WILD FLOWERS OF CALIFORNIA 37 



435. Mountain Scurfy Pea Psoralea Californica Leaves palmate with 5 leaf- 



lets; a low plant with 

 many stems from a woody 

 base. Mt. Diablo and head 

 of Salinas river. Seldom 

 collected. 



436. Indian Turnip or Psoralea esculenta 



Missouri Bread- 

 Root 

 A low plant of wide distribution, may not enter California, although we have 

 collected it in the hot, sandy, southern deserts of Nevada. One is surprised in 

 digging up this small plant to find that it has a large starchy tuberous edible root 

 the size of an average potato. The leaves are palmate with obtuse leaflets. Flowers 

 bluish-purple. 



437. False Indigo Amorpha hispidula A heavy scented deciduous 



shrub with odd-pinnate 

 foliage dotted with glands. 

 Flowers consist of violet 

 sprays terminating the 

 branches. Wooded can- 

 yons Bay region south- 

 ward. 



DALEA 



An interesting group of characteristic desert herbs or shrubs. Leaves and 

 stems conspicuously dotted with dark-colored glands. When in blossom conspicu- 

 ous and attractive owing to numerous sprays of white, rose-colored, violet or 

 purple flowers. Mostlv in drv washes and canyons of the southern deserts. 

 438. 



Dalea polyadenia is a common species in the sandy deserts in Nevada and 

 enters the State at Owen's A'alley, Inyo County. It has gray stems with numerous 

 reddish conspicuous glands, small leaves, and small spravs of violet blossoms. 

 439. 



Dalea Californica, in dry washes of the San Benardino Mountains. 

 The species of the Colorado desert are D. mollis, D. Emoryii, D. Schottii, and 

 D. spinosa. 



The genus in more recent works is treated under Parosela. 

 440. Liquorice Glycyrrhiza lepidota and A perennial herb with thick 



var. sweet roots, odd pinnate 



leaves and sprays of yel- 

 lowish - white blossoms. 

 Pod thickly covered with 

 conspicuous hooked 

 prickles. Valleys and 

 plains north and south. 

 Sometimes a weed in pas- 

 tures. 

 441. CRAZY-WEEDS, LOCO-WEEDS, RATTLE-WEEDS, 

 GROUND PLUMS, MILK VETCHES ASTRAGALUS 

 This is a very large genus of plants numbering about 1000 species distributed 

 throughout the world. Of these about 200 occur in North America with three- 

 fourths of this number in the west. How many of these may be included in the 

 Flora of California is not known, but 50 species would be a conservative estimate. 

 They are annual or perennial herbs or semi-shrubs, with usually odd-pinnate leaves, 

 white, yellowish, violet, red or purple blossoms, and rigid or frequently inflated 

 smooth or hairy pods within which the seeds in some species rattle when ripe. 

 The fruit of some of the prairies species is edible, hence the name "ground plum." 

 Certain species are prized as forage plants in Japan and India, hence the name 

 "milk vetch." The name loco-weed, or crazy-weed is given to some because stock 

 feeding on them act as if mentally deranged and acquire the habit of eating them 

 to the exclusion of all other forage. Large flocks of sheep are sometimes affected 

 in this manner in certain Rocky Mountain states when they must be taken to new- 

 range free from loco-weeds, or immediately slaughtered for market. Fortunately, 

 most of our California species do not possess those deleterious characteristics, as 



