PEA FAMILY. Fabaceae. 



This has such glorious flowers, so superl 



California in Col r and form ' that ifc is b ^ far th 'j 



L&thyrus handsomest of its kind and not to H 



splendens mistaken for any other. The stout | 



Crimson smooth, stems are dark green, the stipule! 



California small, and the leaves are smooth, slight^l 



thickish and stiffish, rather dark bluish I 

 green, with about ten leaflets. The flowers are over tw<| 

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

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

 hanging on drooping pedicels and shading in color fronl 

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

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

 very dark and rich. Only a small part of the flowefcl 

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

 found around San Diego and farther south, clamber ove:l 

 the neighboring bushes to a height of several feet ancl 

 adorn them with wonderful color, giving an effect o: 

 tropical splendor. 



There are innumerable kinds of Astragalus; mos'< 

 abundant in Asia, usually perennial herbs, sometime! 

 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 lengtt 

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

 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 Mili 

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

 word "loco, " 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 

 Astragalus 

 Menziesii contrasting well with the dark foliage, 



White with stout, branching stems, from two tc 



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



leaflets, dark-green on the upper side, 



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



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