SPURGE FAMILY 417 



cially abundant towards the interior. North to "Washington, east to Nevada. 

 May-Oct. 



Geog. note. — Throughout cismontane California at low altitudes Eremocarpus setigerus is 

 one of the most common and widely distributed plants of the dry open plains and foothills during 

 the rainless season. On the undulating plain on the east side of the Great Valley, between the 

 alluvial floor and the first foothills, it is more common, during the dry period, than any other 

 species. For hundreds of mUes these tiny plants, 14 to 1 or 2 inches high, forming a rosette of 

 leaves on the ground with a small central cluster of flowers, dot the rolling gravelly plain and 

 often, in July, represent over extensive areas almost the only living vegetation. Or again in 

 looser or richer soil the plants enlarge in size to low mounds a few inches high or i/^ to l^/^ 

 feet across. Wherever there is summer fallow cultivation of the soil the Turkey Mulleia be- 

 comes an impressive plant, flourishes extremely and adapts itself well to broken ground. Un- 

 doubtedly its natural range has been much extended by sheep, whence the folk name Sheep Weed. 

 It is thought to have been thus introduced forty years or more ago into the Cantua Creek country 

 in the inner Coast Range of western Fresno Co. and it reappears sporadically in the northern 

 Sierra Nevada in such a manner as to suggest introduction, as on the Walker plain in Butte Co., 

 at 5200 feet, and in the Willow Creek country near Susanville. 



The California Indians used the heavy-scented herbage of this plant to stupefy fish in small 

 streams in order that they might be caught by hand, whence the Spanish-Californian name, 

 Ycrba del Pescado. The seeds form an important resource for foraging turkeys and are also 

 eaten by mourning-doves. The Turkey Mullein is also kno^^•n to the folk as Stickweed and 

 Flannel Weed. 



Locs. — S. Cal.: San Diego, Mary F. Spencer 51; Eiverside, Jepson; Santa Ana Canon, 

 Orange Co., J. T. Howell 3108 ; San Bernardino, Parish; Chula Vista; Los Angeles, E. D. Palmer. 

 Tehachapi Mts.: Tehachapi Valley, Jepson 7430. Coast Ranges: San Luis Obispo, Condit; 

 Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Mts., Jepson; New Idria, Brewer 778; Llanda, San Benito Co., Jep- 

 son 12,413 ; upper Lagunitas Creek, Marin Co., Jepson 9496 ; St. Helena, Jepson 9839 ; Ukiah, 

 Jepson 7630; Ft. Bragg, W. C. Mathews; Hupa, Manning; WeavervUle, ¥ates 557; betw. Castle 

 Rock sta. and Dunsmuir, Jepson; Yreka, Butler 69. Great Valley: Bakersfield, Davy 2399; 

 Antelope plain, nw. Kern Co., Jepson; Little Table Mt. (3 mi. w.), Madera Co., Jepson 12,945; 

 Oakdale, Jepson 7717 ; Stockton, H. P. Fitch; Antioch, Jepson; Cordelia, Jepson 3082 ; VacavUle, 

 Jepson 8421, 13,910; Lincoln, Placer Co., Jepson 10,601; Princeton, Colusa Co., Davy; Hamilton, 

 Glenn Co., Heller 11,753; Coram, Shasta Co., BlanJcinship. Sierra Nevada foothills: North Fork 

 Kaweah River, Jepson; Friant, Fresno Co., Jepson; Hetch-Hetchy, Jepson; Gwin Mine, Cala- 

 veras Co., Jepson; Manton, Tehama Co., Jepson 15,332. Modoc Co.: Alturas, Jepson. 



Refs. — Eremocarpus setigerus Benth. Bot. Sulph. 53, t. 26 (1844) ; Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. 

 Cal. 260 (1901), ed. 2, 245 (1911), Man. 595, fig. 590 (1925). Croton setigerus Hook. Fl. Bor. 

 Am. 2:141 (1838), "Menzies Isl. and sandy banks of the Columbia River", Douglas. Piscaria 

 setigera Piper, Contrib, U. S. Nat. Herb. 11:382 (1906). 



4. CROTON L. 



Ours perennial herbs, the stems often woody at base. Leaves entire. Flowers 

 monoecious, sometimes dioecious. Staminate flowers in racemes; calyx 5-divided; 

 glands of the disk as many as and alternate with the petals; stamens 5 to many. 

 Pistillate flowers mostly solitary; cah^ 5-parted; ovary 3-celled, the cells 1-ovuled; 

 styles twice forked or 4-clef t into broadly linear lobes. Capsule 3-lobed, globose in 

 outline. Seeds smooth and shining, with a caruncle. — Species about 600, mostly 

 tropical, a few subtropical, all continents except Europe. (Kroton, a tick, the 

 Greek name of the Castor Plant, its seeds resembling that insect.) 



1. 0. calif ornicus Muell. Arg. Stems branching, erect or diffuse, 1 to 3 feet 

 long; herbage hoary or the leaves green above; leaf -blades oblong to elliptic, % to 

 3 inches long, on petioles 3 to 8 lines long; staminate racemes at length 6 to 7 lines 

 long, developing gradually, the flowers soon deciduous after anthesis and leaving 

 an elongated naked rachis; staminate calyx about 1 line long; stamens 7 to 14, with 

 hairy filaments; pistillate flowers on short pedicels; styles flabelliform, each cleft 

 into 4 linear segments, the segments entire or cleft or toothed at apex; capsules 

 scurfy, 3 to 4 lines broad. 



Sandy hills along the coast line, washes and sandy mesas in the interior, 5 to 

 2200 feet : Antioch region, Contra Costa Co. ; San Francisco to coastal Southern 

 California, thence east to the interior deserts. Mar.-Oct. 



