BIRD-BEAK (Cordyldnthus filifolius, Nutt.). Flowers green- 

 ish yellow or purplish, \ to f inch long, nearly hidden within 

 the green calyx, corolla 2-lipped, the upper lip enclosing stam- 

 ens and style; borne in many-flowered, terminal heads. Leaves 

 alternate, divided into 3 to 5 threadlike divisions, the floral 

 leaves and bracts more or less bristly on the margins and gen- 

 erally marked at the tip with a depressed gland or callosity. 

 A loosely branched annual, roughish-hairy and often some- 

 what sticky below, 1 to 3 feet high, blooming from June to 

 September in the hills throughout most of California. 



The curious tip of the corolla, somewhat suggesting a bird's 

 beak, is responsible for the common name of this species, whose 

 grayish-green little bushes are often noticeably massed along 

 mountain roadsides and in dry glades. The San Diego In- 

 dians found the plant medicinally serviceable as an emetic, 

 according to the late Mr. P. S. Sparkman. 



There are several species of Cordylanthus, all Far Western. 

 In the Yosemite region, C. tennis, Gray, is rather abundant, a 

 slender annual, distinguished by very narrow leaves \ to 1 inch 

 long without divisions. 



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