106 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
sends deep into the ground, thus enabling it to resixt the 
drought, while above the surface it puts forth a dense mass 
of stalks and leaves, spreading out sometimes several feet in 
every direction. Cattle prefer it to every other indigenous 
herb of the state. The seeds seem to abound throughout the 
soil, for wherever the earth is ploughed up for the first time, 
there the alfilerilla appears, though it may never have been 
seen there before. It is common in gardens, cultivated fields, 
and fallow lands. 
The white Californian clover has a large yellowish-white 
bloom, from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, a beau- 
tiful plant, well suited as an ornament for yards and gardens. 
It grows very large, and two feet high in moist, favorable sit- 
uations; while in dry places it will also mature its seed with- 
out rising more than two or three inches above the ground. 
It is very sweet, and it is often eaten by the Indians, who like 
it both raw and boiled. Cattle are also extremely fond of it. 
Another species of clover has a round bloom about a third 
of an inch in diameter, composed of violet-tinged flowers. 
Another clover has a bloom from a sixth to a quarter of an 
inch in diameter, the flowers of which are subdued green, 
tipped with pink at the end. 
The Melilotes officinalis, another herb, commonly called a 
clover, though not strictly entitled to that name, likes a very 
moist soil, and then grows luxuriantly, crowding out nearly 
every thing else. Its bloom consists of a drooping head about 
an inch long and a sixth of an inch thick, hung with little yel- 
low flowers. Cattle are not fond of this herb in any shape, but 
they like it better in hay than when green. 
Of nutritious grasses there are a number, but they do not 
form a sod. The drought of summer and fall seems to kill the 
roots. 
Of wild flowers there are a great variety and abundance in 
California, and they have their different seasons for blooming; 
and in cafions where the soil is always moist, flowers may be 
seen in every month of the year. In the spring-time the hill- 
