IN CALIFORNIA 217 



be effective. The laurel abounds in California from 

 one end of the State to the other, and across into 

 southwestern Oregon, where it is known as myrtle. 

 It is a neatly dressed, dignified tree with rich green 

 leaves that persist for several years, and bears a 

 fruit in appearance surprisingly like an olive. The 

 oily, thin-shelled kernel, after roasting, used to ap- 

 peal to the redman's palate in Northern California, 

 where particularly in the redwood belt the finest 

 specimens of the tree are found. The clustered 

 greenish-yellow blossoms, individually inconspicu- 

 ous, are pleasant features of a midwinter ramble in 

 the canons and foothills, when the tide of wild-flower 

 life is at its lowest. 



Among the Tarweeds in the Sierras 



Biding one day with a California mountaineer, I 

 asked him if he knew the name of a certain flower 

 blooming by the roadside. He glanced at it with 

 lack-interest eye, and shifting his quid, remarked : 



"Search me, partner, some kind of blasted tar- 

 weed, I guess." 



I pricked up my ears at that, for I was then fresh 

 from the East and tarweed was a new word to me. 

 I have since learned it is a California specialty, and 

 my first real acquaintance with the miscellaneous 

 plant fraternity that goes by that name, began one 



