BOTANY. 103 



genous beech, elm, hickory, locust, acacia, or sassafras. Our 

 wild cherry and wild plum are bushes, but their fruits resem- 

 ble the wild plums and cherries of the East. We have willows 

 and Cottonwood, which differ little in appearance from those 

 of the Mississippi valley. There are wild grapes, blackberries, 

 gooseberries, huckleberries, raspberries, salmon-berries, and 

 strawberries. A truffle, or a root resembling it, is found in 

 the valleys of the coast and the Sierra N^evada. The grizzly 

 hear considers it a delicacy, and frequently digs it up. A 

 shrub called the "joint-fir" (a species oi Ephedra)^ sometimes 

 used for making tea, is found in Calaveras and Tuolumne coun- 

 ties. In the valleys of the Coast Mountains is found the yerba 

 huena (Spanish for "good herb"), a creeping vine, bearing 

 some resemblance in its leaf and vine to the wild strawberry. 

 It has a strong perfume, half-way between peppermint and 

 camphor. The yerba de la vibora (Spanish for " rattlesnake- 

 herb," known to botanists as the Dauciis 2:>usillus) is a carrot- 

 like vegetable, the leaves of which are said to be a specific for 

 the bite of the rattlesnake. 



§ 83. Poison OaJc. — The poison oak, or poison ivy {Rhus 

 toxicodendron)^ grows abundantly in the Sacramento Basin, 

 and along the coast. It thrives best on a moist soil, and in 

 the shade. In a thicket with other bushes it sends up many 

 thin stalks eight or ten feet high, with large, luxuriant leaves 

 at the top ; in the shade, the leaves are green. In the open, 

 dry ground, exposed to the sun, and without support from oth- 

 er bushes, the poison oak is a low, poverty-stricken little shrub, 

 with a few red leaves. If it can attach itself to an oak-tree, 

 it becomes a parasitic vine, and attains a thickness, though very 

 rarely, of four inches in the trunk, and climbs to a height of 

 forty feet. The touch of the leaf is poisonous, and causes a 

 very irritating eruption of the skin. It rapidly communicates 

 by the touch from one part of the body to another, causing 

 severe inflammations and swellings. The most delicate parts 

 of the body are most affected by the poison. The eyes are 

 sometimes closed up entirely by the swelling round them j and 



