BLADDER BUSH (Salazaria mexicana, Torr.). Flowers about 

 \ inch long, the upper lobe white or lilac, the spreading lower 

 lobe deep blue or magenta; in loose terminal racemes. Calyx 

 globular, enlarging remarkably in age and .becoming like a 

 blown-up bladder, | inch in diameter or more, yellowish or 

 pink. Leaves grayish, scattering, and small, the floral ones 

 reduced to little bracts. A shrubby, twiggy plant, 2 or 3 feet 

 high, the slender, twisting branches soft-downy; blooming 

 from March till May in the desert regions of Southern Califor- 

 nia, eastward to Nevada, Utah, and Arizona and southward 

 into Mexico. 



The genus Salazaria includes, so far as known, only this one 

 species, which was brought to light during the work of the 

 United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, shortly after 

 our Mexican War, about three-quarters of a century ago. 

 The showy flowers the more noticeable because of the sparse 

 foliage and the pinkish bladdery calyces which succeed the 

 flowers and adorn the bare branches like so many tiny bal- 

 loons or paper lanterns, make a striking sight. The name 

 Salazaria was given in honor of Don Jose Salazar, the Mexican 

 Commissioner of the survey. 



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