CHINESE HOUSES (Collinsia blcolor, Benth.). Flowers 

 shaped somewhat like pea-blossoms, with a violet or rose- 

 purple (sometimes white) lower lip, the upper lip white or 

 lilac; disposed in a series of umbeled whorls, more or less one- 

 sided, along the upper part of the stem. Leaves opposite 

 without footstalks. A charming annual, 1 to 2 feet high, in 

 moist ground throughout Western California from San Diego 

 northward, blooming from April till June, often cultivated. 



Collinsia is a North American genus which preserves in its 

 name the memory of an excellent botanist of a century ago, 

 Zaccheus Collins of Philadelphia. There are about 15 species, 

 but none more lovely than C. bicolor ("the two-colored"), 

 which is sometimes known as Innocence, a name as suggestive 

 of the flower's spiritual quality, as is Chinese Houses of its 

 outward make-up. 



There is a closely allied species, Collinsia tinctoria, Hartweg, 

 found in the Yosemite region, and characterized by a sticky 

 brown or yellowish hairiness, which stains one's fingers. The 

 flowers of this species have a yellowish throat with purple dots. 



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