GILIA TRICOLOR. TRI-COLORED GILIA. IO3 



the order Is so numerous, It Is divided Into but few crenera. Dr. 

 Gray, In his " Synoptical Flora of North America," recr»o-nizes 

 only five — Phlox, Col/omia, Loesclia, Gilia and Polemonhun. 

 So that if the student Is sure he has a Polemoniaceous plant. It 

 will not be difficult to find out the genus to which any species In 

 question may belong. Dr. Gray divides the order into two 

 great divisions — those which have the stamens unequally In- 

 serted on the tube of the corolla, placing the two first named in 

 that division, and those which have the stamens equally inserted 

 In or below the throat, and which contains the three last, among 

 which Gilia is found. The student is not likely to confuse Loe- 

 se'ia with Gilia, as there are only two of them, and Dr. Gray notes 

 that in Loesclia the "filaments are declined," while In Gilia they are 

 "not declined," and the "Botany of California" says of Loeselia: 

 " Flowers nearly as in Gilia, section Ipoinopsis, except that the 

 tubular-funnelform corolla is Irregular, as It were bi-labiate, one 

 of the cuneate or oblong lobes being separated by deep sinuses." 

 Of Polenwniuni Dr. Gray enumerates only eight species as 

 natives to the whole of the United States; so we see that Gilia 

 Is much the most Important genus In the order. From Polciuo- 

 niwn the stamens afford the readiest means of distinguishing it, 

 f^r while the genus named has the stamens more or less de- 

 clined as in Loesclia, in Gilia they are never so. This does not 

 seem much to found a generic character on, nor Is it the sole 

 one, but merely the most decided difference; but It Is one of 

 those cases where nature Is in advance of descriptive science, for 

 few would take a Poleinoniitni for a Gilia, or this for the other, 

 after an acquaintance with a few species generally referred to 

 them. The whole genus Gilia Is an extremely difficult one to 

 define, and therefore will be very welcome to those students who 

 love to trace close relationships, and which Indeed Is becoming 

 one of the most Interesting of botanical pursuits. Many of the 

 best Botanists have tried their skill in endeavoring to break the 

 genus into distinct genera. Thus we have Daclylophylhwi, 

 Linajithiis, Leptosiphon, Siphonella, Leptodactylo7i, Navarrctia, 



