Noticeable Plants 57 



Common in parts of the desert mountains. Blooms in 

 mid-spring. 



Amsinckia spectabilis. Fiddle-head, Zacate gordo. A very 

 common, small, hairy, slender-stemmed plant, with 

 narrow leaves and small orange flowers on stalks that 

 curl at the tip. Blooms in early and mid-spring. 



Anemopsis calif ornica. Yerba mansa. A low, rank-growing 

 plant found only in damp places. Leaves large and 

 coarse: flowers large, white, with protruding conical 

 centre. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Aphyilon cooperi. Cancer-root. A low, succulent plant, 

 somewhat like a stalk of asparagus, bearing a number 

 of small, purplish flowers. The plant is a parasite, 

 growing on the roots of other plants. Not common. 

 Blooms in late summer. 



Argemone hispida. Thistle poppy, Cardo, Chicalote. A 

 prickly, gray or bluish leafed, thistly-looking plant, 1 

 or 2 feet high, with large, fragile flowers, white with 

 yellow centre. Blooms in mid- and late summer. 



Aster orcuttii. A hardy-looking plant of the driest desert 

 caiions, 1 to 2 feet high; rather rare. Leaves stiff and 

 paper-like, with prickly-toothed edges: flowers large 

 and handsome, of lavender rays with yellow centre. 

 Blooms in early summer. 



Astragalus coccineus. A low plant with almost white stem 

 and leaves and handsome cardinal-red flowers. Found 

 in the desert mountains, but rare. Blooms in mid- 

 spring. 



Atriplex canescens. Salt-bush, Shad-scale. A good-sized 

 roundish bush with small, grayish leaves, inconspicuous 

 flowers, and tassels of striking, bright green seed- 

 vessels. Blooms in early summer. 



Atriplex hymenelytra. Desert holly. A stiff, shrubby plant 

 1 or 2 feet high, with whitish, holly-like leaves and 

 inconspicuous flowers. Found in alkaline soil in dry 

 caiions or on open desert. Blooms in mid-spring. 



Atriplex lentiformis. Quail-bush. A large gray bush very 

 common on silt or alkaline soil, up to 15 feet high. 



