SANTA CATALINA ISLAND. 145 



The famous "Yerba Santa," Microrueria Douglasii, to which 

 Mexico Joe attributes the power of inducing " a gentle sleep," is 

 found in one canon only. The dried leaves, when steeped, make a 

 pleasant, fragrant tea. A tea is also made from Pellsea Ornithopus; 

 " Tea Fern " is the local name, and its delicate fragrance is 

 unsurpassed ; it is said to be a tonic as well. 



This recalls the medicinal properties which Cereus Emoryi is 

 reputed to possess. The information is from the reliable old fisher- 

 man, John Sullivan, before mentioned. He went to gather it at 

 the urgent request of a Mexican woman, for the purpose of making 

 for her husband, ill of a fever, a healing concoction. It is, also, 

 no doubt, well known that the Indians used to make a liniment 

 from the willows. There are, besides, plants to allay thirst. If a 

 Mexican, when thirsty, comes across a Cotyledon he eagerly seizes 

 leaf after leaf and extracts the water. The fruit of Opuntia 

 Engelmanni var. littoralis makes a delicious pudding. The leaves 

 of the "Sour Oak" (Rhus iutegrifolia) are said to have a wonderful 

 curative effect on riieumatic pains, if rubbed upon the affected 

 part. This last from one of the old seers of Avalou, " who knows" ! 

 A fine drink is also made from the berries of R. iutegrifolia ; " the 

 icj'-looking white substance" (Botany of California) with which 

 they are coated, becoming, when fully ripe, bright red, very thick, 

 juicy and bitter-acid. The drink requires sugar to be valuable in 

 allaying thirst, when water can not be found on the trail. 



The tree-poppy, Dendromecon Harfordii, is very rare. I have 

 walked aud re-walked the ridge from end to end of tlie island, 

 have been in all the large canons and many small ones, aud I have 

 seen but seven trees, besides the eleven which are within the radius 

 of a half mile. The fisherman, John Sullivan, says he has never 

 seen one " beyond ' The Isthmus.' " It blooms continuously ; flowers 

 often three inches in diameter; pods four to five inches long ; margin 

 of leaves smooth, though the young and thin leaves have occasion- 

 ally a denticulate margin or are merely "rough;" leaves usually 

 distinctly jietioled and acute at base, very variable in shape, usually 

 oblong-elliptical, rarely ovate, occasionally spatulate. New shoots 

 from a fallen trunk had their smooth-margined leaves spatulate 

 over an inch broad, and one and one-half inches long. The 

 shredded bark is very conspicuous on all trees here. The species is 



