94 WILD FLOWERS OF CALIFORNIA 



SOW-THISTLES SONCHUS 



Some of these weedy plants are nearly sure to be seen wherever the land is 

 utilized for agricultural purposes. Coarse, somewhat succulent stemmed plants with 

 yellow flowered heads swollen at the base like a two-handled mug or jug. 



1128. Common Sow Sonchus oleraceus Leaf-bases pointed. Intro- 

 Thistle duced from Europe. 



1129. Prickly Sow Sonchus asper Leaf-bases rounded. Intro- 

 Thistle duced from Europe. 



1130. Sonchus tenerrimus San Diego and islands off 



the coast. Rare. Intro- 

 duced from Europe. 



LOBELIA FAMILY LOBELIACEAE 



The family is best known by a species of the genus Lobelia, L. inflata, an 

 annual plant of the Plains Region of the United States south to Georgia. It is a 

 very poisonous plant but valuable medicinally. The market offers 20 cents a pound 

 for the seeds and 3 to 8 cents a pound for the dried leaves and tops. Although it 

 has weedy tendencies, we do not know of its occurrence in California. It might 

 be well worth growing for commercial purposes. The family contains many orna- 

 mental garden plants. 



The following representatives of the family which are natives of California 

 are not reported as being poisonous. 



BOLELIA 



Very dwarf, but beautiful-flowered plants frequently occupying considerable 

 areas in low, wet places in pastures and grain fields in the interior valley and in the 

 mountains. They form masses of solid blue mingled with white and yellow. The 

 species are not well defined 



1131. Bolelia elegans Sacramento Valley. 



1132. Bolelia pulchella Abundant, Sacramento Val- 



ley in salt marshes and 

 elsewhere. 



1133. Bolelia concolor Low fields near Siusun. 



1134. Bolelia cuspidata North Coast Ranges. 



1135. Bolelia ornatissima Plains near Elmira. 



1136. Bolelia humilis Sonoma County. 



1137. Laurentia carnosula 



Rooting in mud. One to five inches high, somewhat succulent flower, stalks 

 longer than the leaves. A pretty blue-flowered plant mingled with yellow or white. 

 Sierras ; Sierra and Indian Valley, and elsewhere. 



1138. Nemacladus ramosissimus 



Low annual, with much-branched slender zig-zag stems. Flowers flesh-colored 

 and very small at the tips of the branchlets. 



Sandy or gravelly open places throughout the Sierras. 



1139. Nemacladus longiflorus Similar. San Diego and San 



Bernardino Counties. 



1140. Howellia limosa Margins of pools; Sacra- 



mento Valley; Siusun. A 

 weak, more or less matted 

 plant with short linear 

 leaves and cleistogamous 

 flowers. 



BELL-FLOWER FAMILY CAMPANULACEAE 



Best known by the remarkably beautiful garden plants, the Canterbury Bells. 

 Hare-Bells and Blue Bells of Scotland. 



1141. Narrow-leaved Campanula linnaci folia Swamps, Point Reyes north 

 Hare-Bell to Mendocino Cotintv. 



