Part 9

If you would find its flowers open, you must seek it in the afternoon. At a little distance, it appears as though the truant summer wind had lodged a delicate white feather here and there upon the branches. In themselves, these blossoms are not ill-favored, with their slender, recurved petals; but to us the root is the most interesting part of the plant. This the early Spanish-Californians used extensively in lieu of soap, and esteemed greatly as a hair tonic, and it was known by them as "amole." Even now it is much used among their descendants, and we know of one aged señora over ninety who refuses to use anything else for washing. Her grandsons keep her supplied with the bulbs, which they dig by the sackful from the neighboring hill-slopes and mesas. She takes her linen down to the brookside, and there, in primitive fashion, upon her knees she scours and rinses it till it is as white as the driven snow.

The Indians of the Sierra foothills have a curious use for the bulb. After the June freshets have subsided, many fish are usually left in small pools in the streams. The squaws go to these pools with an abundance of soap-root, and kneeling upon the banks, rub up a great suds with it. The fish soon rise to the surface stupefied, and are easily taken.

We are told that in the early days of the gold excitement, when commodities were scarce and brought fabulous prices, the fibrous outer coats of the bulb were used for stuffing mattresses.

The inner portion of the bulb, when reduced to a paste, is said to be an excellent remedy for oak-poisoning, applied as a salve.

This is not the only plant popularly known as soap-plant among us. Several others share the title, among them the goose-foot, the yucca, and the California lilac. There are several other species of _Chlorogalum_.

MOUNTAIN BIRCH. WHITE TEA-TREE. SOAP-BUSH.

_Ceanothus integerrimus_, Hook. and Arn. Buckthorn Family.

Shrubs or small trees; five to twelve feet high; with cylindrical, usually warty, branches. _Leaves._--Alternate; on slender petioles two to six lines long; ovate to ovate-oblong; one to three inches long; entire or rarely slightly glandular-serrulate; thin. _Flowers._--White; sometimes blue; in a thyrse three to seven inches long, one to four thick. _Fruit._--Not crested. (See _Ceanothus_.) _Hab._--Mountains from Los Angeles to the Columbia River.

When in flower, this is one of the most attractive of all our _Ceanothi_. It often covers great mountain-sides with its white bloom as with drifted snow. The trip to the Yosemite is often diversified by this beautiful spectacle, which comes as an exhilarating surprise.

Among the mountaineers this shrub is highly valued as forage for their cattle, which they turn upon it after the lowland pastures have dried up.

The young twigs and leaves have the spicy fragrance of the black birch of the Eastern States. The foliage is deciduous, and of rather a pale though bright green. The bark of the root of this shrub is becoming celebrated as a remedy for various disorders, such as malaria, catarrh, and liver trouble.

COMMON WHITE LUPINE.

_Lupinus densiflorus_, Benth. Pea Family.

_Stems._--Stout; simple below; parted in the middle into numerous widespreading branches; two feet high; succulent; sparsely villous. _Flowers._--In long-peduncled racemes; six to ten inches long; with usually five or six dense whorls. Bracts bristle-like, from a broad base. _Calyx._--Upper lip scarious; deeply cleft; lower long, toothed. _Corolla._--White or rose-color; seven lines or so long; the standard dark dotted. _Pod._--Two-seeded. _Hab._--Widespread; Sacramento Valley southward.

In the days when we went fishing in the brook with a pin for minnows, a company of these pretty white lupines in a field represented to our childish fancy so many graceful dames in flounced skirts dancing in a sylvan ballroom.

MEADOW-SWEET.

_Spiraea discolor_, Pursh. Rose Family.

Shrubs two to six feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; an inch or two long; oval or ovate; crenately lobed above; the lobes often toothed; silky pubescent beneath. _Flowers._--White; two lines across; in feathery panicles several inches long. _Calyx._--Five-parted; petaloid. _Petals._--Five; equaling the sepals. _Stamens._--About twenty. _Pistils._--Five; distinct; one-celled. _Hab._--Coast Ranges, mostly from Monterey County northward.

Not until midsummer is upon us does the common meadow-sweet make itself noticeable by its large feathery clusters of minute white flowers, which have a pleasant odor, reminiscent of slippery-elm.

