Part 70

P. azureus, Benth., or the "azure beard-tongue," is very similar to the above, growing from one to three feet high; but it is smooth and glaucous; its leaves are inclined to have a broader base, and its flowers are usually larger, azure blue, approaching violet, sometimes having a red-purple tube, while its border is often an inch across. This is found throughout the State, but is more common in the interior and in the Sierras. Its buds are not yellow.

WILD GINGER.

Asarum caudatum, Lindl. Birthwort Family.

Rootstocks.--Creeping; aboveground. Leaves.--Alternate; two to four inches long; heart-shaped; not mottled; shining green. Flowers.--Raisin-colored. Perianth.--With spherical tube and three long-pointed lobes, thirty lines long. Stamens.--Twelve. Filaments more or less coherent in groups, adherent to the styles, and produced beaklike beyond the anthers. Ovary.--Six-celled. Styles united; equaling the stamens. Hab.--The Coast Ranges from Santa Cruz to British Columbia.

The beautiful long-stemmed leaves of the wild ginger stand upon the borders of many a shaded cañon stream, seeming to enjoy the gossiping of the brook as it gurgles by. The leaves and roots of these plants are aromatic, and the former when crushed emit a pleasant fragrance, similar to that of the camphor-laurel. The branching rootstocks, creeping along the surface of the ground, grow from their tips; which are swathed in the undeveloped silky leaves.

In the spring a warm hue comes among these closely-folded leaves, and presently a curious dull-colored bud begins to protrude its long tip from their midst. This bud looks as though some worm had eaten off its end; but we soon see that its blunt appearance is due to the fact that the long prongs of the sepals are neatly folded in upon themselves, like the jointed leg of an insect. It must require considerable force in the flower to unfurl them. When at length expanded, these blossoms have the look of some rapacious, hobgoblin spider, lurking for its prey.

Another species--A. Hartwegi, Wats.--the "Sierra wild ginger," is easily distinguished from the above by its white-mottled leaves, which grow in clusters, and by its smaller flowers. It blooms later than the other, its flowers lasting into July. These plants are closely related to the "Dutchman's pipe."

COMMON MILKWEED. SILKWEED.

Asclepias Mexicana, Cav. Milkweed Family.

Stems.--Three to five feet high; slender. Leaves.--Mostly whorled and fascicled; linear-lanceolate; short-petioled; two to six inches long. Peduncles.--Erect; slender; often in whorls. Flowers.--Very small and numerous; in umbels; white and lavender. Corolla-lobes.--Two lines long. Anthers.--Twice the filament column. Horns.--Awl-shaped; arising from below the middle of the ovate hoods, and conspicuously curved over the stigma. Pods.--Slender; spindle-shaped. (Structure otherwise as in Gomphocarpus.) Hab.--Throughout the State, and beyond its borders.

This is one of our most widely distributed milkweeds, and may be found blossoming along our dusty roadsides and through the fields in early summer. Its stems are tall and wandlike with long, narrow leaves, and its little blossoms are very trim. Its distaff-shaped pods, with their beautiful silken down, are familiar objects, much beloved by the children, and are sought by older people who utilize them in many dainty ways.

CHICORY. SUCCORY. WILD BACHELOR'S-BUTTON.

Cichorium Intybus, L. Composite Family.

Stems.--Two to five feet high; much branched. Leaves.--Alternate; the lower oblong or lanceolate, partly clasping, sometimes sharply incised; the upper reduced to bracts. Flower-heads.--Bright blue; sessile; two or three together in the axils of the leaves or terminal; of ray-flowers only. Rays.--Ten lines long; about two wide; notched at the tip. Bracts of the involucre in two series; green. Hab.--Escaped from cultivation in many places.

The most careless observer will some day have his attention startled into activity by a certain tall, fine plant growing along the roadside, bearing beautiful, ragged blue flowers closely set to its stem. This is a stranger from over the seas, whose native home is England; and, like all English, it is an excellent colonist, having pushed its way into most parts of the civilized world. It has become quite plentiful among us in the last few years, and whole fields may often be seen covered with its lovely bright-blue blossoms, which are known as "ragged sailors," and "wild bachelor's-buttons." They open in the early morning, closing by midday. In Europe a popular belief is rife that they open at eight o'clock in the morning and close at four in the afternoon.

"On upland slopes the shepherds mark The hour when, to the dial true, Cichorium to the towering lark Lifts her soft eye, serenely blue."

The plant is useful in several ways. Its root is boiled and eaten as a vegetable; the leaves, when blanched, make an excellent salad; and the whole plant was formerly employed in medicine, and is still considered a valuable remedy for jaundice. But the most common use of it is as a substitute for coffee, or as an adulterant of it. The fleshy, milky root is dried, ground, and roasted, and though it has neither the essential oil nor the delicious aroma of coffee, it is not an unpleasant beverage, and its cheapness brings it within the reach of the very poor.

The chicory industry has grown to be of considerable importance in California of late. The plants are grown in reclaimed tule land near Stockton, where there is a factory for the conversion of the root into the commercial article.

CALIFORNIAN LOBELIA.

Downingia pulchella, Torr. Lobelia Family.

Stems.--Three to six inches high. Leaves.--Alternate; sessile; linear; obtuse; passing into flower-bracts above. Flowers.--Racemose; blue. Calyx-tube.--Very long and slender; adnate to the ovary; its limb of five slender divisions. Corolla.--With short tube and bilabiate border. The smaller lip of two narrow spreading or recurved divisions; the larger three-lobed; broader than long; nine or ten lines by five or six lines. All the lobes intense blue; the large centers mostly white. Stamens.--Five; united into a curved tube. Capsule.--Splitting at the sides. Hab.--Nearly throughout the State.

These little lobeliaceous plants are very common, especially upon the plains of the interior, and may be found growing in wet places, where they often make the ground blue. The showy, white-centered flowers are familiar along the roadsides upon the borders of puddles. The blossoms, which are really stemless, appear to have stems of considerable length, owing to the very long, slender ovary and calyx-tube. They are cultivated for ornament under the name of Clintonia pulchella.

We have one other species in the northern part of the State. It is a larger plant, sometimes a foot tall, with ovate to lanceolate leaves. This is D. elegans, Torr.

FALSE INDIGO. LEAD-PLANT.

Amorpha Californica, Nutt. Pea Family.

Shrubs three to over eight feet high. Leaves.--Mostly alternate; with stipules; pinnate. Leaflets.--One inch long; five to nine or more pairs. Flower-spikes.--Two to six inches long. Flowers.--Black-purple; two and a half lines long. Calyx.--Half as long. Corolla.--With only one petal! (the standard); this erect and folded. Stamens.--Slightly united at base; exserted. Ovary.--One-celled. Pod.--Three lines long. (See Leguminosae.) Hab.--The Coast Ranges, from Marin County to San Diego.

This shrub or small tree is remarkable for its sickeningly fragrant foliage. The small blossoms, taken individually, are inconspicuous, but when seen in masses, sprinkling the foliage with black and gold, they are quite effective.

BLUE-CURLS.