1880. ] A Botanist in Southern California. 497 
bladdery pods. The rattle weed is one of them, and is so named 
because the dry pods swept over the ground by the wind make a 
noise like the rattlesnake’s warning. Another is the Loco plant, 
a terror to owners of horses and cattle. It is said that when 
eaten by animals it acts like a slow poison. A horse, for instance, 
seems to be affected in the brain; he becomes stupid, easily fright- 
ened at any little object coming suddenly before him, is inclined 
to run away, and often goes mad, insane, and to wind up all, dies 
from its effects. A locoed horse can easily be detected by the 
dull stupid look in his eyes. Among the lupines there are some 
of our most gorgeous flowers. The shrubby species often grow 
four and five feet in height. The Z. rivularis Dougl., has large 
bright green leaves and spikes of bright blue flowers, often two 
feet in length. As an antithesis to this there is the Z. micranthus 
Dougl., which is from four to eight inches high and has small 
white or blueish flowers. The Hosackias are sometimes bushes 
four to six feet high, and sometimes lie flat on the ground, the 
stems of a single plant being three to five feet long. The flowers 
are generally yellow, and the leaves stall and three-parted. 
Along all the roads, and covering the ground otherwise devoid 
of vegetation, we see the mock orange (Cucurbita perennis Gray); 
the flowers are quite large and yellow, leaves very rough and 
scabrous, and the fruit hard, round and yellow, looking like an 
orange. The root extends into the ground three or four feet and 
is sometimes as big round as a man’s body. The Megarrhiza 
californica Torr., another species of the Cucurbitacee, twines 
over the rocks and bushes in a luxuriant manner; it has long 
tendrils which are slightly sensitive; when rubbed on one side, 
they soon bend toward that side and twine round any support 
they may happen to touch. Along in July the Clematis ligustici- 
Jolia Nutt., with its panicles of white flowers or carpels with long 
silky tails, climbs over shrubs and into trees along the water 
courses. Brassica nigra Boiss, the common mustard, is one of 
the most pernicious weeds of the whole of Southern California, 
and it covers the ground in many places for acres, to the entire 
exclusion of other plants. Sometimes it is eight and ten feet in 
height and two or three inches in diameter at the base. I have 
ridden through fields of it early in the spring when it was as high 
as the saddle on the horse. Malva borealis Wallman, is another 
very: troublesome weed, and grows everywhere round houses and 
