MOHAVEA (Mohavea viscida, Gray). Flowers pale yellow, 

 purple-dotted, somewhat bell-shaped, 1| inches long, the 

 base swollen on one side, corolla of 2 fan-like lips, the upper 

 2-lobed, the lower 3-lobed with a prominent palate bearded 

 down the middle; stamens 4, 2 of them fertile and 2 reduced to 

 small, abortive filaments, disposed in short, terminal, few- 

 flowered racemes. Leaves narrow, an inch or two long, the 

 lower opposite, the upper alternate. An erect, sticky-hairy 

 annual, from a few inches to 2 feet high, flowering from March 

 till May in the desert regions of Southeastern California and 

 of Arizona. 



Mohavea is one of those flow r ers which surprise the visitor 

 in the desert with an exquisite delicacy born of the most deso- 

 late conditions a pallid, ethereal blossom of silken texture and 

 a sort of orchid-like aspect. The honor of its discovery in 

 complete flower is due to John C. Fremont, in 1844, though im- 

 perfect specimens had been collected some years before by Dr. 

 Thomas Coulter, a pioneer collector on the desert. Fremont's 

 plants were gathered on the banks of the Mohave River, Cali- 

 nia, and the name Mohavea commemorates the fact. 



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