We have two species of _Spiraea_ with pink flowers--_S. Douglasii_, Hook., the Californian hardhack, having its blossoms in long clusters, (found in Northern California,) and _S. betulifolia_, Pall., having flat-topped flower-clusters, (found in the Sierras).

Another shrub closely resembling the _Spiraeas_ is _Neillia opulifolia_, Benth. and Hook., the wild bridal-wreath, or ninebark. Indeed, this has been classed by some authorities among the _Spiraeas_. It may be easily recognized by its hemispherical clusters of white flowers. These clusters are an inch or two across. Though the shrub is quite showy when in bloom, it is almost equally attractive when its carpels are beginning to redden.

CALIFORNIAN AZALEA.

_Rhododendron occidentale_, Gray. Heath Family.

Shrubs two to twelve feet high. _Leaves._--Clustered at the ends of the branches; obovate to lanceolate; two to four inches long; herbaceous. _Flower-clusters._--Large, from a special terminal bud. _Calyx._--Deeply five-cleft. _Corolla._--With funnel-form tube, and five-cleft border; white; the upper lobe blotched with corn-color; sometimes tinged with pink; glandular-viscid without. _Stamens._--Five. Anthers two-celled, opening terminally. _Ovary._--Five-celled. _Capsule._--Very woody. _Hab._--Stream-banks throughout the State.

One of the most deservedly admired of all our shrubs is the lovely Californian azalea. In June and July, the borders of our mountain streams are covered for miles with the bushes, whose rich green foliage is often almost obscured from view by the magnificent clusters of white and yellow, or sometimes pinkish, flowers. Its delicious, spicy perfume is always subtly suggestive of charming days spent with rod and line along cool streams, or of those all too brief outings spent far from the haunts of men, in some sequestered mountain-cabin among redwood groves or by rushing waters.

In Oregon it is commonly known as "honeysuckle," and there in the autumn its life ebbs away in a flood of glory, showering the forest floor with flecks of scarlet and crimson. Its root is said to contain a strong narcotic poison, and the leaves are also reputed to be poisonous if eaten, but they are not at all harmful to the touch.

AMERICAN BARRENWORT.

_Vancouveria parviflora_, Greene. Barberry Family.

_Stems._--One or two feet high. _Leaves._--All radical; twice to thrice ternately compound. _Leaflets._--One to two inches broad; rich shining green; persisting; undulate and membrane-margined. _Flowers._--Twenty-five to fifty, in loose panicles; small; with six to nine sepal-like bracts. Parts in sixes all in front of one another. _Sepals._--Petaloid; two lines long. _Petals._--White to lavender. _Stamens._--Erect; closely appressed to the pistil. _Ovary._--One-celled. Style stoutish. _Hab._--Coast Ranges of Central California.

There is no more exquisite plant in our coast woods than the American barrenwort. Its delicate threadlike stems, which are yet strong and wiry, hold up its spreading evergreen leaves, every leaflet in its own place. There is a likeness in these leaves to the fronds of our Californian maidenhair, and one could easily imagine the maidenhair amplified, strengthened, and polished into this form. The leaflets are also somewhat ivy-like in form.

In June its delicate, airy panicles of small white blossoms appear. These are especially interesting as belonging to the Barberry family, where all the floral organs stand in front of one another, and the anthers open by cunningly contrived little uplifting valves. These plants are said to grow upon bushy hillsides, in masses sometimes several feet across. But I have never seen it with other than an exclusive and rather solitary habit, growing in shaded forests. We have one or two other species.

SERVICE-BERRY. JUNE-BERRY.

_Amelanchier alnifolia_, Nutt. Rose Family.

Deciduous shrubs, three to eight feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate; petioled; from rounded to oblong-ovate; serrate usually only toward the apex; six to eighteen lines long. _Flowers._--White, in short racemes. _Calyx-tube._--Campanulate; limb five-parted. _Petals._--Five; oblong; six lines or so long. _Stamens._--Twenty; short. _Ovary._--Three- to five-celled. Styles three to five. _Fruit._--Small; berry-like; dark purple. _Hab._--Throughout the State and northward; also eastward to the Western States.

