ON THE CAMASSIA 



color of a blue violet, and the clusters may be mis- 

 taken for violets at a little distance. 



In other localities the Brodiaea terrestris bears 

 flowers some of which have a white stripe. Some- 

 times half the blossom may be white, the other 

 part deep blue. Sometimes five or six blossoms 

 will be blue, and a single one white. In other 

 cases the proportions are reversed. 



I have not observed any in the wild state that 

 could be called pure white, but by cultivation and 

 selection pure white varieties have been produced. 



I have worked extensively on the Brodiaea 

 capitata, the species just mentioned as growing in 

 the wheat fields. On a poor dry soil this plant 

 grows about two feet in height, and on long, 

 straight, slender, wiry stems. But on good soil, 

 especially in the wheat fields, it sometimes grows 

 to the height of three or four feet, or even more, 

 bearing a much larger cluster of blossoms. 



In looking over a field of brodiaeas of this spe- 

 cies, one may expect to find one in ten thousand, 

 or perhaps one in twenty thousand that is almost 

 white. Seedlings raised from these produce a 

 variety of flowers, white, pale or dark blue, and 

 striped; with a constant tendency to revert to the 

 blue when first taken under cultivation. 



By selection and re-selection I have produced 

 strains which invariably come white, and by the 



[257] 



