VOL. IV.] Field Notes at San Eniidio. 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 Ksch- 

 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 Gitia 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. 



