VOL. Iv.] Field Notes at San Emidio. 145 
_ they flow along were lacking; but the beauty was there, and the 
difference would be noticed only afterwards when the mind 
recalled former scenes. Then nothing could be more lovely. 
The eye soon learns to distinguish the flowers, even at some 
distance, by means of the patches of color. ‘Alfilaria” is 
omnipresent, and where it monopolizes the soil a faint crimson 
tint prevails. Wherever the hills or plains are yellow over a 
considerable area, Baeria has crowded out all competitors. The 
bright yellow patches on steep hillsides, where there is little or 
no green, tell of Leptosyne. Glowing orange means Esch- 
scholtzia; creamy white indicates ‘‘Creamcups” or Platystemon. 
Nemophila seems to have drawn bits of the sky to the earth 
here and there. Othocarpus adds vivid spots of deep crimson, 
and a peculiar white as of light chinchilla shows where Gilia tri- 
color carpets the ground. These are the most noticeable through- 
out the day; but at night almost all fold up their petals and go to 
sleep, and then when it looks as if the snow had suddenly fallen, 
Gilia dichotoma has awakened to keep the stars company. 
Nemophila insignis, which everyone calls ‘‘ Baby-Blue-Eyes,”’ 
looks as innocent as its name. No one would guess what a 
struggle is going on within it. ‘The pistils and stamens are at 
war and threaten to set up separate establishments. Here is one 
flower in which the pistil cowers down under the domineering 
stamens which rain down the pollen so that there can be no 
escape; but here is another blossom where the pistil proudly 
looks down upon the insignificant and completely subdued 
stamens. The buds show that the strife begins when the flower 
is born, and then it is that the supremacy of the male or female 
is decided. 
Meconopsis heterophylla is the most conspicuous inhabitant of 
the flowery meadow, because of its brilliant color and compara- 
tive rarity. Sometimes a group of twenty or more will be seen, 
but more often they are fewer together or even solitary. The 
leaves are low down on the stem and therefore concealed by the 
other vegetation; the blossom is on a long, slender stalk and 
seems to be detached from the earth, and the bright red corolla 
deepening at the centre looks like a wavering flame hovering 
over the grass. It is fertilized in the bud. 
