CREAM-CUPS. (Platystemon californicus, Benth.). Flowers 

 an inch or so across, of six cream-yellow petals and numerous 

 stamens with broadly flattened filaments, sepals three; flow- 

 ers borne on long, leafless flow r er-stalks arising from the axils 

 of the hairy, narrow leaves, which are mostly opposite and 2 

 to 4 inches long. 



This charming little flower of spring is at its height from 

 March until May captivating young and old wherever it ap- 

 pears, which is in more or less sandy soil in fields, along road- 

 sides, or on open hillsides, pretty much throughout California 

 below 3,000 feet, and slipping across the border into Oregon 

 and Arizona. The Cream-cup's blushing buds, dotted with 

 tiny bristling hairs and drooping shyly on their slender stalks, 

 are very appealing, and so much resemble the Poppy buds of 

 our gardens, that the place of this wilding in the Poppy family 

 is obvious. After flowering, the clustered necklace-like pods 

 form an interesting feature, too, in the plant's life-history. 



C8 



