This plant is used as a common domestic remedy for coughs and colds by Californian housewives, and goes under the unmerited name of "poison-weed." It has also been adopted among physicians as an officinal drug. The root, which is slightly bitter and aromatic, is made into a tincture and administered for asthma, throat disorders, and epidemic influenza, with excellent results. It blooms in early spring, and is common upon hillsides.

Another species, very similar to the above, is W. glabra, Gray. This may be known by its smooth green leaves, which are often very viscid. It is found from Marin County southward, in the Coast Ranges, and probably northward.

W. mollis, Gray, or "Indian wheat," is very abundant in the Sierras, growing all through the open woods, and covering great tracts of dry gravelly soil. Its large, coarse, somewhat woolly radical leaves stand erect and clustered, usually having a flower-stalk or two in their midst, bearing some smaller leaves, and several yellow flower-heads, which resemble small sunflowers with yellow centers. It has a strong odor, and gives a characteristic smell to the region where it grows. The common name, "Indian wheat," has been bestowed upon it not because it in the least resembles wheat, but because the Indians gather the seed in great quantities and grind it into a flour.

CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM.

Fremontia Californica, Torr. Hand-tree Family.

Shrubs or trees from two to twenty feet high. Leaves.—Alternate; petioled; round-cordate to round-ovate; moderately three- to five-lobed or cleft; woolly or whitish beneath; the larger two inches wide. Flowers.—Short-peduncled on very short lateral branches; numerous; one to three inches across; having three to five small bractlets. Calyx.—Corolla-like; brilliant gold, five-cleft nearly to the base; the lobes having a rounded, hairy pit at base. Corolla.—Wanting. Filaments.—United to their middle; each bearing a linear, adnate, curved, two-celled anther. Ovary.—Five-celled. Style filiform. Hab.—Dry Sierra foothills, from Lake County southward.

No more beautiful sight is often seen than a slope covered with the wild slippery-elm in blossom. The bushes are almost obscured from view by the masses of large golden flowers. This shrub takes on various forms; sometimes sending out in every direction long slender branches, which are solid wreaths of the magnificent blooms; and again assuming a more erect, treelike habit. It has been hailed with delight in the gardens of our Southern States, and heartily welcomed in France and England. Why do not we honor it with a place in our own gardens, instead of giving room to so many far less beautiful exotics?

It flowers in early summer, and its season of bloom is said to last only about two weeks, but the brilliant hibiscus-like blossoms, drying upon their stems, maintain for a long time a semblance of their first beauty. The branches are tough and flexible, and are often cut for whips by teamsters. Among the mountaineers it is generally known as "leatherwood." But this name properly belongs to another entirely different plant, Dirca palustris.

[CALIFORNIAN SLIPPERY-ELM—Fremontia Californica.]