DESERT MARIPOSA (Calochortus Kennedyi, Porter). Flow- 

 ers a couple of inches across, flaming vermilion, tulip-shaped, 

 erect at the tips of stoutish stems from a few inches to a foot 

 or more high. Leaves grass-like, often withering away before 

 flowering. Blooming in April and May on the Mojave Desert, 

 California, eastward to Arizona. 



Motorists of an observant sort and leisurely gait across the 

 Southwestern desert roads in spring, can hardly fail to be at- 

 tracted by the sight of this glorious flower. In open spaces 

 where the sun has full power, it blooms close to the sand, but 

 in the protection of a bush the stem has a chance to develop 

 and the flowers are more aspiring. The wonder of it is in- 

 creased by finding it in the midst of such barren sun-scorched 

 wastes as popular speech calls "God-forsaken." The flower 

 is a reproach to such a phrase, and seems to preach to us the 

 universality of the divine providence. 



The Desert Mariposa in California is of rather local occur- 

 rence. Miss Armstrong, in her "Field-Book of Western Wild 

 Flowers," speaks of it as so abundant in localities in Arizona as 

 to lend color to the landscape for miles. An interesting fea- 

 ture of the plant is the elongated and very decorative seed- 

 vessel, vertically banded in white and green. 

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