I70 PINK TO RED 



of their neighbours and thus prey upon juices already partially 

 assimilated. They have not, however, as yet become hardened 

 thieves ; if they had, they would have lost their leaves and green 

 colouring matter (chlorophyll), for every plant that turns pirate 

 is punished by Nature, and branded for all the world to see, 

 by being gradually deprived of its foliage and its honest hue. 

 But the Castilleia is only guilty of petty larceny, being but a 

 partial parasite, and so far it is the botanist, and not Nature, 

 who has denounced its backsliding. 



C. pallida^ or White Indian Paint-brush, much resembles 

 the preceding species, but its flowers and bracts are always 

 greenish-white, cream colour, or palest yellow. It is a small 

 short plant, with slender stems and tiny narrow leaves, and it 

 only grows at very high altitudes. 



Though this species properly belongs in the White to Green 

 Section, it is placed here for greater convenience. 



BRIGHT PAINTED-CUP 



Castilleia f/iiniata. Fig wort Family 



Stems: numerous and tufted on a short rootstock, mostly simple and 

 strict. Leaves: lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire. Flowers : spikes 

 short and dense ; corolla long ; galea exserted, longer than the tube, the 

 short lower lip protuberant and callous with short, ovate, involute teeth. 



The leaves of the Bright Painted-cup are entire; that is to 

 say, their margins form an unbroken line and are not wavy, 

 nor have they uneven rounded teeth like those of C. septen- 

 tj'ioiialis. The corolla is very pale in colour, but the bracts 

 are nearly always red or magenta. 



Thoreau speaks thus of the prairie species : 



" The Painted-cup is in its prime. It reddens the meadow, — Painted- 

 cup meadow. It is a splendid show of brilliant scarlet, the colour of 

 the Cardinal Flower, and surpassing it in mass and profusion. I do 

 not like the name. It does not remind me of a cup, rather of a flame 

 when it first appears. It might be called Flame-flower, or Scarlet-tip. 

 Here is a large meadow full of it, and yet very few in the town have 



