CALIFORNIA PLANTS IN THEIR HOMES 



see several slender white lilies burst out on every branch. 

 As the darkness comes on , they are like white stars ; they 

 are fragrant and full of honey, and are sure to attract their 

 chosen guests, the night moths. 



There are larkspurs, too, that provide underground 

 stores for late flowers and fruits. In the foot-hills of South- 

 ern California there are areas fairly aflame with scarlet lark- 

 spur. The gorgeous flower clusters are nearly as tall as a 

 man, and the oddly shaped flowers have, as you might 

 guess, a story to tell. If you are unable to get the scarlet 

 flowers, you can read nearly the same story from other lark- 

 spurs, wild or cultivated. The one in the picture is a native 

 blue kind that blooms in May or June. The five outer 

 parts of the flower are, of course, sepals; within are the 

 four, small petals. Both sepals and petals contribute color, 

 but they do more than this ; in the blue larkspurs, the 

 three lower sepals form a platform, and in all species the 

 two lower petals form a roof over the stamens. The two 

 upper petals are usually of a color different from the others, 

 and serve as honey guides. 



Now see how well the larkspur guards its honey. The 

 two upper sepals are prolonged to form a deep, slender cup, 

 called a spur, whose tissue is sometimes very tough and 

 wrinkled. Really this spur, made of sepals, is only a 

 sheath, or covering; the real cup that holds the honey is 

 within it, and is formed from the two upper petals pro- 

 longed and curiously fitted together. And the larkspur 

 does well to provide these thick and double walls ; for, as 

 we saw in the case of the Pentstemons, there are thieving 

 insects that do not hesitate to bite through the flowers to 

 steal honey, if they can get it in no easier way. Now the 

 larkspurs invite only guests with long tongues. The blue 

 larkspur offers honey to large bees, and it is supposed that 

 the flowers have attained their blue color because that 

 is the color the bees choose. The scarlet larkspur keeps its 



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