Another species--_P. viscida_, Torr.--found in about the same range as the above, resembles it closely. It is a foot or so high, branching from the base, and has blue flowers, with purple or white centers, and only half the size of the above.
_Solanum Xanti_, Gray. Nightshade Family.
Herbaceous nearly to the base; viscid-pubescent, with jointed hairs. _Stems._--Several feet high. _Leaves._--Two inches or less long; sometimes with lobes at the base; thin. _Flowers._--An inch or so across. _Calyx._--Five-parted. _Corolla._--Violet, with green spots ringed with white at the base. _Stamens._--Five. Filaments short. Anthers erect; opening terminally. _Ovary._--Two-celled. Style filiform; exserted. _Berries._--Purple; six lines in diameter. _Hab._--Throughout California.
These plants are especially abundant in the south, where one encounters them upon every roadside. The clusters of violet flowers are very handsome, and often have the perfume of the wild rose.
Another species--_S. umbelliferum_, Esch.--is so nearly like the above as to be often confounded with it. But it has smaller, thicker leaves, the hairs are branched, and it is more woody below, with shorter flowering branches.
We once saw, in an ideal Japanese villa among the redwoods, a rustic arbor over which had been trained the rough, woody stems of one of these nightshades. The genius of these wise little people, who had adapted this pretty woodland climber to sylvan cultivation, seemed to us worthy of emulation.
_Calochortus macrocarpus_, Dougl. Lily Family
Nature has sent this, one of the finest and most elegant of all our _Mariposas_, to beautify the arid sagebrush deserts of our northeastern boundary. In Europe it is admired beyond all our other species, and there is a great demand for the bulbs. Its large flowers are of a beautiful lilac, similar in tone to the Marie Louise violet, and each pointed petal has a green band running down its center.
[Illustration VIOLET NIGHTSHADE--_Solanum Xanti_.]
Among the Indians of their native region the rather large bulbs of these plants are known as "noonas," and regarded as a priceless delicacy. Even those who have never experienced the bliss of tasting them know them by reputation as the acme of all that is delicious. When Mr. Johnson, of Astoria, wished to secure a number of the bulbs for the European market, he hired the squaws to dig them, but found that they ate them as fast as they dug them; and it was only by offering them most liberal stores of bacon and flour he could induce them to restrain their appetites and part with the treasure.