LUTHER BURBANK 



Indian's paint-brush, classified by the botanist as 

 Castilleia. 



The most familiar form of this plant is the one 

 known for its brilliant scarlet color. But the tribe 

 is exceedingly variable, and the different members 

 present flowers that range from scarlet, crimson, 

 orange, yellow, and purple to pure white. Some 

 are variegated. Individual plants of the first 

 named species growing on the same cliff along the 

 shore may show the widest range of variation in 

 the color of their blossoms. Indeed, all colors are 

 sometimes combined in the flowers of a single 

 plant. 



In other cases one will find a small patch of 

 yellow flowers in one place, and in the neighbor- 

 hood another patch of orange colored or of white 

 ones. 



The only color that is missing is blue. It would 

 thus be an interesting quest for some plant devel- 

 oper to see whether he could develop a blue 

 painted cup, somewhat as I was able to develop 

 a blue poppy. Even failing in this, the opportunity 

 to study heredity of color, and to isolate races of 

 painted cup of one color or another, attempting to 

 fix them so that they would come true from seed, 

 would give recreation for a number of seasons. 



The fact that the painted cup does not always 

 prove easy of cultivation suggests that it is a plant 



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