24 TREES AXD SHRUBS 



drooping near the ends. The fruit is small, blue, and succu- 

 lent, usually two seeded. When growing alone it takes a fine 

 conical shape with branches quite to the ground ; an ideal shape 

 for use on lawns. Its resemblance to the Eastern red cedar is 

 striking. It should be quite a valuable decorative tree at the 

 higher elevations. 



Canatillo (Ephedra spp.J. The family to which these 

 plants belongs is represented by the single genus of four 

 species, within our limits. They are all low shrubs 6 feet high 

 or less, with slender cylindrical striate green or yellowish- 

 green jointed stems; the leaves are reduced to small scarious 

 bracts occurring in whorls at the nodes. The flowers are of 

 two sexes on different plants, and consist merely of stamens 

 and ovules surrounded by brownish or greenish papery scales. 

 The fruit is a hardened seed, sometimes angular, enveloped 

 in the chaffy dry scales that surrounded the ovule. Our 

 species grow on the sandy mesas and to some extent on the 

 foothills of the drier mountains, associated with the mesquite, 

 desert willow, and such plants. They are called by various 

 names besides the Spanish one given. Another common Span- 

 ish one in usage is popotillo, and Mormon tea. A tea made 

 by boiling the branches in water is said to be a specific for 

 venereal diseases and kidney troubles, and is used to a certain 

 extent by the native population. Analyses of the plant have 

 shown that it contains a relatively large supply of tannin, 

 though attempts to use this have never yet been made. The 

 species arc very closely alike and to be recognized by characters 

 of the scale-like leaves and the shape and size of the fruit. 



