I02 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The Southern CaLliforniat Species of Calochortus. 



BY S. B. PARISH. 



This paper was prepared before the appearance of Mr. Carl 

 Purdy's recent " Revision of the Genus Calochortus," ^ but by 

 the delay in its publication I have been able to revise it with 

 the aid of his helpful treatment. Mr. Purd}^ has favored me 

 also with some valuable manuscript notes. 



Mr. Purdy's monograph is the first attempt, since that of 

 Dr. Sereno Watson, ^ at presenting a systematic treatment of those 

 species of Calochortus which grow in the United States. His 

 acquaintance with these plants, both in their native haunts and 

 under cultivation, exceeds that of any other botanist, so that his 

 views respecting them are entitled to great deference. It is, 

 therefore, with no little hesitancy that I am obliged to dissent 

 from his disposition of some of the Southern California species, 

 especially as my field acquaintance is confined, for the most part, 

 to the few species which occupy this little corner of the vast 

 region inhabited by the genus. 



At the outset of any attempt to establish lines of specific 

 separation in the genus, we are met by the necessity of relying 

 largely upon color and color-markings, characters unstable at 

 best, and unsatisfactory, and seldom more so than in the present 

 case. Colorations the most distinct, and apparently fixed are 

 found to fade away at times in infinite variations. Elsewhere I 

 have directed attention to this evanescence in the brilliant and 

 distinct markings of C.veiuistus, '^ markings which in one locality 

 may be repeated in thousand of flowers wiih substantial same- 

 ness, while in another they may be confused, or disappear, so that 

 extreme forms are referable to the species onl}^ from habital 

 propinquity. 



Great diagnostic importance must be assigned, also, to the 

 character of the petaline glands, their shape and indument ; yet 



1 Carl Purdy. A revision of the Genus Calochortus. Proc. Cal. Acad. Ser. Ill, Bot. 

 2:1D7-156, t. 15-19. Dec. 1901. 



2 Sereno Watson. Revision of the North American Liliaceae. Proc .Am. Acad. 

 14:213-288. July, 1879. 



3 S. B. P.iRiSH. Variations of Calochortus venustus, Benth. Zoe, 3:352. 



