THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 
Vol. 111. October 15, 1902. No. 4 
HOW THE TURKEY MULLEIN LIVES. 
By M. F. Bradshaw. 
In this "land of sunshine" and winter rains, where the earth 
grows yellow and brow^n from May to November, one would 
hardly look for fall flowers. Indeed a superficial glance over the 
hillsides and plains would cause most people to say there were 
none and that the earth was bare. 
But I think a close inspection of these bare places would con- 
strain them to acknowledge there were many plants—some even 
pretty. A student finds more than this, for these dry-weather 
plants are among the clever ones of the earth. 
Clever they are, because they have chosen a time when there is 
little competition for room and sunshine; they can spread them- 
selves out in exactly the shape they like best, with no tall neighbor 
to overtop and shade them. Clever in their methods of self-pro- 
tection and reproduction, and successful in life as well, for there 
never was a drought that discouraged them. 
Let us look at one Ereomocarpus setigera, called "turkey mul- 
len," "turkey weed," "poverty weed," "tar weed" and I don't 
know how many other local names. It is one of the euphorbia 
family, and quite the most numerous, though its relations are by 
no means few here. 
It grows prostrate, fastened to the dry earth by a slender root 
and looks almost as if it could do quite as well without any so in- 
adequate does the root appear. I say prostrate, though in favor- 
able situations, such as cultivated land it looks up and attains a 
foot or more in height. However, in the hard, sun-baked earth 
of the plains or slopes of the lower hills, it seems to be most at 
home and here it lies quite flat. Its color is gray-green, the small 
clusters of flowers surrounded by leaves of the same color, and 
only noticable by the protruding white anthers. The whole plant 
is really graceful and so thriving and healthy and perfect in every 
