PEPPER-ROOT. MILKMAIDS (Dentaria calif ornica, Nutt.). 

 Flowers white, often tinged with rose, in a loose raceme; stem 

 8 inches to a foot or two high, simple or branched; root 

 leaves long-petioled, kidney-shaped, simple or with three 

 roundish leaflets; stem leaves few, short-petioled, deeply lobed, 

 the divisions lanceolate. 



This plant is closely akin to the familiar Pepper-root (D. 

 laciniata, Muhl.) of Eastern spring woodlands, but the flowers 

 are larger. The whole plant possesses a wonderful charm and 

 seems instinct with the very spirit of spring, as one comes upon 

 it in its woodland retreats in the earliest year. It is frequent 

 in damp, more or less shady places in the coast mountains and 

 foothills of California, blooming from February until April. 



The slender, fleshy rootstock of the Pepper-root bears a 

 number of little tubers, which have a rather pleasant peppery 

 taste, suggesting this common name for the plant. Toothwort, 

 another popular appellation, is derived from the toothlike 

 divisions of the rootstocks of some species, of which there are 

 half a dozen or so indigenous to our Far West. The same 

 characteristic is responsible for the scientific name Dentaria. 

 Some botanists unite the genus with the closely related 

 Carddmine. 



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