THE AMERICAN HOTANIST. 
37 
California Red Flowers. — I find in looking over 
my check-list of Southern California flowers, we have a 
number of red flowers not mentioned in your journal and 
will include as a partial list of them wild gooseberry 
{Ribes speciosum), scarlet bugler {PentsJemon centranthi- 
folius), Indian pink {Silene Californica), southern scarlet 
larkspur(Z)e7p/2/rz/w/22 carc/i/7a/e), California fuchsia (Zauch- 
neria Californica), snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), and 
two Castilejas. The more I botanize the more I realize 
that in southern California we have a flora peculiar to 
this section and find it an interesting field. Every month 
in the year is suitable for the work. — Mrs. Emma Buszek, 
Orange, California, 
Money in Wildflowers, — It is not alone for their 
beauty that plants are uprooted. A large number of our 
plants are medicinal and command prices on the market 
that make it profitable to dig them up for sale. Among 
the common species whose roots or rootstocks are in 
demand may be mentioned the marsh-mallow {Althsea 
o&cinalis), Seneca snake-root {Polygala senega), dande- 
lion, burdock, poke, Indian hemp (Apocjnum cannabi- 
num), gentian (Gentiana lutea), lily-of-the-valley, lady's 
slipper (Cypripedium pubescens and C. parviBorum)^ 
white hellebore (Veratrum viride), sweet flag, crane's-bill 
(Geranium maculatum), mandrake {Podophyllum) and 
bloodroot. Many of these are so common and so easily 
obtained that the prices realized are not large enough to 
tempt the average collector, but others are steadily 
becoming more difficult to find and prices are advancing. 
Undoubtedly the time will come when the demands of the 
drug trade for many of these can be met only by cultivat- 
ing the plants. The stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and 
seeds of many other wild plants are in demand. One 
inclined to try cultivating any of these should ascertain 
which are likeliest to become rare and by selecting those 
that bring the best prices he is likely to get very good 
returns for the time and money invested. 
