MISSION BELLS (Fritittaria lanceolate^ Pursh.). Flowers 

 nodding, bronze-colored, checkered in purple and dull yellow- 

 ish-green, borne in a raceme on a stem 1 to 2 feet tall. Leaves 

 lanceolate, 2 to 5 inches long in 1 to 3 scattered whorls. Flow- 

 ering in the spring in rich woodlands of the Coast Ranges from 

 Monterey Bay to British Columbia. 



An interesting feature of this plant is the white, cone-shaped 

 bulb, around which a family of baby bulblets (each resembling 

 a grain of rice) are clustered like chicks about a mother hen. 

 Please take my word for this, and do not disturb the hopeful 

 family; for upon the undisturbed development of the little 

 bulbs the future race depends. 



The Fritillarias are near akin to true Lilies, and like them 

 are of world-wide distribution throughout the north temperate 

 zone in numerous species, of which the Crown Imperial of our 

 grandmothers' gardens and ours is a well known and cherished 

 example. The queer name Fritillaria is Middle Age Latin 

 for checker-board, and would seem to have been suggested by 

 the checkered segments of the flower. 



