[RATTLE-WEED—Astragalus leucopsis.]

The common morning-glory of the south—C. occidentalis, Gray—is very similar to the above, but may be distinguished from it by the pair of large, thin bracts immediately below the calyx and enveloping it.

Another very pretty species is C. villosus, Gray. This is widely distributed, but not very common. Its trailing stems and foliage are of a velvety sage-gray throughout, and its small flowers of a yellowish cream-color. The hastate leaves are shapely, and the whole plant is charming when grown away from dust.

The common European bindweed—C. arvensis, L.—is to the farmer a very unwelcome little immigrant. In fields it becomes a serious pest; for the more its roots are disturbed and broken up the better it thrives. But despite its bad character, we cannot help admiring its pretty little white funnels, which lift themselves so debonairly among the prostrate stems and leaves.

In medicine a tincture of the whole plant is valued for several uses.

WOOD-BALM. PITCHER-SAGE.

Sphacele calycina, Benth. Mint Family.

Woody at the base; two to five feet high; hairy or woolly. Leaves.—Two to four inches long. Flowers.—Dull white or purplish; an inch or more long; mostly solitary in the upper axils. Calyx.—Five-cleft. Corolla.—Having a hairy ring at base within. Stamens.—Four, in two pairs. Ovary.—Of four seedlike nutlets. Style filiform. Stigma two-lobed. Hab.—Dry hills. San Francisco Bay, southward.

The wood-balm is closely allied to the sages, which fact is betrayed by its opposite, wrinkly, sage-scented leaves; but its flowers have quite a different aspect. These are ample and cylindrical, with a five-lobed border, one of the lobes being prolonged into somewhat of a lip.