Part 21

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.

_Trichostema lanceolatum_, Benth. Mint Family.

One or two feet high; branching from the base. _Leaves._--Opposite; sessile; crowded; lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate; gradually acuminate; densely pubescent; several-nerved; an inch or more long. _Flowers._--Blue; in axillary, short-peduncled, dense clusters. _Calyx._--Five-cleft. _Corolla._--Six lines long; with filiform tube; and border with five almost similar lobes. _Stamens._--Four; of two lengths. Filaments filiform; long-exserted and curled. _Ovary._--Of four seed like nutlets. Style long; filiform; two-cleft at the tip. _Hab._--Throughout Western California.

Of all the plants of our acquaintance, the common blue-curls is the most aggressive and ill-smelling. Its odor is positively sickening. Some years ago, when it was first new to me, I brought some of it down from Sonoma County upon the train, and, even though it had been carefully wrapped, I was obliged to deposit it in the wood-box, as far as possible from the passengers.

The generic name comes from two Greek words, signifying _hair_ and _stamen_, and was bestowed on account of the capillary filaments. The common name also refers to the long, curling blue stamens.

This species blossoms late in summer, and grows upon very dry ground, where it seems almost a miracle for any plant to thrive.

ROMERO. WOOLLY BLUE-CURLS.

_Trichostema lanatum_, Benth. Mint Family.

Shrubby; two to five feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite and fascicled in the axils; an inch or so long; green above; white-woolly beneath. _Flowers._--Blue; in terminal clusters sometimes a foot long; covered with dense violet wool. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Corolla._--Nearly an inch long; with tube half its length and border violet-shaped. _Stamens and Style._--Two inches long. _Ovary._--Of four seedlike nutlets. _Hab._--From San Diego to Santa Barbara.

When the first scorching winds of the desert have withered and laid low the lovely flowers of the southern plains, the Romero is just coming into bloom upon dry hillsides. Its shrubby form, with densely crowded leaves, becomes conspicuous by reason of its long spikes of purple-woolly buds and blossoms. This inflorescence is an exquisite thing, more like the production of a Paris milliner than a guileless creation of nature. The individual blossoms have much the look of alert little blue violets wearing long, elegant lilac aigrets. Both leaf and flower have a pleasant aromatic fragrance, entirely unlike the dreadful odor of the common blue-curls.

Among the Spanish-Californians it is known altogether by the musical name of "Romero," and is one of their most highly valued medicinal herbs, being considered a panacea for many troubles. Fried in olive oil, it becomes an ointment which alleviates pain and cures ulcers; dried and reduced to powder, it is a snuff very efficacious for catarrh; and made into a tincture, it is used as a liniment. This plant is also sometimes called "black sage."

HARVEST BRODIAEA. LARGE-FLOWERED BRODIAEA.

_Brodiaea grandiflora_, Smith. Lily Family.

_Corm._--Fibrous-coated. _Leaves._--Narrowly linear; somewhat cylindrical. _Scape._--Four to twelve inches high. _Pedicels._--Three to ten, rarely one; unequal. _Perianth._--Violet; waxen; ten to twenty lines long; broadly funnel-form; six-cleft; lobes recurving. _Stamens._--Three; opposite the inner segments. _Staminodia._--Three; strap-shaped; entire; white; erect; about equaling the stamens. _Ovary._--Sessile; three-celled. Style stout. Stigma three-lobed. _Hab._--From Ventura to the British boundary in the Coast Ranges and Sierras.

In the latter part of May and early in June, just as the grain is mellowing in the fields, the dry grasses of our hill-slopes and roadsides begin to reveal the beautiful blossoms of the "harvest Brodiaea." Seen at its best, this is one of our finest species. It sends up a scape a foot high, bearing from five to ten of the large, lily-like, violet flowers. They are somewhere described as varying to rose. I have never seen them of this color, though a flash of them caught when riding by a field is often suggestive of a pink flower.

These plants vary considerably in size, in some localities blooming when but an inch or two high, and in others having their tall scape crowned with as many as ten of the fine blossoms. These have their segments nerved with brown upon the outside. The clear-white stamens stand opposite the outer segments, alternating with the white staminodia. The leaves have dried away before the coming of the blossoms.

_B. terrestris_, Kell., common throughout Central California, is always found in sandy soil. Its perianth is less than an inch long, and its staminodia are yellow, with inrolled edges. This is clearly distinguished by these characteristics, added to the fact that its flower-cluster has no common stalk or scape, but seems to sit upon the ground, giving the separate flowers the appearance of coming from the ground.

VIOLET SNAPDRAGON.

_Antirrhinum vagans_, Gray. Figwort Family.

