Root.—Very thick. Leaves.—Clustered; linear-oblong; one or two inches long. Scapes.—One-flowered; one or two inches long; jointed in the middle, with a whorl of five to seven scarious bracts at the joint. Sepals.—Six to eight; six to nine lines long; scarious-margined. Petals.—Twelve to fifteen; rose-color, sometimes white; oblong; eight to sixteen lines long; rotately spreading in sunshine. Stamens.—Forty or more. Ovary.—One-celled. Style three- to eight-parted nearly to the base. Hab.—The mountains of California, northward and eastward.
Within our borders this little plant is not abundant, but must be sought upon mountain heights. Formerly it was supposed not to occur south of Mt. Diablo, but it has since been found in the mountains of the southern part of the State and at intermediate points. It is very abundant in Montana, where it has been adopted as the State flower.
The plants are very small, being but an inch or two high, but the flowers are handsome and showy, and the delicate, rose-colored corollas, which are often two inches across, are of an exquisite silken texture. The root is remarkably large and thick for so small a plant, and it contains a nutritious, farinaceous matter, much esteemed by the Indians for food. Among them it is known as "spat'lum," and they gather large quantities of it, which they store in bags for future use.
This was the "racine-amère," or "bitter-root," of the early French settlers. It is also known as "tobacco-root," because when boiled it has a tobacco-like odor.
The specific name, rediviva, was bestowed because of the wonderful vitality of these plants. It is known upon good authority that specimens which had been drying for two years in an herbarium continued to produce leaves, and at last, when taken out and planted, went on growing and blossomed!
This genus is an exception to the other members of the Purslane family, in having more than two sepals.
SPINELESS TUNA.
Opuntia basilaris, var. ramosa, Parish. Cactus Family.
Low; spreading; branching freely above. Joints.—Flat; smooth; without large spines, but with close tufts of minute bristles; obovate or fan-shaped; five to eight inches long; nearly as wide at the top. Flowers.—Large; brilliant rose-magenta; two or three inches long. Fruit.—Dry; sub-globose. (Flower-structure as in O. Engelmanni.) Hab.—The southern deserts and San Bernardino Mountains.
In the arid regions of the southern interior, this Opuntia is a very common one, and its large, brilliant rose-magenta flowers attract the attention wherever seen. They are very tempting blossoms, and it is hard to resist them, even though we know the penalty will be the conversion of thumbs and fingers into pin-cushions for innumerable, minute, tormenting thorns.