[Sidenote: =Loco-weed=
_Astrágalus MacDoùgali_
=White,
lilac
Spring
Arizona=]
An attractive plant, about a foot high, with straggling, reddish stems
and delicate foliage. The flowers are over half an inch long, with a
hairy calyx and pale lilac and white corolla, and form pretty clusters
about two inches long.
There are many kinds of Hedysarum, some from Africa and only a few
in this country; perennial herbs, sometimes shrubby; the leaflets
toothless, odd in number; the flowers in handsome racemes, with
bracts, on stalks from the angles of the stem; the calyx with five,
nearly equal teeth; the standard rather large, round, or inverted
heart-shaped, narrow at base, the wings oblong, shorter than the
standard; the keel blunt, nearly straight, longer than the wings; the
stamens in two sets of nine and one, not adhering to the corolla;
the pod long, flat, and oddly jointed into several, strongly-veined,
one-seeded, roundish divisions, which separate when ripe. The name is
from the Greek, meaning "sweet-broom."
[Sidenote: _Hedýsarum pabulàre_
=Pink
Spring, summer
Utah=]
A very handsome and decorative plant, with large brilliant
flower-clusters, contrasting well with the foliage and making spots of
vivid color on dry plains and hillsides. It has many stems, springing
from a rootstock, which are from eight to fifteen inches long,
yellowish-green, ridged, and covered with inconspicuous down, the
leaflets are light bluish-green, thickish, nine to seventeen in number,
and the bracts are thin and dry. The flowers are about three-quarters
of an inch long, with a pinkish-green and downy calyx, and the corolla
all bright deep pink, fading to blue, with a veined standard. The
pod has from three to five divisions. This flourishes at rather high
altitudes, up to seven thousand feet, and is conspicuously beautiful
near the entrance to Ogden Canyon in Utah.
There are a great many kinds of Trifolium, or Clover, difficult to
distinguish; low herbs; leaves usually with three leaflets, usually
toothed; stipules adhering to the leaf-stalks; flowers in heads or
spikes; stamens usually in two sets of nine and one; pods small, mostly
enclosed in the calyx, usually with one to six seeds.
[Illustration: Hedysarum pabulare.]
[Illustration: Loco-weed--Astragalus MacDougali.]
[Sidenote: =Clover=
_Trifòlium tridentàtum_
=Purple
Spring, summer
Cal., Oreg., Wash.=]
This is very common from the coast to the Sierra foothills, but there
are many named varieties. It is smooth all over and grows from eight
inches to two feet high, with spreading stems and narrow leaflets,
which are toothless, or have teeth and bristles on the edges. The
pinkish-purple flowers form a broad head, over an inch across, with an
involucre.
[Sidenote: =Sour Clover=
_Trifòlium fucàtum_
=Cream-color
Spring, summer
Wash., Oreg., Cal.=]
This has queer-looking flowers and is conspicuous on that account. The
branching stems are a foot or more tall, the stipules are large, with
papery margins, and the leaves are bright green, with a paler spot near
the middle of each of the leaflets, which are toothed, or sometimes
only bristly on the edges, and the flowers form a head about an inch
and a quarter across, with a broad involucre. The calyx is very small
and the corolla is cream-color, becoming much inflated and changing to
deep pink as the flower withers. The effect of the cluster is curiously
puffy and odd in color. This grows rankly in low alkaline and brackish
places.
There are many kinds of Psoralea, widely distributed; ours are
perennial herbs, without tendrils, the leaves with three or five
leaflets, with glandular dots on them and usually bad-smelling. The
flowers are white or purplish, and the pod is short, with only one seed.
[Sidenote: =Native California Tea=
_Psoràlea physòdes_
=White
Spring, summer
Cal., Oreg., Wash.=]
This is a rather pleasing plant, for the foliage is pretty, though the
flowers are too dull in color to be effective. It is almost smooth
all over, a foot or more tall, with several spreading stems and rich
green leaves, thin in texture and giving out a rather pleasant aromatic
smell when crushed. The flowers are less than half an inch long, with a
somewhat hairy calyx, covered with dots and becoming inflated in fruit,
and a yellowish-white corolla, more or less tinged with purple. This is
common in the woods of the Coast Ranges. The foliage was used as tea by
the early settlers.
[Illustration: Sour Clover--Trifolium fucatum.
Clover--T. tridentatum.