Stems.—Creeping. Leaves.—Round-cordate; six to eighteen lines broad; finely crenate; often rusty beneath; usually punctate with dark dots. Peduncles.—Slender. Flowers.—Small; light yellow without and within. (Flower structure as in V. pedunculata.) Hab.—Coast Ranges, from Monterey to British Columbia.
This modest little violet is found commonly in woods,—often in redwood forests,—where it carpets the ground with its shapely little round leaves.
Its specific name refers to its running habit.
COMMON BLACK MUSTARD.
Brassica nigra, Koch. Mustard Family.
Stems.—Six inches to twelve feet high. Lower leaves.—Lyrate; with large terminal lobes. Upper leaves.—Lobed or entire. Flowers.—Yellow. Sepals.—Four. Petals.—Four; three to four lines long. Stamens.—Six. Ovary.—Two-celled. Style long. Pod.—Six to nine lines long, with seeds in one row. Hab.—Common everywhere; introduced.
I can give no truer idea of the manner of growth of this common plant in California than by quoting Mrs. Jackson's charming description of it from "Ramona":—
"The wild mustard in Southern California is like that spoken of in the New Testament, in the branches of which the birds of the air may rest. Coming up out of the earth, so slender a stem that dozens can find starting-point in an inch, it darts up a slender, straight shoot, five, ten, twenty feet, with hundreds of fine, feathery branches locking and interlocking with all the other hundreds around it, till it is an inextricable network, like lace. Then it bursts into yellow bloom, still finer, more feathery and lacelike. The stems are so infinitesimally small and of so dark a green, that at a short distance they do not show, and the cloud of blossoms seems floating in the air; at times it looks like a golden dust. With a clear, blue sky behind it, as it is often seen, it looks like a golden snowstorm."
The tall stems are favorite haunts of the red-winged blackbird, who tilts about among them, showing his scarlet wings and occasionally plunging into the depths below, as though he found a spot there much to his mind.
A very superior oil is made from the seed of the mustard, which is one of the strongest antiseptics known. It is especially adapted to the needs of the druggist, because it does not become rancid. The flour of mustard is now much used by surgeons to render their hands aseptic. Tons of the seed are exported from California every year.