ALLIUM PALMERL PALMERS ONION. II 



Allium Palmeri by Mr. Watson, after Dr. Palmer, of Davenport, 

 Iowa, who is at the present time one of the most zealous inves- 

 tigators of the flora of the little known portions of the United 

 States, and who collected the specimens in southern Utah in 1870, 

 from which the species was subsequently described and named 

 by Mr. Watson in the work cited at the head of our chapter. It 

 was again collected by Dr. C. C. Parry in the high mountains east 

 of Cedar City, in southern Utah, flowering then in July, 1874. 

 Mr. Watson remarks in describing it, that it had probably been 

 seen before by other explorers, notably by Dr. Newberry, near 

 Fort Defiance. Our drawing was made from roots collected by 

 Dr. Palmer, and flowering in the collection of the Arnold arbo- 

 retum under Mr. Jackson Dawson's care. It has also flowered 

 in the garden of the writer, at Germantown, Philadelphia, from 

 roots kindly sent by Mr. John Reading, of Salt Lake City. It 

 seems to thrive very well in the open ground here under cul- 

 tivation, and is a very ornamental hardy plant. As a type of 

 beauty it would hardly occupy a high place, for the scape is too 

 short to proportion well with the leaves ; but still, as a lady critic 

 remarked, "it is too pretty to be an onion." Much of its attrac- 

 tiveness is of course due to its rosy color, but as will be seen by 

 the ground-plan (Fig. 2.), there is a great deal in the harmonious 

 proportions of the lines in the various parts of the flower, that 

 will commend it to those looking for natural models in orna- 

 mental designs. 



Botanically there is much to interest the student in a special 

 examination of this plant. In the description it will be noted 

 that Mr. Watson says, the "cell oudine is minutely very sinuous." 

 This refers to a discovery by Mr. Watson, that the oudine of the 

 cells when a pordon of the leaf is held up to the light, or exam- 

 ined with a lens, is seen to vary much in the outline, and that 

 this variation is characteristic in the difl"erent species. He gives 

 drawings of the oudines of several in the work from which the 

 botanical descripdon is taken, and the oudine of this one is 

 minutely sinuous or "snaky," while those of other species are 

 very deeply lobed. 



