Clematis ligusticifolia, Nutt. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
Nearly smooth. Stems.—Woody; sometimes climbing thirty feet. Leaves.—Opposite; long-petioled; five-foliolate. Leaflets.—Ovate to lanceolate; eighteen lines to three inches long; three-lobed and coarsely toothed; rarely entire or three-parted. Flowers.—Diœcious; in axillary panicles. Sepals.—Four; petaloid; four to six lines long; thin. Petals.—Wanting. Stamens.—Numerous. Pistils.—Many; becoming long-tailed, silky akenes. Hab.—Widely distributed.
The virgin's bower usually looks down upon us from among the branches of some tree, where it entwines itself indistinguishably with the foliage of its host. It climbs by means of the stalks of its leaflets, which wrap themselves about small twigs. This species is not so noticeable during the season of its blossoming as it is later, when the long plumes of its seed have twisted themselves into silvery balls, making feathery masses. Mrs. Blochman writes that among the Spanish-Californians, it is called "yerba de chivato," and valued as a remedy for barbed-wire cuts in animals. It is used in the form of a wash, and remarkable cures are effected.
Another widespread species—C. lasiantha, Nutt.—is far more showy than the above. It is found in the Coast Ranges, from Los Angeles to Napa County at least, and in the Sierras to Plumas County. Its long-peduncled flowers are solitary; but they are so numerous and grow so closely together, that they make dense masses of white, conspicuous at a long distance. The flowers are larger, the sepals being an inch long, and covered with a silky pubescence, which makes them like soft cream-colored velvet. The three ovate leaflets are also silky.
LADIES' TRESSES.
Spiranthes Romanzoffianum, Cham. Orchis Family.
Roots.—Fascicled tubers. Stems.—Stout; four to eighteen inches high. Leaves.—Oblong-lanceolate to linear. Spikes.—One to even ten inches long. Perianth.—Yellowish white; four lines long. Upper sepal and two petals coherent. Lip recurved, bearing a small protuberance on each side at base. Anther.—On the face of the short column. Ovary.—One-celled. Hab.—Through the mountains from Los Angeles northward.
The twisted spikes of these little orchids are interesting, because their ranks remain so clearly defined as they wind about the stem. The plants vary greatly in different seasons as to size, and are usually found in moist places.