CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN THEIR HOMES 



less with cultivation ; some must rob the soil of valuable 

 food material, others are certainly disagreeable, but it is 

 possible that some do not deserve the name weed at all. 

 Of our native weeds, sunflowers are the most greedy ; they 

 choose the best places, overrunning soil that is loose and 

 rich and not too dry. As soon as the grain is cut, they 

 shoot rapidly upward and soon form thickets miles in extent, 

 affording snug shelter to hosts of sparrows and meadow 

 larks. The myriads of seeds feed the birds, but must take 

 much nitrogenous matter from the soil. 



On thousands of acres in California the grain is replaced 

 in summer and autumn by tar- weeds or other resinous, 

 strongly scented plants. The true tar- weeds are Composite ; 

 they are found in greatest profusion in the central valleys. 

 In the southern counties, the well-known Trichostema, or 

 blue-curls, is sometimes called tar- weed, and there is a very 

 sticky Gilia that deserves its name of skunk weed. The 

 turkey- weed is armed, as you remember, with dense, prickly 

 hairs instead of a resinous coat. It is doubtful whether any 

 of these weeds are particularly injurious to crops, except, 

 of course, such as spring up before the grain is cut ; it is 

 even possible that they are useful in helping to loosen the 

 soil and in producing certain chemical changes, but this 

 has not been proved. The odors of some of these plants 

 offend us, and their resinous coating ruins our clothing ; 

 along our dusty waysides, too, their dust -laden foliage is 

 not pleasing ; on the other hand, some of them have an 

 agreeable, spicy odor, and in masses many are positively 

 attractive to the eye. Some of the tar- weeds have slender 

 graceful stems supporting myriads of starry flowers ; the 

 Trichostema is a beautiful plant as long as you do not 

 touch it ; and the soft grey- green color of the turkey- weed 

 blends harmoniously with the prevailing summer browns. 



The summer weeds that are most troublesome are 

 again the foreigners. One of the worst of these, No. 2, 



208 



