PEA FAMILY. Fabaceae. 



This has such glorious flowers, so superb 



of . in color and form, that it is by far the 



California ' . 



Ldthyrus handsomest of its kind and not to be 



splendens mistaken for any other. The stout, 



Crimson smooth, stems are dark green, the stipules 



small, and the leaves are smooth, slightly 

 thickish and stiffish, rather dark bluish- 

 green, with about ten leaflets. The flowers are over two 

 inches long, from the tip of the standard to the end of the 

 keel, and form a massive cluster of eight or ten blossoms, 

 hanging on drooping pedicels and shading in color from 

 the pale-salmon of the buds to the brilliant rose, carmine, 

 and wine-color of the open flowers, the older flowers being 

 very dark and rich. Only a small part of the flower- 

 cluster is given in the picture. These plants, which are 

 found around San Diego and farther south, clamber over 

 the neighboring bushes to a height of several feet and 

 adorn them with wonderful color, giving an effect of 

 tropical splendor. 



There are innumerable kinds of Astragalus; most 

 abundant in Asia, usually perennial herbs, sometimes 

 woody; leaves usually with numerous leaflets, flowers 

 narrow, in spikes, with long flower-stalks; calyx tube- 

 shaped, with nearly equal teeth; petals usually narrow, 

 with slender claws, standard erect and somewhat oblong, 

 wings oblong, keel with blunt tip, about the same length 

 as the wings; stamens ten, in two sets of nine and one; pods 

 numerous, more or less two-celled, often inflated, so the 

 wind can distribute the small seeds, therefore these plants 

 are often called Rattleweed. Another name is Milk 

 Vetch and many kinds are called Loco-weed, from the 

 word "loco, M or crazy, because they are poisonous to horses 

 and cattle. I was told by a cow-boy in Arizona that 

 "horses eat this because it tastes sweet, but it gives them 

 water on the brain and they die, unless the skull is split 

 with an axe and the water is let out! " 



A decorative plant, its pale flowers' 

 Menzitsii contrasting well with the dark foliage, \ 



White with stout, branching stems, from two to 



Spring, summer three feet tall, hairy above, and many 

 California leaflets, dark-green on the upper side, 



hairy and paler on the under. The flowers are half an 



