TARWEED.
Hemizonia luzulæfolia, DC. Composite Family.
Glandular, strong-scented plants. Stems.—Loosely branching;] slender; six inches to two feet high. Leaves.—Linear; very small above; elongated and withering early below. Flower-heads.—White or light yellow; composed of ray- and disk-flowers. Rays.—Six to ten; two to five lines long; three-lobed. Scales.—of the involucre each clasping a ray. Hab.—Common throughout the western part of the State.
Under the common designation of "tarweed," plants belonging to two different genera—Madia and Hemizonia—and comprising thirty or forty species, may be found. They are mostly annuals or biennials, with viscid, heavily scented foliage, which make themselves conspicuous in late summer and through the autumn. The Hemizonias are distinctively Californian; while the Madias we have in common with Chile. Their viscid exudation is particularly ruinous to wool and clothing, but alcohol is a solvent for it, and will generally remove it.
We wonder how these plants, which flourish in our driest seasons, can extract so much moisture from the parched earth, and of what practical use this resinous secretion can be in their economy. Though some of them are described as having a disagreeable odor, many of them have a very pleasant balsamic fragrance, which gives our summer and autumn atmosphere a peculiar character of its own. Whole fields and hillsides are tinged with their warm olive foliage, or are yellow with their golden flowers, which appear like a fall revival of the buttercups. The flowers open mostly at night or in early morning, closing in bright sunshine.
Hemizonia luzulæfolia is a common species, whose flowers are redolent of the odor of myrrh.
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