CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN 7 HEIR HOMES 



sometimes very pale blue, or nearly white ; they are rather 

 small, and grow in small clusters, but they are very fragrant 

 and furnish a goodly supply of honey. No. i in the picture 

 is Gilia dianthoides. It is the well-known ground-pink of 

 Southern California, and it sometimes actually carpets the 

 ground. It is. an exquisite little flower, with its lilac or 

 pink, satin petals, slashed and fringed at the edges, and 

 banded with crimson, yellow, and brown at the base. But 

 this elegant Gilia is not generous in supplying honey, so, 

 while butterflies, who seem to prefer finery to food, usually 

 choose fine-lady dianthoides, the less showy blue Gilia is 

 the bees' favorite. On a whole hillside, gay with wild 

 flowers of many sorts, you will often find the bees selecting 

 only this modest blue Gilia. 



Both Gilias keep open house on pleasant days, but only 

 from about 10 in the morning until 3 or 4 in the afternoon. 

 They open their anthers early, making them into little 

 pollen-covered balls, which stand guard in a ring about the 

 entrance to the honey. Usually they hold their stigmas 

 above the anthers, and do not unfold their own stigmas 

 until after they have furnished pollen for those of other 

 flowers. 



The stigmas of the little blue flower often lie against 

 the lower edge, and you can distinctly see the bee strike 

 them as he thrusts his head into the flower ; you can also 

 see that his head is dusty with the blue pollen of other 

 flowers. Gilia dianthoides, after a while, curls down its 

 stigmas among its own anthers, and flowers of both Gilias 

 are likely to pollinate themselves as they close at night. 

 Besides this, the fallen pollen collects all down the corolla 

 tube, and as the corolla finally falls off", some pollen is sure 

 to be brushed against the stigmas ; so these Gilias can 

 pollinate themselves if insects fail them. 



The other Gilia in the picture is Gilia Calif ornica, or 

 the mountain-pink. The plants are shrubby, and are two 



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