Herbs with prehensile branchlets. _Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; lanceolate to oblong-ovate; entire; an inch long. _Flowers._--Six lines long; lavender. _Sepals._--Five; upper one large; oblong; the others small, linear. _Stamens._--Four; in pairs; on the corolla. Filaments slender. Anthers with two diverging cells. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style awl-shaped. _Hab._--Throughout the western part of the State.

When the first dryness of summer is beginning to make itself felt, the tall wandlike sprays of the little lilac snapdragon begin to appear along our dusty roadsides. A curious feature of this plant is to be found in the long threadlike branchlets produced in the axils of the leaves. These are like so many little arms, apparently waving about in aimless abandon, but in reality vigilant of any opportunity to grasp some convenient object of support.

Another species--_A. glandulosum_, Lindl.--is common from Santa Cruz southward. This may be known by its pink and yellow flowers, its very viscid, leafy stems, three to five feet tall, and its lack of prehensile branchlets. This has somewhat more the look of the familiar garden species. Its anthers are arranged like teeth in the roof of its mouth, and the children, by slightly pinching the sides of its funny little countenance, can make it open its mouth in quite a formidable manner.

Sir John Lubbock, writing of the fertilization of flowers, says: "Thus the _Antirrhinum_, or snapdragon, is completely closed, and only a somewhat powerful insect can force its way in. The flower is in fact a strong-box, of which the humble-bee only has the key."

CALIFORNIAN HAREBELL. BELLFLOWER.

_Campanula prenanthoides_, Durand. Harebell or Campanula Family.

_Stems._--Several inches to two feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate; ovate-oblong to lanceolate; one inch or less long. _Flowers._--Blue; on recurved pedicels. _Calyx._--Growing to the ovary below; with five awl-shaped teeth. _Corolla._--Five to eight lines long; with short tube and slender, spreading, recurved lobes. _Stamens._--Five. _Ovary._--Three- to five-celled. Style club-shaped; much exserted. Stigma becoming three-lobed. _Hab._--Coast woods from Monterey to Mendocino County, and through the northern Sierras.

The fragile blossoms of the harebell lurk in the seclusion of our cool cañons or peer down at us from the banks of shaded mountain roads toward the end of July. We almost wonder that this ethereal flower dares delay its coming so long when outside its cool retreat all is parched and dry. It forms a delicate contrast to its more robust English sister, the harebell so often celebrated by the poets.

SELF-HEAL. HEAL-ALL.

_Brunella vulgaris_, L. Mint Family.

_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.

This genus was named for Gentius, an ancient king of Illyria, who is said to have discovered the medicinal virtues of these plants. The drug called "gentian," a bitter tonic, is made from the root of a German species--_G. lutea_--with yellow flowers.

All the Gentians are natives of the cooler portions of the world, inhabiting northern latitudes and mountain heights. We have several fine species, which are found in the Sierras and the northern Coast Ranges.

_G. calycosa_ is a truly beautiful flower, rivaling the sky with its deep blue blossoms, which are to be found in the fall in many an alpine meadow, called by Mr. Muir "gentian-meadows."

TALL MOUNTAIN LARKSPUR.

_Delphinium scopulorum, var. glaucum_, Gray.

Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.

Mostly smooth; more or less glaucous. _Stems._--Two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Palmately five- to seven-parted; the divisions slashed into sharp-pointed lobes. _Flowers._--Blue; in narrow, slender racemes; on rather short, slender pedicels. _Sepals._--Rather narrow; six lines long or less; minutely tomentose. Spur crapy; rather slender. _Ovaries._--Smooth. (Flower-structure as in _D. nudicaule_.) _Syn._--_D. scopulorum_, Gray. _Hab._--The Sierras, at about six thousand feet; from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Yukon River.

By July and August the slender spires of the tall mountain larkspur are conspicuous along the watercourses of the Sierras, where they are usually found in the company of their near relatives, the monk's-hoods and the gay scarlet columbines. A ramble down one of these mountain streams affords a succession of most delightful surprises. Willow copses, alternating with tangles of larkspur, great willow-herb, and monk's-hood, are followed by open, velvety meadows, starred by white and blue daisies, or diversified by the pure spikes of the milk-white rein-orchis, or the lovely blossoms of the pink mimulus; while further down, the stream perchance suddenly narrows and deepens, flowing by some jutting rock-wall, resplendent with crimson pentstemons or brilliant sulphur-flowers.

COMMON ASTER.

_Aster Chamissonis_, Gray. Composite Family.

_Stems._--Two to five feet high; loosely branching. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate; three to six inches long; the upper becoming small or minute. _Flower-heads._--Five or six lines long; composed of yellow disk-flowers and violet or purple rays. _Rays._--Twenty to twenty-five; half an inch long. _Involucre._--Campanulate; of many small imbricated scales. _Hab._--Throughout California.