MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 243 



SMALL-FLOWERED COLLINSIA 



Collinsia parviflora. Figwort Family 



Stems: very slender and weak. Leaves: oblong or lanceolate, mostly 

 obtuse at the apex and narrowed at the base, entire or sparingly toothed, 

 the lower ones opposite, the upper ones in whorls. Flowers: on long 

 pedicels; corolla variegated blue and white, the throat longer than the 

 limb, which is two-lipped, the upper lip two-cleft, its lobes recurved, the 

 lower lip larger and three-lobed. 



A pretty, fragile, little plant, with numerous variegated 

 blue and white blossoms. It grows thickly in moist places, 

 seldom attaining more than eight inches in height. It is not 

 unlike a very tiny Lobelia. 



LARGE PURPLE BEARD-TONGUE 



Penstejnon Menziesii. Figwort Family 



Low, densely matted, prostrate, with lateral leafy branches, which 

 bear erect flowering shoots two to six inches high. Leaves: thick, long, 

 obovate, dentate, the flowering stems bearing several pairs of orbicular 

 leaf-like bracts. Flowers : calyx five-parted ; corolla tubular, moderately 

 bilabiate, the upper lip two-lobed, the lower Hp three-lobed and bearded 

 within. 



These handsome purple and pinkish flowers are an inch or 

 more in length and form large mats of brilliant colour upon 

 the rocks at very high elevations. The plant grows prostrate 

 upon the ground and has numerous short erect shoots, bear- 

 ing the blossoms, which are tubular in shape and have two 

 lips, the lower one being thickly bearded with soft white 

 hairs. Penstemon comes from the Greek pente, '' five," and 

 stemon^ *'a stamen," and refers to the large fifth sterile 

 stamen, which is simply a filament without an anther and 

 is densely hairy like the lower Hp. It is to this pert little 

 bearded tongue, which projects far beyond the other four 

 fertile stamens, that the flower owes its common name. 



