134 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. [Proc. 3D Ser. 



24. Calochortus clavatus Watson. 



Calochortus clavatus Watson, Proc. Amer. Acad., Vol. XIV, 1879, p. 265. 



Stem stiff, very stout, strongly zigzag, branching, 1-3 feet high, if few flow- 

 ered umbellate, if many flowered with a terminal umbel and short laterals at 

 the axils of the rather large cauline leaves; the single radical leaf glaucous, 

 linear, deeply channeled, often 1-2 feet long; cauline leaves as broad and 

 prominent; pedicels stout, 2-5 inches long; sepals acuminate, broadly ovate- 

 lanceolate, nearly as long as petals, yellowish within, often greenish without, 

 spotted, with dry scarious margins; petals rather truncate, 18 lines wide, 21 

 lines long, broadly fan-shaped and strongly arched, with a broad claw, the 

 gland deeply pitted, with yellow hairs; the side of gland and the lower half 

 of petal densely hairy with long yellow hairs, each tipped with a knob-lik-^ 

 point, and purplish red at base; color a rich yellow, with claw often reddis.i 

 brown and a reddish brown band above the hairy zone; perianth bowl- 

 shaped ("formed like a broad-based cup"); filaments slender, a little exceed- 

 ing the ovate-oblong, obtuse, purplish-brown anthers; capsule narrow, 

 attenuate above and below, 3 inches long. 



Described from medium sized plants. 



Found on dry rocky points, usually in volcanic soils. The 

 species is widely but peculiarly distributed from Newhall 

 (Los Angeles County) to San Luis Obispo; it is also found 

 in the Sierra Nevada near Pleasant Valley (El Dorado 

 County), and on White Rock, an isolated quartz rock- 

 mass in the plains of Mariposa County. Doubtlessly found 

 also on lava formations at many intermediate points. 



"California (San Luis Obispo; J. G. Lemmon, 1878)." 



This Calochortus is the stoutest stemmed, tallest, and 

 largest flowered of all the Calochorti. The heavy, strongly 

 zigzag stem, yellow bowl-shaped flowers, and clavate hairs, 

 are strongly marked characters shared in by no other mem- 

 ber of the genus. The knob-like tips of the hairs are trans- 

 lucent, having the appearance of little icicles. But although 

 the prominent characters remain constant, there is con- 

 siderable local variation. 



In Ventura and Los Angeles counties (Piru City to New- 

 hall), for instance, the flowers are a very rich yellow and 

 the plant is rather low and stout. Near the city of San 

 Luis Obispo, the plant has the same habit, but the upper 

 half of each petal is backed with olive which showing 

 through gives a peculiar changeable color effect. In El 



