14 Popular Studies of California Wild Fevers 



help to make up our chaparral belt. It does well as a water cover 

 on dry, stony hillsides to prevent erosion. It furnishes the only 

 browse for stock in some parts of the mountains. Cattle and sheep 

 seem to do well with certain varieties for food. To the hunters 

 the bushes are known as buck brush or deer brush. Deer lie in 

 hiding in its dense thickets and feed upon it also. Indians and 

 mountaineers make a tea from the roots and bruised foliage of the 

 species known as "Squaw Carpets" or "Mahala Mats" (C. prostratus 

 Benth.), which they take for kidney trouble and blood disorders. 

 This variety has handsome holly-like leaves. Its low-trailing 

 branches starred with feathery purplish blossoms cover miles of 

 mountainside, forming veritable carpets of soft, springy texture 

 under the pine trees. Children are especially fond of its odd and 

 highly decorative scarlet seed vessels. One of our finest varieties 

 (C. integerimus) is sometimes called the "White Tea Tree." But 

 the beverage concocted from the bark of its roots is used only for 

 medicinal purposes, valued as a remedy for malaria and catarrhal 

 as well as for kidney trouble. This variety is widely distributed 

 and is quite variable in appearance. Its blossoms are sometimes 

 white and sometimes blue. "Soap-Bush" was the term applied to 

 these plants by the Mexicans in early days. Its blossoms really 

 make a delightful lather, very fragrant and cleansing in quality. By 

 merely crushing the blooms as they are rubbed on the hands in the 

 brook, they leave the skin clean and fragrant and with a velvety 

 softness. There are several varieties in the southern part of the 

 State, the blossoms of which are particularly rich in saponaceous 

 qualities. But the blossoms of practically all varieties furnish an 

 excellent substitute for soap. Its seed vessels when green have the 

 same quality. 



A delicately beautiful variety of the creeping Ceanothus, not 

 common outside of the Yosemite and very abundant there in the 

 lower part of the pine belt, forms a magnificent sight in the spring, 

 when its loose, leafy mats are thickly sprinkled with pretty blue 

 blossoms. Surely the Wood Nymphs and Brownies have wonderful 

 carpets ! This variety is known to botanists as C. diver sifolious 

 Kellogg, and is somewhat similar in appearance to C. prostratus 

 Benth. 



Ceanothus is at its best in Mendocino County, where it grows 

 in dense tangles, and is almost a tree, sometimes attaining a height 

 of thirty-five feet or more. Several varieties bloom in this county 

 in many shades of lavender and blue, paling to white. From Men- 

 docino County, also, there has been sent to me, for the State Exhibit, 

 a variety, the most exquisite pink in color, which may be one of the 

 hybridized forms. A singular greenish blossom (C. adolphia cali- 

 fornica) was sent from San Diego County. 



There are innumerable and lovely species of this interesting 

 shrub. Dr. LeRoy Abrams in his Flor'a of Los Angeles and Vicinity 

 names many varieties and gives careful descriptions of species found 

 in the southland ; many of these species are common in the chaparral 

 belt of all our mountains. Among the more localized varieties is 

 "Parry's Lilac," found on the Napa Valley hills. Hybridized forms 



