Descriptive Flora 



99 



radially from the thick, tough, main root. Leaves simple, alter- 

 nate. Blades narrow, about one inch long, densely covered with 

 silky hairs. Flowers Bordeaux-purple, irregular, odd, y 2 to %" 

 across, on short 2-leaved, hairy peduncles in the axils of the many 

 alternate leaves. Sepals 5, hairy underneath, usually mistaken 

 for petals because of their red color. Petals odd, smaller than the 

 red sepals, the upper 3 united into a 3-lobed fanshaped object, 

 the other 2 short, broad, thick, one on each side of the furry 

 pistil. Stamens four, inconspicuous, united at their bases. Pistil 

 conspicuously furry at base. Fruit hard, one-seeded, covered 

 with spines that have sharp recurved barbs at the tip, giving rise 

 to the common name sandbur. March to July. 



FABACEAE. Pea Family. 



Sophom secundiflora (Ortega) DC. Mountain Laurel. 



"Frijolito." 



Evergreen shrub or small tree with fragrant, bonnet-shaped, 

 violet-colored flowers in big clusters in early spring. Leaves 

 pinnately compound. Leaflets seven to thirteen, rounded or 

 notched at the tip, leathery, deep-green, smooth and shiny. Fruit 

 a big woody pod, containing three to four coral-red seeds. Feb- 

 ruary and March and rarely again in November. On limestone 

 hills. 



The beans are reported as being poisonous. W. E. Safford 

 writes the following in his report on Narcotic Plants and Stimu- 

 lants. ' 1 The beans have been studied chemically and are known 

 to contain a narcotic, poisonous alkaloid allied to cystin, having 

 a physiological effect very much like that of tobacco. From 

 Texas, reports have been received that the seeds have poisoned 

 children. The plant, though usually avoided by animals, is eaten 

 by deer and goats, and the hard, glossy beans when swallowed 

 whol,e are apparently harmless. In early days they were much 

 used by certain tribes of Indians for making a narcotic decoction, 

 and when ground to a powder were put in mescal or Agave 



