GENTIAN FAMILY 



(Gentianacece) 



Smooth, bitter herbs with opposite leaves. Stamens as 

 many as the lobes of the gamopetalous corolla, inserted on its 

 tube or throat. 



CANCHALAGUA (Eryihrcea ventista, Gray). Flowers about 

 an inch in diameter, pink or reddish with a yellow or white eye, 

 borne in a loose, showy panicle on a stem 3 inches to 2 feet 

 high. Leaves ^ inch to 1 inch long, lanceolate, sessile. A 

 slender annual, blooming from April to July, on dry hills and 

 grassy mesas of Central and Southern California most 

 abundant in the South. 



Canchalagua is one of the most famous of Pacific Coast 

 medicinal herbs, valued alike by Americans, Spanish-Cali- 

 fornians and Indians as a febrifuge. The plant is gathered 

 and dried, and a tea, made from it, is a standard bitter tonic in 

 old-fashioned families. Because of the bitter principle resi- 

 dent in the plant, the name Wild Quinine is also given it. 

 Kindred species in Mexico and South America possess similar 

 properties. 



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