy substance, which careful examination has proved to be almost identical with the East Indian shellac of commerce. This is caused by an insect of the genus Coccus, who stings the young twigs, at the same time laying its eggs in them, causing them to exude the gum. Could this gum be collected in sufficient quantities, it would doubtless prove a valuable article of commerce, probably not inferior to the East Indian lac. Dr. Edwd. Palmer writes that it is extensively used by our Indians as a cement with which to fasten their flint arrowheads to the shafts, to mend broken pottery, and to make water-tight their baskets, woven of grass and roots. The plant yields a greenish-yellow dye, with which they paint their persons and color their fabrics; but garments so dyed are said to emit a disagreeable odor always upon being heated.

A lotion made by steeping the branches in water is said to be an excellent remedy for sores; while the leaves dried and reduced to powder are effectively used for the same purpose. Some of our pharmacists say that the plant is a valuable remedy for rheumatism.

By the Spanish-Californians this shrub is known as "gobernadora" and "hideondo"; and by the American settlers of the desert it is known by several uncomplimentary names, among them the meaningless one of "greasewood."

It blossoms in early summer.

III. PINK

Described in the White Section:--

ACHILLEA MILLEFOLIUM--Yarrow. CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS--Mariposa Tulip. CHIMAPHILA MENZIESII--Prince's Pine. CONVOLVULUS LUTEOLUS--Wild Morning-glory. GAULTHERIA SHALLON--Salal. LATHYRUS TORREYI. LATHYRUS VESTITUS--Common Wild Pea. LAYIA GLANDULOSUM--White Daisy. LILIUM RUBESCENS--Ruby Lily. MALACOTHRIX SAXATILIS. MESEMBRYANTHEMUM CRYSTALLINUM--Ice-Plant. OENOTHERA CALIFORNICA--White Evening Primrose. ORTHOCARPUS VERSICOLOR--White Owl's Clover. PYROLA APHYLLA. RHODODENDRON OCCIDENTALE--Californian Azalea. RUBUS SPECTABILIS--Salmon-Berry. SPIRAEA BETULIFOLIA--Pink Spiraea. SPIRAEA DOUGLASII--Californian Hardhack. SPRAGUEA UMBELLATA--Pussy's-Paws.

Described in the Yellow Section:--

HOSACKIA GRACILIS.

Described in the Blue and Purple Section:--

CALOCHORTUS SPLENDENS--Mariposa Tulip. CALOCHORTUS UNIFLORUS. TRILLIUM SESSILE--Californian Trillium.

Described in the Red Section:--

GILIA AGGREGATA--Scarlet Gilia.

Described in the Miscellaneous Section:--

CYPRIPEDIUM CALIFORNICUM--Californian Lady's Slipper. GOMPHOCARPUS TOMENTOSUS--Hornless Woolly Milkweed. RUMEX HYMENOSEPALUS--Wild Pie-Plant; Canaigre.]

RED-STEMMED FILAREE. ALFILERILLA. CLOCKS. PIN-CLOVER.

Erodium cicutarium, L'Her. Geranium Family.

Leaves.--Chiefly radical in a depressed rosette; six to ten inches long; dissected into narrow toothed lobes. Stem-leaves smaller. Flowers.--Pink; four to eight in an umbel; parts in fives. Petals.--Four lines long. Stamens.--Five perfect, with flattened filaments; five reduced to mere scales. Carpels and styles one or two inches long; separating upward from a central axis into twisted, bearded tails. Hab.--Throughout the State.

The name "alfilerilla" is Spanish, coming from alfiler, a needle, and refers to the long, slender beak of the carpels. By corruption it has become "filaree."

This plant is found in abundance everywhere, and is one of our most valuable forage-plants. It varies greatly in size, and becomes very rank in growth where the soil is rich. Ordinarily, it makes its appearance soon after the beginning of the rainy season, as a rosette of leaves lying upon the ground, and later it sends up its reddish stems. Its seed-vessels look like a group of fantastic, long-billed storks, and the long beaks of the carpels, as they separate from the central axis, begin to curl about any convenient object. They are thus widely disseminated in the hair of animals and the clothing of people. Children call them "clocks," and love to stand the seed up in their clothing and watch the beaks wind slowly about, like the hands of a timepiece.

We have several other species of Erodium. E. moschatum, L' Her., is a coarser plant whose foliage has a musky fragrance, especially when wilted. It is also a valuable forage-plant and is commonly known as "musky filaree" or "green-stemmed filaree."

E. Botrys, Bertoloni, is a very abundant plant. Its flowers are larger, six lines across, and are pink, strongly veined with wine-color. The beaks of its carpels are sometimes four inches long.

REDWOOD-SORREL.

Oxalis Oregana, Nutt. Geranium Family.