SPURGE FAMILY. 363 
cooking process formerly consisted, on account of the lack of vessels 
suitable for boiling, in baking the stems, but since the introduction 
of tinware they are now more frequently boiled. The Yuki name 
given above refers to the use of the stout roots in tying. One indi- 
vidual informed me that they were remarkably strong. For some 
reason or other a small bunch of these roots is said to be kept in the 
gambling. The Little Lake name given 
e 
pocket for good luck while 
for the plant is shd-wd-ha’. 
EUPHORBIACEAE. Spurge Family. 
Croton setigerus Hook. 
Shi’ um (Pomo).—A very low, gray weed (PL XIX), native to Cali- 
fornia, and popularly known as ‘‘turkey mullein.” Some authors 
give it the technical name Lremocarpus setigerus. It grows abun- 
dantly in black adobe soil everywhere throughout the open country 
from July to November, and is very conspicuous on account of its 
dainty, mat-like appearance. Its circular outlines are very prettily 
arranged in flat, leafy rosettes, as shown in the plate. The white, 
bristly hairs which cover the whole plant in the greatest profusion 
are very characteristic, each bristle being a part of a compound hair, 
which radiates outward from the leaf in all directions. Both the 
flowers and the fruit are inconspicuous. The shining, bean-like seeds, 
only a sixth of an inch long, are borne in great abundance, and in 
summer and autumn constitute one of the favorite foods of the wild 
mourning dove, which flocks to localities where the plant is particu- 
larly abundant, a circumstance which the Indians take advantage of in 
order to kill them in large numbers for food. Turkeys feed on the 
seed also, and on this account, and on account of the wooly, mullein- 
like appearance of the leaf, the plant has been called turkey mullein, 
The Indian name above given signifies ‘fish soaproot;” for, as the 
name implies, the bruised leaves are used as a substitute for soaproot 
in the process of catching fish by stupefying or poisoning them. — It 1s 
hardly inferior to soaproot for catching fish, but this use has not been 
known to some of the tribes, especially the Yokia and Pomo, for so 
long a time, having been taught to them in this instance by more 
southern tribes. The early Spaniards were well acquainted with the 
use of this plant, and therefore called ié yerba del pescado (the fishing 
herb). A recent popular name which suggests the intoxicating action 
of the plant is ‘s fish locoweed.” The plant is altogether too commonly 
used both by the Indians and whites for catching fish. It is used in 
precisely the same manner as is described under Chlorogalum pomert- 
dianum.' The exact cause of the stupefying or crazing effect is not 
known. Some Indians attribute it to the stellate hairs, which, they 
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