PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



225 



Erythronium Hartwegi is not only the 

 earliest but also the most easily grown of 

 all, and unique in its habit. Its leaves are 

 mottled in dark green and dark mahogany- 

 brown. The two to six flowers are each 

 borne on a separate slender scape, and 

 form a sessile umbel. The general effect 

 of a well-grown plant is of a loose bouquet 

 with the two richly mottled leaves as a 

 holder. The segments recurve to the 

 stalk, and are light yellow with an orange 

 centre. Well-grown flowers measure 2 

 inches to 2^ inches across. Its bulbs are 

 short and solid, producing small offsets, 

 and, unlike most sorts, they retain their 

 vitality until late in the season, and are 

 in good condition in February, when bulbs 

 planted earlier are in flower. Sierra 

 Nevada of California. 



E. montanum. This is an alpine 

 species from the high peaks of the Cas- 

 cades, in Oregon and Washington. The 

 leaves are without mottling, and alone 

 among Erythroniums are abruptly con- 

 tracted at base with a slender unmargined 

 petiole. The flowers are pure white with 

 an orange centre, resembling in shape those 

 of E. giganteum. Its bulbs are peculiar 

 in having the old rootstock persistent, and 

 showing the annual scars of many years. 

 Often it forms a spiral around the bulbs. 



E. purpurascens has uiimottled leaves, 

 which in the earlier stages of growth are 

 strongly tinged with purple and become 

 dark green. The segments of the perianth 

 are not reflexed, as in all the others, but 

 spreading white to creamy, with orange 

 centre, and turning purplish. The flowers 

 are small and crowded in a raceme, style 

 not divided. A very distinct species, grow- 

 ing in the higher regions of the Sierra 

 Nevada, in California. As a garden plant 

 it is not to be compared to the others 

 here described. Bulbs obtained from high 

 altitudes flower very late with E. mon- 

 tanum ; from lower altitudes they flower 

 a little earlier than E. giganteum. 



E. revolution is a widely scattered 

 species, extending along the coast from 

 Sonoma County, California, to the central 

 part of British America, usually in deep 

 forests. It is a plant of low altitudes, the 

 leaves always mottled ; filaments broad 

 and awl-shaped, the style large and pro- 



minent and three- cleft ; the scape stout 

 and usually one-flowered, but sometimes 

 three to five-flowered. E. revolutum can 

 always be identified by the broad filaments 

 and prominent appendages. I have seen 

 six well-marked variations. 



(1) The Species. This has broad leaves 

 mottled with white or seldom with light 

 brown, scapes stout, 6 inches to 15 inches 

 high. The petals are narrow ; at first 

 white to delicate pink, they soon become 

 purple. This form was the first Ery- 

 thronium collected, being found by 

 Menzies in British Columbia over a 

 hundred years ago, and described as E. 

 revolutum. It was lost sight of until 

 a year ago I found a form in the 

 Redwood forest of Mendocino County, 

 California, which is identical with the 

 original. These two points are 1000 miles 

 apart, but I have since found several 

 intermediate habitats, and it stretches 

 along the coast the entire distance in a 

 long narrow band. 



(2) Var. Bolanderi. This seems to be 

 a local low-growing form very similar to 

 the last, but the flowers are white, only 

 tardily becoming purplish. Eel River 

 Valley, Mendocino County, California. 



(3) Var. Johnson! (E. Johnsoni, Bo- 

 lander). This exquisitely beautiful kind 

 has broad leaves mottled with white, and 

 looking as if varnished. The flower is of 

 a delicate reddish tint with orange centre. 

 Well illustrated in a Garden plate, 20th 

 February, 1897. North- Western Oregon. 



(4) Erythronium revolutum (Creamy 

 Form). This, according to Mr Watson, is 

 the type of the species, but as variety No. 1 

 is proved to be the original, it becomes a 

 variety. The leaf is more darkly mottled 

 than in either of the others with brown or 

 dark brown. The petals are broad and of 

 much substance, and become reflexed more 

 tardily than most Erythroniums, although 

 at length closely reflexed. In colour it 

 is from light to dark cream, with a 

 greenish cast, and a yellow centre. It is 

 one of the best in cultivation. Coast ranges, 

 Oregon and British Columbia. 



(5) E. revolutum var. albiflorum. 

 This beautiful variety is like the preced- 

 ing, except that the ground colour is pure 

 white, with a slight greenish cast. It was 



