Mr. Johnson, of the U.S. Forestry Department in Oregon, tells me that the bears are very fond of this root, and dig industriously for it, often making a hole large enough to bury themselves, and he mentions having seen whole fields plowed up by them in their search for it.
This plant belongs to the same family as the skunk-cabbage of the East and the calla-lily. It has been found in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
_Mentzelia lævicaulis_, Torr. and Gray. Loasa or Blazing-star Family.
_Stems._--Stout; two or three feet high; white. _Leaves._--Alternate; sessile; lanceolate; sinuate-toothed; two to eight inches long. _Flowers._--Sessile, on short branches; light yellow or cream-color; three or four inches across. _Calyx-tube._--Cylindrical; naked; limb five-cleft nearly to the base. _Petals._--About ten; oblanceolate; acute. _Stamens._--Numerous on the calyx; almost equaling the petals. _Ovary._--One-celled; truncate at summit. Style three-cleft. _Capsule._--Fifteen lines long. _Hab._--San Diego to the Columbia River, and eastward to Wyoming.
After most other flowers have departed, the magnificent blossoms of the _Mentzelia_ come forth. It seems as though they had waited for the firmament to be clear of other stars before bursting upon the sight. Their enormous blossoms are crowned by the soft radiance of the long stamens, "like the lashes of light that trim the stars."
These plants are furnished with barbed hairs, which cause them to cling to whatever they come in contact with. They are of tall and spreading habit, and are often found in the dry beds of streams, where their flowers open in the daytime--unlike those of _M. Lindleyi_, which open at night.
[Illustration BLAZING-STAR--_Mentzelia Lindleyi_.]
_M. Lindleyi_, Torr. and Gray, is one of the most brilliantly radiant of all our flowers. Its charming blossoms, which open on the edge of evening, are of a delicate silken texture, and of the richest gold. When the flowers first open, the stamens lie flat upon the petals; but they gradually rise up, forming a large tuft in the center of the flower. The faded sepals crown the long seed-vessel, like the flame of the conventional torch seen in old pictures. This grows in the Monte Diablo Range; and Niles and Alum Rock are convenient places to find it. It is cultivated in Eastern gardens under the name of _Bartonia aurea_.