Salvia Columbariæ, Benth. Mint Family.

Stems.—Six inches to two feet high. Leaves.—Wrinkly; one to several inches long. Flowers.—Blue; in interrupted whorls. Whorls.—Twelve to eighteen lines in diameter; subtended by numerous, ovate-acuminate bracts. Calyx.—Bilabiate; upper lip arching, and tipped with two short bristles; lower, of two awn-like teeth. Corolla.—Three or four lines long; bilabiate. Upper lip erect; notched or two-lobed. Lower deflexed; with three lobes, the central much larger. Stamens.—Two. Filaments two; short; apparently forked—i.e. bearing on their summit a cross-bar having on one end a perfect anther-cell and on the other a dwarfed or rudimentary one. Ovary.—Of four seedlike nutlets. Style slender. Hab.—Throughout the State, specially southward.

This rough-leaved sage is quite common, especially southward, and grows upon dry hillsides or in sandy washes, where it blossoms in early spring. Its small bright-blue flowers are borne in an interrupted spike, consisting of from one to four button-like heads. Each of these heads has below it a number of leafy bracts, which are often of a bright wine-color, and form a rather striking combination with the blue flowers.

After the blossoms have passed away, the dried stems and heads remain standing all over the hills, shaking out the little gray seed in abundance. These seeds have been for centuries an article of economic importance to the aborigines and their descendants. Dr. Rothrock writes that among the Nahua races of ancient Mexico the plant was cultivated as regularly as corn, and was one of their most important cereals. Quantities of the seed have been found buried beneath groves which must be at least several hundred years old. It was in use among the Indians of California before the occupation of the country by the whites, being known among them as "chia."

Dr. Bard writes of these seeds: "They were roasted, ground, and used as food by being mixed with water. Thus prepared, it soon develops into a mucilaginous mass, larger than its original bulk. Its taste is somewhat like that of linseed meal. It is exceedingly nutritious, and was readily borne by the stomach when that organ refused to tolerate other aliment. An atole, or gruel, of this was one of the peace offerings to the first visiting sailors. One tablespoonful of these seeds was sufficient to sustain for twenty-four hours an Indian on a forced march. Chia was no less prized by the native Californian, and at this late date it frequently commands six or eight dollars a pound."

[CHIA—Salvia Columbariæ.]

When added to water, the seeds make a cooling drink, which has the effect of assuaging burning thirst—a very valuable quality on the desert.

BLUE-AND-WHITE LUPINE.