232 ERYTHEA. 
thrifty bunches two or three feet across may be found, the 
result of many seasons’ growth; the tender incoiling and the 
fully-formed fronds stand in the midst of others long since 
dead. The stalk is chaffy with light-brown scales, as is also 
the massive rootstock. It is the Yerba del Golfe of the 
Spaniards, and as its name would indicate, is used by them 
to cure contusions. A decoction made from the roots is 
applied warm to the affected parts and I have been told by 
intelligent people that bruises, even very painful ones, thus 
treated, lose their sorenese and discoloration with a prompt- 
ness that is quite remarkable. 
A widely disseminated plant in California is Daucus 
pusillus, or Yerba del Vibora of the Spanish-Californians. 
Tt is a far-famed plant and the American settlers who were 
not long in learning of its reputed virtue, called it “Rattle 
Snake Weed,” a rude translation of the more expressive 
Spanish. It is common on rocky inland hillsides where it is 
likely to be of immediate service. To a_certain degree, it 
resembles its near relative, the common Carrot; the bipinnate 
leaves are delicately cut; the minute flowers of the flat or 
concave umbel are greenish-white; and later in the season 
the fruit by means of its barbed prickles clings closely to 
wool and clothing. The plant has acquired celebrity by 
reason of being used as a remedy for the poisonous bite o 
the rattlesnake. A poultice is made from the herbage and 
applied to the wound inflicted by the venemous fang; “and so.” 
implicit is the faith in its virtues as an antidote that not only 
the Spanish but American residents count it improvident not 
to have a bundle of the dried plant conveniently near for 
immediate use when occasion demands. 
There is not the least suggestion of anything so disagree- 
able as medicine in the beautiful Zauschneria Californica. 
It is common in the hill lands of the Coast Range, now 
hanging its scarlet trumpets over the cliffs as if to hail us 
from the bluff, now lying prone by the dusty roadside, and 
now in great colonies standing straight and tall in dry creek 
beds, everywhere the most beautiful flower of late summer 
