Flowers in Colorado. 



branches freely. Each branch bears one or more blossoms, 

 a white, many-pointed starry disk, in its centre a wide 

 falling tuft of fine silky stamens. Here also we find a 

 large white poppy whose leaves much resemble the leaves 

 of the mentzelia ; and in the open stretches beyond the 

 creek, the ground is white and pink every afternoon with 

 the blossoms of four-o'clocks. There must be several 

 varieties of these, for some are large and some are small, 

 and they have a wide range of color, white, pinkish-white, 

 and clear pink. Higher up, on the top of the mesa, we 

 come to great levels which are dotted with brilliant points 

 of fiery scarlet everywhere ; the first time one sees a 

 scarlet " painter's brush " (castilleia) a few rods ahead of 

 him in the grass is a moment he never forgets ; it looks 

 like a huge dropped jewel or a feather fallen from the 

 plumage of some gorgeous bird. There are two colors 

 of the castilleia here, one, of an orange shade of scarlet, 

 and the other of the brightest cherry red. But beautiful 

 as is the castilleia, it is not the mesas crowning glory : 

 vivid as is its color, the pale creamy tints of the yucca 

 blossoms eclipse it in splendor. This also is a thing a 

 lover of flowers will never forget, the first time he saw 



22 



