SQUAW GRASS (Xerophyllum tenax, Nutt.). Flowers 

 white, showy, to f inch broad, fragrant, in a dense raceme 

 sometimes a foot long, the lower blossoms expanding first, 

 borne at the summit of a bristly stem 2 to 5 feet high, arising 

 from the midst of a large tuft of very narrow, grass-like leaves, 

 dry and harsh to the touch, that spread outward and droop 

 in a way suggesting a fountain. Mountains of Central Cali- 

 fornia northward through Oregon and Washington; blooming 

 in early summer and sometimes whitening extensive meadows 

 with then- showy bloom. 



Another species, X. Douglasii, Wats., similar but in every 

 way smaller, occurs in Oregon and eastward to the Yellowstone, 

 and if you have ever botanized in the pine-barren regions of the 

 Atlantic coast states, either will remind you of the charming 

 Eastern cousin of both, X. setifolium, Michx., or Turkeybeard. 



The botanical name Xerophyllum, meaning dry leaf, well de- 

 scribes the peculiar dry roughness of the foliage. The com- 

 mon name Squaw-grass is due to the fact that the Indian wo- 

 men use the grass-like leaves in the weaving of some of their 

 best baskets. 