The service-berry seems to be at home throughout our borders, but it reaches its greatest perfection north of us, on the rich bottom-lands of the Columbia River. In spring the bushes are beautiful, when snowily laden with masses of ragged white flowers; and from June to September they are no less welcome, when abundantly hung with the black berries, which usually have a bloom upon them. These berries are an important article of food among our Western Indians, who make annual pilgrimages to the regions of their growth, gathering and drying large quantities for winter use. The drying they effect by crushing them to a paste, which they spread upon bark or stones in the sun. It is said that many a party of explorers, lost in the woods, has been kept alive by this little fruit.

Almost the same shrub in the Atlantic States is called "shad-bush," because it blooms at about the season when the shad are running up the streams.

CHRISTMAS-BERRY. CALIFORNIAN HOLLY. TOYON.

_Heteromeles arbutifolia_, Roemer. Rose Family.

Shrubs four to twenty-five feet high. _Leaves._--Alternate; short-petioled; oblong; serrate; leathery; two to four inches long. _Flowers._--Small; white; four lines across; in dense terminal panicles. _Calyx._--Five-toothed. _Petals._--Five; roundish; spreading. _Stamens._--Ten; on the calyx. Filaments awl-shaped; flat. _Ovaries._--Two; one-celled. Styles slender. _Berries._--Red; four lines in diameter; in large clusters. _Hab._--Coast Ranges, from San Diego to Mendocino County.

Christmas could hardly be celebrated among us without our beautiful Californian holly. Florists' windows and the baskets of street-venders at that season are gay with the magnificent clusters of rich cardinal berries, which are really ripe by Thanksgiving. The common name, "Californian holly," refers more to the berries than to the leaves, as the latter have not the form of holly-leaves. We have often seen the venders mix the berries with the prickly foliage of the live-oak, to make them seem more like holly.

The large clusters of spicy white flowers appear in July and August. Nothing in all our flora yields a finer contrast of lavish scarlet against rich green. The berries have a rather pleasant taste, somewhat acid and astringent, and are eaten by the Indians with great relish. The Spanish-Californians used them in the preparation of an agreeable drink.

This is a very handsome shrub in cultivation.

VIRGIN'S BOWER. CLEMATIS.

_Clematis ligusticifolia_, Nutt. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.

Nearly smooth. _Stems._--Woody; sometimes climbing thirty feet. _Leaves._--Opposite; long-petioled; five-foliolate. _Leaflets._--Ovate to lanceolate; eighteen lines to three inches long; three-lobed and coarsely toothed; rarely entire or three-parted. _Flowers._--Dioecious; in axillary panicles. _Sepals._--Four; petaloid; four to six lines long; thin. _Petals._--Wanting. _Stamens._--Numerous. _Pistils._--Many; becoming long-tailed, silky akenes. _Hab._--Widely distributed.

The virgin's bower usually looks down upon us from among the branches of some tree, where it entwines itself indistinguishably with the foliage of its host. It climbs by means of the stalks of its leaflets, which wrap themselves about small twigs. This species is not so noticeable during the season of its blossoming as it is later, when the long plumes of its seed have twisted themselves into silvery balls, making feathery masses. Mrs. Blochman writes that among the Spanish-Californians, it is called "yerba de chivato," and valued as a remedy for barbed-wire cuts in animals. It is used in the form of a wash, and remarkable cures are effected.

Another widespread species--_C. lasiantha_, Nutt.--is far more showy than the above. It is found in the Coast Ranges, from Los Angeles to Napa County at least, and in the Sierras to Plumas County. Its long-peduncled flowers are solitary; but they are so numerous and grow so closely together, that they make dense masses of white, conspicuous at a long distance. The flowers are larger, the sepals being an inch long, and covered with a silky pubescence, which makes them like soft cream-colored velvet. The three ovate leaflets are also silky.

LADIES' TRESSES.

_Spiranthes Romanzoffianum_, Cham. Orchis Family.

_Roots._--Fascicled tubers. _Stems._--Stout; four to eighteen inches high. _Leaves._--Oblong-lanceolate to linear. _Spikes._--One to even ten inches long. _Perianth._--Yellowish white; four lines long. Upper sepal and two petals coherent. Lip recurved, bearing a small protuberance on each side at base. _Anther._--On the face of the short column. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Through the mountains from Los Angeles northward.

The twisted spikes of these little orchids are interesting, because their ranks remain so clearly defined as they wind about the stem. The plants vary greatly in different seasons as to size, and are usually found in moist places.

