IN CALIFORNIA 143 



ness not being petals, as most people think, but 

 simply petal-like bracts, the true flowers being 

 packed together in the central disk. The peppery 

 root is the part most prized, and is used in several 

 ways for the relief of throat and lung diseases. 

 Even white doctors are inclined to think it may be 

 of benefit in cases where the mucous membrane is 

 affected. The Spanish name by which it is uni- 

 versally known in California means tame herb, and 

 one wonders how it came by such an inappropriate 

 appellation, for it is not a domesticated plant but 

 a wild one. Perhaps it is, as Manuelito says, that 

 the correct name is not yerba mansa but yerba del 

 manso, "the herb of the tamed Indian." The neo- 

 phytes at the old Franciscan Missions of California 

 were called mansos, and it is probable the white folk 

 learning through them of the virtues of this now 

 popular herb, dubbed it accordingly. Then there is 

 the Spanish-Calif ornian's famous tonic and fever 

 remedy, canchalagua (Erythraea venusta), whose 

 pink stars abound amid the wild grasses, but 

 whether the Indian used this bitter plant, or 

 whether it was adopted by the whites because of its 

 relation to the bitter gentian, I do not know. 



On the desert every prospector and "desert rat" 

 knows canutillo, though he may call it Chihuahua 

 grass, or desert tea, or half a dozen other things. 



