50 LILY FAMILY 



1. NARTHECIUM. Bog Asphodel. 



1. N. californicum Baker. Stem 1 or 2 ft. high, nearly 

 naked. Leaves densely tufted on a creeping rootstock, 4 to 

 8 in. long, not z /^ in. wide, acute. Flowers yellow, ^ in. long, 

 short-pediceled in a narrow simple raceme. Perianth-seg- 

 ments not united, oblong-linear, acute. Stamens 6, with 

 densely woolly filaments. Seeds with a long bristle at 

 each end. 



Although rather common in northwestern California, the 

 Bog Asphodel is one of the rarest plants in the Sierra 

 Nevada, having been found south of Nevada Co. only at Le 

 Conte Falls, Tuolumne Canon, where it was gathered by Mr. 

 Fred M. Reed, of the Sierra Club party of 1911. It grows in 

 marshy or moist places. The showy yellow racemes far over- 

 top the stiffly erect clumps of grass-like leaves. A character 

 by which it may always be known is the yellow woolliness of 

 the apparently thickened filaments. 



2. TOFIELDIA. False Asphodel. 



1. T. intermedia Rydb. Stems 6 to 12 in. high. Leaves 

 linear, 3 to 6 in. long. Flowers in a„ compact terminal head 

 about ^2 in. thick, the individual flowers less than % in. long. 

 Perianth-segments not united, shorter than the 6 stamens. 

 Styles 3. Capsule obovate, acute, 3-beaked, with numerous 

 linear 2-tailed seeds. 



The leaves of False Asphodel might easily be mistaken for 

 grass leaves, but the compact head of greenish white flowers 

 is unmistakable. It grows in moist places at considerable 

 altitudes, as along the new Snow Creek Trail at 6000 ft. 



3. ZYGADENUS. 



1. Z. venenosus Wats. Death Camas. Stem simple, 1 to 

 2 ft. high. Leaves linear, usually folded, shorter than the 

 stem. Flowers erect, greenish white, scarcely % in. long, in 

 a simple loose terminal raceme. Stamens 6, free from the 

 perianth and about equalling it. Capsule 3-lobed. 



The leaves of the Death Camas are often mistaken for grass 

 when the plants are young, and thousands of sheep are killed 

 every year on the stock ranges as a result of eating them. 

 But hogs eat the bulbs, which are often called "hog potatoes," 

 with impunity. It grows in meadowy places, as at the Hog 

 Ranch, Yosemite and Little Yosemite valleys, and Benson 

 Lake, but it is nowhere very abundant. 



