DEER-WEED. WILD BROOM.
Hosackia glabra, Torr. Pea Family.
Woody at base; two to eight feet high; erect or decumbent. Stems.—Many; slender; branching; reed-like. Leaves.—Sparse; short-petioled; mostly trifoliolate. Leaflets three to six lines long; oblong to linear-oblong; nearly glabrous. Flowers.—In numerous small axillary umbels; yellow; four lines long. Calyx.—Less than three lines long; five-toothed. Corolla.—Papilionaceous. Stamens.—Nine united and one free. Pod.—Elongated; exserted. Seeds two. (See Leguminosæ.) Hab.—Common throughout the State.
This graceful, willowy plant, whose slender branches are closely set with small golden-yellow flowers, in which there is often a hint of red, is as ornamental as any of the small-flowered foreign Genestas, or brooms, we grow in our gardens; but because it is so very abundant throughout our borders, we have become blind to its merits. It is especially beautiful and symmetrical in the south, where the low, bushy plants often spread over several feet of ground; and on the mesas of Coronado, the plants growing not far removed from one another, lend to the natural scene the aspect of a garden. There it is in full flower in April; but in the north the blossoms are usually later in arriving, and it is often June before they show themselves; then making whole hill-slopes dull-yellow among the chaparral.
It is a great favorite with the bees, and for them holds untold treasure in honey-making sweets. Among the mountaineers it is known as "deer-weed" and "buck-brush," as both deer and stock are said to feed upon it and flourish, when pasturage is scarce, though they rarely touch it when other food is plenty.