254 East and West 
certain air about it, as have some women, 
which distinguishes it from the rest. This 
air of distinction, one of the pentstemons of 
Arizona has in an eminent degree and every 
part of the plant contributes—the form of 
stem and leaf and their pale and rare shade 
of green, quite as much as the flower itself. 
Something in the whole make-up of the plant 
sets it apart and distinguishes it, as a thorough- 
bred animal proclaims itself different from 
the common stock. You may find it, a single 
stalk with its drooping raceme of scarlet 
trumpets, standing alone upon a rough face 
of lava, and so striking is the contrast of the 
fragile and exquisite plant with the grim 
rock, that you will pause and pronounce it 
one of the most beautiful things in the garden. 
In Arizona, no plant has impressed me as 
having a more rare and lovely personality 
than that pale sky-blue larkspur (D. azureum), 
which is to the handsome but more com- 
mon dark-blue delphiniums as a queen to her 
subjects. 
It is a gentle company the great garden 
affords, with none of the vexations of human 
society. We may sit us down in a clump 
of violets or in a field of golden baeria and 
find we have a host of little friends, all so 
