140 



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



Calochortus bulbs move from year to year by means of a 

 spongy process growing from their base, at the end of 

 which the new bulb is formed. By this means the bulblets 

 of C. vesta, being set at an angle, travel some distance before 

 at maturity they take a vertical position. By digging into 

 a patch where C. vesta has been undisturbed for some 

 years, the ground will be found literally full of bulbs, the 

 immature ones placed at every angle. In most bulbiferous 

 Mariposas, the bulblets being placed inside the stem sheath, 

 and parallel to the stem, grow straight down and form a 

 close clump. 



C. luteus var. robusta has a habit somewhat similar to 

 that of C. vesta, though not so marked ; and in C . venustus 

 var. furfurascens the habit is exactly the same as in 

 C. vesta. 



y 30. Calochortus venustus Dougl. 



Calochortus venustus Dougl. ex. Benth. in Trans. Hort. Soc, Ser. II, Vol. 

 I, 1835, p. 412, Tab. XV, fig. 3. 



Stem stiff, erect, usually branching, 4 inches to 3 feet in height, bulbiferous, 

 with a single bulblet at base; one or two linear, radical leaves, 1-3 lines 

 wide, quite glaucous; pedicels 2-5 inches long; sepals oblong-lanceolate, 

 4 lines wide, 18 lines long, acute, as long as petals; petals broadly obovate- 

 cuneate, slightly rounding above, wider than long, 16 lines long, 20 lines 

 wide, color white to lilac above, carmine below, oculated like C. luteus, with 

 reddish pencilings on each side of eye, and a transversely oblong, rose- 

 colored blotch near apex, claw reddish brown; gland roundish or oblong, 

 densely matted; filaments a little exceeding the narrowly oblong, obtuse 

 anthers; capsule linear, 2-3 inches long. 



Described from a specimen collected in San Benito 

 County, California. 



C. venustus is even more variable than C. luteus. While 

 C. luteus is almost always found in clay, sometimes heavy 

 clay, C. venustus usually grows in light open ground, often 

 in sandy soil. 



