ACANTHUS FAMILY 



(Acanthacece) 



Herbs or shrubs with opposite, simple leaves, more or less 

 2-lipped or irregular flowers with usually conspicuous bracts, 

 and the general character of the Figworts; stamens 4 (2 long and 

 2 short), or only 2; calyx persistent, of usually 5 unequal sepals. 



CHUPAROSA (Beloperone californica, Benth.). Flowers 

 dull scarlet, tubular, about an inch long, 2-lipped, stamens 

 2; borne in short, rather loose racemes terminating the 

 branches, which are often leafless. Leaves, when present, 

 small, ovate, or oval, grayish green. A low shrub, forming a 

 clump of ashen-gray, downy, interlacing branches, indigenous 

 to the desert regions of Southern California and Arizona, south- 

 ward to Mexico; flowering in the spring. One of the most 

 striking of desert flowers, when the leafless and apparently 

 lifeless tangle of branches is adorned with the numerous bright 

 corollas, like so many tongues of flame. The blossoms may be 

 easily mistaken by the careless for Penstemon, and sometimes 

 are. Mexicans call the plant Chuparosa, which may be trans- 

 lated Humming-bird Flower the hummers feeding on its 

 sweets. 



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