TARWEED. MOUNTAIN MISERY.

_Chamaebatia foliolosa_, Benth. Rose Family.

Shrubby; a foot or two high; branching freely; glandular pubescent throughout; fragrant. _Leaves._--Alternate; finely dissected; ovate or oblong in outline; two or three inches long. _Flowers._--White; few in terminal cymes. _Calyx._--Five-lobed. _Petals._--Five; spreading; three or four lines long. _Stamens._--Very numerous; short. _Ovary._--Solitary. Style terminal. _Fruit._--A leathery akene. _Hab._--The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Nevada County.

One of the most conspicuous plants to be met on the way to the Yosemite is the _Chamaebatia_. It is exceedingly abundant, covering considerable areas and filling the air with its balsamic fragrance, strongly suggestive of tansy, though to many not so agreeable as the latter. It is a beautiful plant, with its feathery leaves and strawberry-like flowers; but by the roadside, where its viscid leaves and stems have caught the dust, it is often but a travesty of itself.

Mrs. Brandegee writes of it: "Along the line of the railroad in Placer County it is often called 'bear-clover,' perhaps in accordance with our felicitous custom of giving names, because it bears not the least resemblance to clover, and the bear will have nothing to do with it."

LARGE-FLOWERED DOGWOOD.

_Cornus Nuttallii_, Audubon. Dogwood Family.

Shrubs or trees, fifteen to seventy feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite; obovate; acute at each end; three to five inches long. _Flowers._--Numerous; small; greenish; in a head surrounded by an involucre of four to six large, yellowish or white bracts, often tinged with red, and eighteen lines to three inches long. _Calyx._--Four-toothed. _Petals and Stamens._--Four. _Ovary._--Two-celled. _Fruit._--Scarlet; five or six lines long. _Hab._--The Coast Ranges and Sierras, from Monterey and Plumas Counties to British Columbia.

Our large-flowered dogwood more nearly resembles the Eastern _C. florida_ than any other species, but it is a much handsomer shrub than the latter. It reaches its maximum size in Northern Oregon and Washington, where, in the season of its blossoming, it is a sight never to be forgotten. Its masses of large white flowers, like single Cherokee roses, contrast finely with the deep, rich greens of the fir forests, in which it often grows. In its northern range, its leaves turn beautifully, and it becomes one of the most brilliant masqueraders in the autumn pageant.

The wood is very hard, close-grained, and tough, and is used as a substitute for boxwood in the making of bobbins and shuttles for weaving, and also in cabinet-work.

MILK-WHITE REIN-ORCHIS.

_Habenaria leucostachys_, Wats. Orchis Family.

_Root._--A fusiform tuber. _Stems._--One to four feet high; leafy throughout. _Leaves._--Lanceolate; diminishing upward. _Flowers._--Bright white, in a spike. _Perianth segments._--Two or three lines long. _Lip._--Four lines long, with a slender spur four to six lines long. _Anther._--On the column just above the stigma. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Mountains throughout California.

From July to September we may look for the milk-white rein-orchis in moist meadows. It is especially abundant in the Sierras, where its charmingly fragrant, pure-white spikes are particularly effective against the lush green of the alpine meadows.

JAMESTOWN-WEED. JIMSON-WEED. THORN-APPLE. COMMON STRAMONIUM.

_Datura Stramonium_, L. Nightshade Family.

_Stems._--Two or three feet high; stout. _Leaves._--Alternate; ovate; coarsely angled; long-petioled. _Flowers._--In the forks of the stem; short-pediceled; white. _Calyx._--Tubular; angled; five-toothed; over an inch long. _Corolla._--Funnel-form; three inches long; with an expanded five-angled border. _Stamens._--Five; included. Filaments long and slender; adnate to the corolla below. Style long. _Ovary._--Two-celled; each cell nearly divided again. _Fruit._--Larger than a walnut; prickly. _Hab._--Waste grounds near habitations; introduced.

The jimson-weed, which is a native of Asia, has become quite common in waste places. It is a rank, ill-smelling, nauseating weed, possessing narcotic, poisonous qualities, but its flowers are rather large and showy. The leaves and seeds are made into the drug called "stramonium," which is used as a remedy in neuralgia, spasmodic cough, and other disorders.

