MILKWEED FAMILY. 379 
soil, sometimes encroaching on gardens where it is difficult to eradicate. 
The inner bark collected in fall is soft. silky. and exceedingly strong. 
It was used not so very long ago as almost the sole source of fiber for 
ropes and nets, also to make garments, and as thread. Ropes and 
nets are still made from it by a few of the older Indian men, The 
Concow name is po, the Little Lake wii-sha and the Yokia s/-//ni! id. 
Fig. 75.—Indian hemp (dpocyiiin cannabiiini). 
ASCLEPIADACEAE. Milkweed Family. 
Asclepias eriocarpa Benth. 
Michi!’ (white wit) and e/va-ak! (Yuki). “This common milkweed 
(fie. 76) is a leafy robust perennial weed 2 to 4 feet high, with con- 
spicuous cream or purplish colored, sweet-scented flowers, a favorite 
source of nectar for bees. The broadly inflated pod contains a large 
number of feathery-tailed seeds which are widely distributed by the 
wind. It grows profusely along roadsides and in low, dry, or wet 
ground; sometimes, as in valleys, claiming large areas to the extent 
of from 60 to 90 per cent of the bulk of the vegetation, It is common 
throughout the interior part of Mendocino County. During the sum- 
mer and autumn when the grass has been burned up by drought this 
milkweed is conspicuous, both for its size and for the abundance of its 
large, soft, flaccid. and hoary-pubescent leaves, “These as well as the 
