64 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



I early learned that the desert is full of floral sur- 

 prises, but I was not prepared to find among them 

 a snowy, virginal lily. Down on the sun-seared flats 

 about the upper end of the Salton Sea I came upon 

 the wonderful Hesperocallis undulatus, a flower that 

 might be looked for in some carefully warmed and 

 watered greenhouse, but never in these arid spaces 

 of sand. It was mid-April, near the end of the plant's 

 flowering season, and only a few of them were left in 

 bloom. I was told that a week earlier they had stood 

 in thousands all over the gray levels that stretch 

 from the edge of the bitter sea back to the ochre 

 mountains. Tall and slender, they carried their deli- 

 cate large bells, three or four to a cluster, knee-high 

 above the mat of wavy, ribbon-like leaves. One rubs 

 one's eyes at meeting these Easter-lily-like flowers 

 in this "dry and thirsty land where no water is." 



In the same region, but scattered over a wider 

 territory, is found another choice flower, one of the 

 Mentzelias. Its blossom is creamy white, of the most 

 satiny sheen of any flower I know, each petal closely 

 pencilled with vermilion in very fine parallel lines. 

 The foliage, however, is harsh and scaly, rather a 

 drawback to the beauty of the plant, whereas the 

 lily is wholly gentle and Madonna-like. 



I must pay tribute also to the great white evening 

 primrose, (Enothera trichocalyx, which on moonlight 

 nights throws the glamour of fairydom over the dry, 

 commonplace sands. The huge four-inch blossoms 

 shine up like little moons ; but beware how you stoop 

 to handle them, for the plants are a favorite har- 

 borage for the sidewinder, that wicked little horned 