As the plant usually grows by roadsides or in the vicinity of dwellings, children are not infrequently poisoned by its fruit and leaves. The poison manifests itself in dryness of the throat, rapid pulse, and delirium; and even death may ensue, preceded by convulsions and coma.

This plant is also called "mad-apple," "apple of Peru," and "Devil's apple."

It has a near relative--_D. suaveolens_, HBK.,--a large shrub with dark-green leaves and very large, pendulous white flowers. This is common in Californian gardens, and is known popularly as "floriponda," or "angels' trumpets." It sheds a powerful fragrance upon the air at night, which is not noticeable by day.

YARROW. MILFOIL.

_Achillea Millefolium_, L. Composite Family.

_Stems._--A foot or two high. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; twice-pinnately parted into fine linear, acute, three- to five-cleft lobes; lanceolate in outline; two to four inches long; strong-scented. _Flower-heads._--Crowded in a flat cluster; white, sometimes pink; four lines across, including the rays; made up of white disk-flowers and obovate white rays. _Hab._--All around the Northern Hemisphere.

The yarrow, which is a common weed in most countries of the Northern Hemisphere, has long been known to botanists and herbalists, and was formerly in high repute for its many virtues. The leaves steeped in hot water are still considered very healing applications to cuts or bruises; and among the Spanish-Californians the fresh plants are used for stanching the blood in recent wounds.

This plant received the name _Achillea_, because the great hero of the Trojan war was supposed to have been the first to discover its virtues.

In Sweden it is used as a substitute for hops in the brewing of beer. Among the superstitious, even of the present day, it is regarded as a most potent love-charm, when plucked by a love-lorn maiden from the grave of a young man, while repeating the proper formula.

In the spring, the plants first develop a rosette of finely dissected, feathery leaves, which lie flat upon the ground. Later, when these are well grown, it sends up its tall flower-stalks, crowned with close, flat clusters of small white blossoms.

M. Naudin, who has an intimate knowledge of the plants of dry countries, recommends the yarrow for lawn-making where irrigation is impossible. "It grows freely in the driest of weather, and makes a handsome turf. It must be frequently cut, however, to prevent it from throwing up flower-stems. It will not succeed on a lime-impregnated soil."

Among children the yarrow is commonly known as "old man."

RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN.

_Goodyera Menziesii_, Lindl. Orchis Family.

_Leaves._--Two or three inches long; leathery; dark green, veined with white. _Scape._--Six to fifteen inches high, with scattered lanceolate bracts. _Spike._--Many-flowered. _Perianth._--White; two to four lines long; downy. Lateral sepals deflexed; upper and two petals coherent. Lip erect, saccate below, concave above, and narrowing into the recurved summit. _Anther._--On the base of the column behind. _Ovary._--One-celled. _Hab._--Mountains, from Mendocino and Mariposa Counties to British Columbia.

The rattlesnake plantain is frequently met under the coniferous trees of our northern woods. Its common name comes from the mottling of its leaves, which is similar to that of the rattlesnake's skin. In midsummer, or later, the plant sends up a stalk of small but shapely little blossoms. These are so modest, one would hardly suspect they belonged to the showy orchis family.

BUTTON-BUSH. BUTTON-WILLOW.

_Cephalanthus occidentalis_, L. Madder Family.

Shrubs eight to ten feet high. _Leaves._--Opposite, or in whorls of three or four; petioled; ovate to lanceolate; three to five inches long. _Flowers._--Small; white; in spherical heads an inch in diameter. _Calyx._--Four-toothed. _Corolla._--Long funnel-form with four-cleft limb. _Stamens._--Four; short; borne on the throat of the corolla. _Ovary._--Two- to four-celled. Style long-exserted. Stigma capitate. _Hab._--Throughout the State.

The button-bush is a handsome shrub, found upon stream borders, often standing where its roots are constantly under water. Its leaves are willow-like, and its spherical flower-heads, poised gracefully at the ends of the branches, resemble small cushions filled with pins. The blossoms often have a jessamine-like fragrance.

A tincture made of the bark is used by physicians as a tonic and laxative and as a remedy for fevers and coughs.

This shrub is especially abundant in the interior, on the lower reaches of the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers, where it is in bloom from June to August.

WHITE-VEINED SHINLEAF.

_Pyrola picta_, Smith. Heath Family.