Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 107 



Creamcups 

 (Platystemon californicus) 



By Roland Rice 



The Creamcups are a part of the trembling tints and star- 

 scattered jewels of wild flowerdom on the green hills and plains in 

 the spring, when, after the late winter rains, myriads of annual 

 flowering plants spring out of the soil. It is due to the absence of 

 sod-forming grasses that these annual flowers are able to take such 

 a large part of the land at the favored season when they can best 

 mature their seeds before the drought of summer overcomes them. 



Creamcups are cousins to the poppies and companions of the 

 Baby Blue Eyes. They are delicate little flowers about an inch 

 across, with hairy stems from a plant about six to fourteen inches 

 high. The drooping buds are covered with dainty bright green caps 

 like the poppies, which are doffed when it is time for them to bloom. 

 Then the blossom lifts its laughing face to the sun. They are sun- 

 loving plants, and seem to grow best in the south-central part of 

 the State, where their flowers are largest and at their best. 



Their name, Platystemon californicus, is given them because of 

 the flattened filaments to the stamens. There is another flower, 

 Platystigma californicum, which is similar in appearance, but has 

 flattened stigmas instead. This is called the "False Creamcup." 

 Both flowers are sometimes stained with bright yellow on the tips 

 of their petals and sometimes at their base. The centers are a deli- 

 cate cream color. 



The Creamcups are among the beautiful wildings which 

 changed the gardens of Europe, \\here there were but few annuals 

 before David Douglas and those other intrepid explorers introduced 

 our California flowers to the Old World. 



It is well to remember that these pretty flowers were a part of 

 those wondrous fields which Edwin Markham described years ago 

 in his exquisite verse : 



"Miles beyond miles of every sovereign hue 

 And trembling tint the looms of Arras knew 

 A flowery pomp as of the dying day, 

 A splendor where a god might take his way." 



The time was when these blooms took possession of whole fields 

 and covered the land for miles. But they are passing away from 

 their former haunts. The cultivation of the fields and the hand of 

 the flower vendor have driven them far from the cities. Now they 

 are more frequently found in some secluded spot or a sprinkling of 

 them beside the trail or road. 



We may rejoice if we see a few of these exquisite, fair Cream- 

 cups beside the way. It is- a pleasure to know them. They are 

 quite generally distributed throughout the State, growing in sandy 

 soils, along roadsides, in fields, or in the foothill regions ; but they 

 are seldom seen above the three thousand foot altitude and are 

 usually in company with the Baby Blue Eyes. 



