LIZARD-TAIL FAMILY. Saararaceae. 



LIZARD-TAIL. Saururaceae. 



A small family; ours are perennial astringent herbs, with 

 alternate, toothless leaves, with leaf -stalks; flowers perfect, 

 with bracts, in a dense, terminal spike, without calyx or 

 corolla; stamens generally three or six; ovary with one to 

 five stigmas; fruit a capsule or berry. 



There are two kinds of Anemopsis. 



M This plant bears several, large, cream- 



Anemopsis white flowers, which at the first glance I 



California appear to have from five to eight petals 



White and a long, projecting knob in the center, 



Cal^Ariz ^ ut w ^ at a PP ears to De a corolla is in 



reality an involucre, about an inch and a 

 half across, and surrounding the base of a long, conical 

 spike of numerous, small, greenish flowers. These are! 

 half-sunk in the fleshy substance of the spike and have no 

 sepals or petals, but each has a small, white bract at its! 

 base, so that the spike appears to be covered with scales 

 symmetrically arranged. The flower has from six to eight 

 stamens on the base of the ovary and from three to four 

 stigmas. The ovaries, which are superior, form small pods, 

 opening at the top when ripe, so that in the end the spike 

 is neatly pitted with holes. The rather thick, hollow, 

 reddish stems are from six inches to two feet tall, covered 

 with hair, and the smooth, light-green leaves, from two to 

 ten inches long, are mostly from the root, with leaf- 

 stalks which broaden at the base and partly sheathe the 

 stem. The creeping rootstocks are peppery and acrid, 

 used medicinally, and considered exceedingly valuable by 

 Spanish-Californians. These pretty, odd-looking plants 

 grow in alkaline or salty swamps in the south. The name 

 is from the Greek meaning "anemone" and "appearance," 

 but the flowers do not look very much like Anemones. 



80 



