Part 72

Stems.--Six to fifteen inches high. Leaves.--Opposite; petioled; ovate or oblong. Flowers.--In a dense, short spike, with broad, leafy bracts; purple, violet, or rarely white. Calyx.--Bilabiate; upper lip with three short teeth; the lower two-cleft. Corolla.--Bilabiate; upper lip arched, entire; lower three-lobed; deflexed. Stamens.--Four; in pairs. Filaments two-forked; one fork naked, the other bearing the two-celled anther. Ovary.--Of four seedlike nutlets. Style filiform; two-cleft above. Hab.--Widely distributed over the Northern Hemisphere.

From April to July the purple blossoms of the self-heal, or heal-all, may be found in the borders of woods or in open grounds.

The generic name is thought to come from the old German word, braune, a disease of the throat, for which this plant was believed to be a cure. According to the old doctrine of signatures, plants by their appearance were supposed to indicate the diseases for which nature intended them as remedies, and in England the Brunella was considered particularly efficacious in the disorders of carpenters and common laborers, because its corolla resembled a bill-hook. Hence it was commonly called "carpenter's herb," "hook-heal," and "sicklewort."

PENNYROYAL. POLÉO.

Monardella villosa, Benth. Mint Family.

Stems.--Woody; branching from below; a foot or two high. Leaves.--An inch or less long; toothed or entire; veins conspicuous. Flowers.--White to deep lilac; in a dense head subtended by a number of ovate, green bracts. Calyx.--Tubular; five-toothed; four lines long. Corolla.--Nine lines long; with filiform tube and bilabiate border. Upper lip two-cleft; lower cleft into three linear divisions. Stamens.--Four; in pairs; exserted. Anther cells divergent. Ovary.--Of four seedlike nutlets. Hab.--Throughout the State; common.

Owing to their resemblance to the Monarda, or horsemint of the East, these Western plants have been given the diminutive of its name--Monardella.

In early summer the blossoms, which are generally purple, are conspicuous in our drying woods. The herbage is pleasantly fragrant. The more hairy form, which suggested the specific name, is found in the south.

Another species--M. lanceolata, Gray--common in the Sierras and south to San Diego, is a very handsome plant with lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, entire leaves, an inch or two long, and having its bright rose-colored or purple corollas sometimes dark-spotted. This is known among the Spanish-Californians as "poléo" (pennyroyal), and is valued as a remedy for various ailments.

M. odoratissima, Benth., found abundantly in the Sierras, and known as "wild pennyroyal," is a bushy, many-stemmed plant, whose flowers usually have a faded lavender hue. But the plant is exceedingly fragrant, perfuming the air all about.

LUCERN. ALFALFA. CHILEAN CLOVER.

Medicago sativa, L. Pea Family.

Perennials, with roots sometimes reaching down eight or ten feet. Stems.--Two to four feet high. Leaflets.--Three; toothed above. Flowers.--Violet. Calyx.--Five-toothed. Corolla.--Papilionaceous; six lines long. Stamens.--Nine united; one free. Pod.--Spirally coiled; without spines. Hab.--Usually escaped from cultivation.

The value of this little plant has been known for many centuries. It was introduced into Greece from Media, whence it received the name Medicago, and was cultivated several centuries before Christ. It has reached us through Mexico and Chile, where it is called "alfalfa" and "Chilean clover."

It is but sparingly naturalized among us, but on account of its very nutritious herbage it is largely cultivated for feed. Its very deep root enables it to seek moisture from perennial sources, and to thus withstand the dryness of our summers. It requires considerable care to start the plants; but once established, the roots will continue under favorable circumstances to produce crops of herbage almost indefinitely. When grown upon good soil and irrigated, it will yield several crops a year. When cured for hay, it is cut just before flowering. But it is of greatest value for feeding green to dairy cows and other animals. An alfalfa field is a beautiful and grateful sight amid the drouth of our late summer. In Chile sprays of this plant are laid about in the houses to drive away fleas.

SQUAW'S CARPET. MAHALA MATS.

Ceanothus prostratus, Benth. Buckthorn Family.

Hardy, evergreen, trailing shrubs, carpeting the ground. Leaves.--Opposite; short-petioled; obovate or spatulate; cuneate; leathery; several-toothed above; three to twelve lines long. Flowers.--Bright blue; in loose clusters on stout peduncles. Fruit.--With thick, often red, flesh; with three large wrinkled, somewhat spreading horns from near the apex, and low intermediate crests. (See Ceanothus.) Hab.--The Sierras and northern Coast Ranges.

Upon half-shaded slopes in the Sierras, where great firs rear their noble shafts, forming an open forest, this little trailing shrub makes a clean, delightfully springy carpet underfoot. Early in the season it is an exquisite thing, when covered with its delicate clusters of bright-blue flowers, and it is no less attractive in late summer, when its odd scarlet fruit studs the rich green foliage.

The children of our mountain districts know it as "squaw's carpet" and "mahala mats." Among the Digger Indians the word "Mahala" is applied as a title of respect to all the women of the tribe indiscriminately, and they always refer to one another as "Mahala Sally," "Mahala Nancy," etc.

ACONITE. MONK'S-HOOD. FRIAR'S-CAP. BLUEWEED.

Aconitum Columbianum, Nutt. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.

Stems.--Two to six feet high. Leaves.--Alternate; palmately three- to five-cleft, three to five inches across. Flowers.--From blue to almost white; in a terminal cluster. Sepals.--Five; petaloid; very irregular; the upper one helmet-shaped. Petals.--Two to five; the upper two stamen-like, concealed within the helmet; the lower three minute or obsolete. Stamens.--Numerous. Filaments short. Pistils.--Usually three; becoming divergent follicles. Syn.--A. Fischeri, Reichb. Hab.--The Sierras and the northern Coast Ranges.

The blossoms of the monk's-hood, or aconite, may be found with those of the tall blue larkspur and the little alpine lily along our mountain streams in late summer. Owing to the shape of the upper sepal, these flowers have received several of their common names, such as "helmet-flower," "friar's-cap," and "monk's-hood."

The genus Aconitum has been known from remote times and noted for the poisonous qualities of its species. From the roots and leaves of A. napellus, the officinal species, supposed to be native of Britain, is made the powerful drug, aconite. Our own species is also poisonous, and among the mountaineers it is called "blueweed," and remembered only for its disastrous effect upon their sheep, who are sometimes driven to eat it when other feed is scare. The helmet varies greatly in breadth and length.

BLUE GENTIAN.

Gentiana calycosa, Griseb. Gentian Family.

Stems.--Six to twelve inches high. Leaves.--Eighteen lines to less than an inch long. Flowers.--Deep, rich blue. Corolla.--An inch or two long; plaited into folds between the lobes; the sinuses with two long, toothlike appendages; the lobes green-dotted. Stamens.--Five; alternate with the corolla-lobes. Filaments flattened and adnate to the corolla below. Ovary.--One-celled. Style awl-shaped. Stigma two-lobed. Hab.--The Sierras.