BoT— Vol. II.] PURDY—CALOCHORTUS. 139 



specimens from near Chico (Butte County), from Placer- 

 ville (El Dorado County), and from Dunlap (Fresno 

 County), are identical in every respect. As before stated, 

 C. luteus var. citrinus and var. oculatus hybridize readily, 

 and in many localities where both are found, there are 

 cross breeds in endless variety, running as is usual in such 

 cases to greater extremes than either parent. In Mendo- 

 cino County, from Ukiah to Hopland, and in El Dorado 

 County, near Camp Creek, these crosses are particularly 

 plentiful and beautiful. There are other strains of C . 

 luteus, each found in a more or less extensive territory. 



• 28c. C. luteus var. robusta (C. venustus var. robusta (Hort.).) In por- 

 tions of El Dorado County a form approaching C. oculatus is found growing 

 in wet grounds (oftener in wire grass lands), which is there dwarfish and with 

 three to five almost spheroid bulblets on the stems. The colorings are very 

 rich; the forbidding surroundings seem to have developed unusual vitality in 

 this form, for in ordinary soil the bulbs produce unusually tall, stout stems 

 but retain the bulb ferous habit. 



1^ 



29. Calochortus vesta Purdy} 



Calochortus vesta Purdy, The Garden, Oct. 12, 1895, with colored plate; 

 Gardeners' Chronicle, 1895, Part II, page 14. 



Tall, large flowered, stem leafy, pedicels elongated, 8-12 inches long; 

 petals more narrowly cuneate than in C. luteus var. oculatus, white tinged 

 with lilac (with rare albinos), instead of an oculated spot having a broad red- 

 dish or dark brown band across the middle; gland narrow, doubly lunate, 

 extending across from side to side of petal; bulblets long and slender, 

 I to 4 to the stalk, not enclosed in sheath of stem, but set at an angle. 



While C. vesta is grouped with C. luteus and C. ve^iustus, 

 it is a strongly marked form which does not hybridize with 

 either. C. vesta is found in adobe soil (sticky black or 

 blue clay) from Sonoma and Napa counties to Humboldt 

 County, California. 



1 C. vesta and the varieties of C. venustus — var. roseus, var. purpurascens, and var. eldo- 

 rado — were first mentioned in a catalogue of bulbs issued by the writer. 



C. vesta was first described in an unsigned article in " The Gardeners' Chronicle " 

 (August, 1896). It was so named in honor of the author's wife. In the same article, 

 C. venustus var. roseus and var. purpurascens were also described under the names C. roseus 

 and C. purpurascens, thus giving specific rank to the catalogue varieties. 



A fine colored plate of C. vesta, C. venustus (the type, known as var. roseus), and 

 C. venustus v2iX. purpurascens, vi'as^\x\i\\sh.e.di'\a. "The Garden" (London); and a good plate 

 of C venustus (type), C. luteus (type), and C. luteus var. citrinus, appeared in the same mag- 

 azine 1883 (?). 



(3) December 5, 1901. 



