244 Pink to Red Flowers 



are sometimes called) run riot in magnificent profusion. 

 Every colour, every shade from coral pink to cardinal, from 

 canary tint to tangerine, is growing and blowing on either 

 hand, with here and there a single snowy spike to emphasize 

 the splendid conflagration of colour. 



It is wonderful to note that all this carmine and gold is 

 not lavished on the corolla of the flower, but chiefly on the 

 bracts, which are set below each insignificant blossom, from 

 whose cleft tube the long pistil protrudes. The plant grows 

 from six inches to two feet high and the leaves are pointed 

 and have even margins. 



The Castillejas are parasitic on the roots of other plants ; 

 that is to say, they sometimes fasten their roots upon those 

 of their neighbours and thus prey upon juices already par- 

 tially assimilated. They have not, however, as yet become 

 hardened thieves; if they had, they would have lost their 

 leaves and green colouring matter (chlorophyll), for every 

 plant that turns pirate is punished by Nature, and branded 

 for all the world to see, by being gradually deprived of its 

 foliage and its honest hue. But the Castilleja is only guilty 

 of petty larceny, being but a partial parasite, and so far it 

 is the botanist, and not Nature, who has denounced its back- 

 sliding. 



Castilleja pallida, or White Indian Paint Brush, much 

 resembles the preceding species, but its flowers and bracts 

 are always greenish-white, cream colour, or palest yellow. 

 It is a small, short plant, with slender stems and tiny nar- 

 row leaves, and it only grows at very high altitudes. 



Though this species properly belongs in the White to 

 Green Section, it is placed here for greater convenience. 



Castilleja purpurascens, or Purple Indian Paint Brush, is 

 more or less dark purplish-red throughout, and has narrow 



