March 28, 1907 47 
THE FLORA OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, 
CALIFORNIA—II 
By A. A. HELLER 
Unless a statement is made to the contrary, all the species 
mentioned in this paper may be found on the ridges west of 
Los Gatos, where they have been observed and collected by my- 
self. 
FEBRUARY 
TRILLIUM GIGANTEUM (H. & A.) Heller 
This is one of the species found in bloom early in the 
month. With us the flower is invariably dark, usually maroon 
or brownish, commonly two or three inches long, standing erect 
above the three broad, green or mottled leaves. The flower 
segments vary in width and shape, some of them quite narrow, 
only about a quarter of an inch wide, while others are two or 
three times as wide, narrowed toward the apex. In one form or 
another the species is found in the hills in the coast region from 
Santa Clara county to Oregon. The type was collected near 
San Francisco. In some localities the flowers are white, while 
“the var. chloropetalum Torr., with greenish petals, is common 
on the peninsula of Pt. Reyes in Marin Co.,” according to Jep- 
son. Whether any one has actually seen greenish flowers in 
the living state I do not know, but dried specimens in my her- 
barium now show greenish flowers which were originally white. 
Observation in the field has taught me that we have but a sin- 
gle variable species. In Sonoma county I frequently found 
both maroon and white flowered forms, forms in which the 
flowers had either broad or narrow segments, and forms with 
either mottled or unmottled leaves, all growing in the same 
patch. Botanists who see only herbarium specimens might 
easily conclude that we have several species instead of one. It 
grows on damp hillsides, especially on northerly slopes, usually 
about thickets, along fences, or in ravines. It is a member of 
the family Trilliaceae, well represented on the Atlantic side of 
this country. 
