LILIES OP THE BIEERA NEVADA. 23 



that this giant is nothing but a "Sequoia" amongst its kind, it is 

 plain that the two varieties are widely different in appearance. 



Lilium Washingtonianicm, Kell, High upon the ridges, exposed 

 to storms from east and west, in soil of scantness and dry almost as 

 the granite from which it derives its existence, there grows the 

 Queen of the Lilies of the Sierras: L. Washingtonianum. Bands 

 of sheep and cattle trot by on their way to the sweet meadows of 

 the alpine region, and no herb, no limb of recent growth may be 

 detected other than the bitter barked Aspen or the prickly Snow- 

 brush. I write of the ridge of the spurs bridging from the foot-hills 

 to the snow-fields as it appears in July. Under the shelter of the 

 impenetrable Snowbrush, Ceanothus eordulatus, this lily begins its 

 growth at the time th;it the first bauds of sheep start for the moun- 

 tains. After the "hoofed locusts" have passed, and quietness again 

 reigns on the ridge, interrupted only by the clatter of the horses' 

 hoofs as the stockmen go back and forth to their ranges, then this 

 lily stretches its stately liead from under the thorns, and develops 

 its fragrant flowers in the first week of August. They are white 

 and while I have been told about spotted ones, so spotted, in fact, 

 as to be entirely set with rich maroon on the inside of their petals, 

 I know them from the Sierra of Amador and Alpine Counties only 

 with very tiny spots, and such tiny spots I have found on flowers 

 only now and then. But the plants are grand in their stand, their 

 tall stalks as high as five to seven feet and hanging out to the gentle 

 breeze from two to twelve flowers. Emigrants passed along the 

 ridge I mention for years and years; stockmen followed them, and 

 bands of cattle made this region their home ever after. Therefore, 

 it is likely that this lily may have been much more common in 

 early days than now. Be that as it may, the plants I encountered 

 are well jn-otected from any attack by man or beast, and as we 

 follow along the ridge where the water must be packed for as many 

 as twelve miles of travel, there holds guard this stately flower of 

 our Sierrns, delighting all as they pass either on their way to the 

 valleys where the Lilium pardalinum is scattered about the winter 

 homes of the settlers, ov to where the ring of a hundred bells from 

 the sleek necks of cattle add charm to the region where the tiny 

 Lilium parvum grows along streams and precipices. 



