TARWEED. MOUNTAIN MISERY.
Chamæbatia foliolosa, Benth. Rose Family.
Shrubby; a foot or two high; branching freely; glandular pubescent throughout; fragrant. Leaves.—Alternate; finely dissected; ovate or oblong in outline; two or three inches long. Flowers.—White; few in terminal cymes. Calyx.—Five-lobed. Petals.—Five; spreading; three or four lines long. Stamens.—Very numerous; short. Ovary.—Solitary. Style terminal. Fruit.—A leathery akene. Hab.—The Sierras, from Mariposa County to Nevada County.
One of the most conspicuous plants to be met on the way to the Yosemite is the Chamæbatia. It is exceedingly abundant, covering considerable areas and filling the air with its balsamic fragrance, strongly suggestive of tansy, though to many not so agreeable as the latter. It is a beautiful plant, with its feathery leaves and strawberry-like flowers; but by the roadside, where its viscid leaves and stems have caught the dust, it is often but a travesty of itself.
Mrs. Brandegee writes of it: "Along the line of the railroad in Placer County it is often called 'bear-clover,' perhaps in accordance with our felicitous custom of giving names, because it bears not the least resemblance to clover, and the bear will have nothing to do with it."
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