DEERWEED (Hosackia glabra, Torr.). Flowers yellow turn- 

 ing reddish, j inch long or so, in numerous close-set umbels on 

 slender, leafy branches, more or less woody and spreading. 

 Leaves small, of usually 3 leaflets. Seed-vessel a slender, some- 

 what curbed, pod, an inch or two long, with a long point. 



The Deerweed is a somewhat woody perennial from 2 to 6 

 feet high, common throughout California below about 3,000 

 feet, particularly on dry hillsides and mesas. It may be found 

 in bloom at all seasons (at least in the South), often giving a 

 distinct coloring to the foothill slopes. It is a valuable bee- 

 plant, known to beemen as Wild Alfalfa. 



There are some 40 species of Hosackia indigenous to the 

 Western United States. Some botanists throw them all into 

 Lotus, so that our plant will be found mentioned as Lotua 

 glaber. This is unfortunate for the name Hosackia com- 

 memorates one who should not be forgotten a certain 

 Dr. David Hosack, who was professor of botany at Columbia 

 College something more than a century ago. His botanic 

 garden in what is now the heart of New York City was one of 

 the first to be established in America. The famous botanist 

 Pursh once worked there as gardener; and John Torrey, one of 

 America's most celebrated botanists, was a student of Hosack's. 

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