Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



105 



foliage and smell', though its blossoms are different ; calycina means 

 "cup-like." The shrub grows from five to six or seven feet high. 

 The loose calyx in which the "pitcher" sits is an interesting feature of 

 the plant. It is basin-shaped, and after the blooms have faded they 

 become inflated and look much like hazel nuts on the bushes; are 

 pale green and purple-veined in color, and quite conspicuous. 



Its family name Mint is one of the sweetest of all plant names. 

 It brings to mind scents of the woodland, favorite walks, and happy 

 surprises of the season the bird songs, and all the pleasures of the 

 out-of-doors. The Mint family is a very large one and contains 

 many of our most interesting and valuable plants : The Tule Mint, the 

 Peppermint, Spearmint, Pennyroyal, Catnip, Self-Heal, the various 

 Sages, and Horehound, Blue-Curls, and the quaint and famous little 

 plant, Yerba Buena (Micromeria chamissonis), which grows in the 

 woods near tne coast, from Humboldt County to Southern Califor- 

 nia. Yerba Buena is Spanish for Good Herb, and from which they 

 made a tea, which was used as a beverage, as a febrifuge, and as a 

 remedy for colic. It was first used by the Indians for such purposes. 

 When San Francisco was a. little Spanish hamlet, it was known as 

 Yerba Buena, because of the prevalence of this aromatic, creeping 

 herb in that locality. 



Mint is from the Greek word Menthe, the name of a nymph 

 fabled to have been changed into a Mint. The woods are full of 

 fairy-like beings, and it is pleasant to make their acquaintance. I 

 like the name applied to Sphacele calycina by the mountaineers. 

 They call it "Wood Balm." 



How doth the little busy bee 

 Improve each shining hour, 



And gather honey all the day 

 From every opening flower. 



How skilfully she builds her cell! 



How neat she spreads the wax! 

 And labors hard to store it zvell 



With the sweet food she makes. 



ISAAC WATTS. 



