266 The Plant World. 



met. Of the shrubs we found the most popular to be species 

 of rhododendron, which afe used in private parks in great 

 abundance throughout the region visited. 

 Bruges, August 17, 1910, 



CALOCHORTUS VENUSTUS, A BEAUTIFUL CALIFORN- 

 , , ,s, ''^ ' _ IAN PLANT. 



By John A. Sprinc^. <• 



• Pursh gave us our first knowledge of the plants comprised 

 in the genus Calochortus, in his "Flora of North America," pub- 

 lished in 1814. In his preface he speaks of Calochortus ks a 

 "bulbous rush;" and in the main body of his work describes the 

 genus as new, and derives for it a- name from the Greek roots 

 signifying "pretty grass." It must be remembered, however, 

 that Pursh himself was never west of the Mississippi river, wh^re 

 alone the members of this geijus are found, but that he became 

 possessed of the specimens collected by Lewis and Clarke in 

 their celebrated expedition in 1804-5, from which material his 

 descriptions are drawn. Although Pursh could have known the 

 plants only in their dried state, we can see by the name which 

 he gave the genus that he was struck by the beauty of these 

 new specimens in spite of their unfavorable condition. 



Even in its fresh, living state the!" species described by Pursh 

 was not equal in beauty to the subject of the accompanying 

 illustration, a plant which was first discovered in southern Cali- 

 fornia by David Douglas, a collector fof the Royal Horticultural 

 Society of London, who senjt seeds of it to that body. Plants 

 raised from these seeds in the gardens of the society about 1832 

 were described in their Transactions a few years later by Bentham 

 under the name Calochortus venustus. ■ Many other species of 

 Calochortus! were discovered by Douglas and some additional 

 ones have been found by later explorers, until the number of 

 known species, according to Mr. Watson's enumeration, is now 

 thirty-two. 



Calochortus venustus adds to its beauty the charm of variety, 

 for no two flowers art exactly alike in form or color. The three 

 flowers shown in the accompanying plate were gathered from 



i 



