LILY FAMILY. Liliaceae. 
A wonderful flower, exceedingly brilliant 
Orange Mariposa 444 unusual in color, not quite like any- 
Tulip 
Sih es thing else in nature. The stout, firm stem 
Kénnedyi is from two inches to over a foot tall and 
Orange-red the leaves are dark-green, with a delicate 
Syme bluish “bloom.” The flowers are about 
Cal., Ariz. 
two inches across, with pale-green sepals, 
bordered with pale-pink and orange inside, and beautiful 
petals, thick in texture and easily bruised, delicate peach- 
color outside and bright orange-vermilion within, each 
petal ornamented with a purplish gland, covered with 
matted hairs and crossed with a band of long vermilion 
hairs. When the stems are very short the flaming flowers 
look like Crocuses, sprouting out of the barren desert soil, 
but when they are tall they have the gorgeous effect of 
Tulips. These plants grow in the Mohave Desert, but are 
rather rare in California. They are very abundant in the 
foothills and on the mountain slopes of Arizona, giving a 
beautiful orange-red color to the landscape for miles in 
spring, there being literally thousands in a small area. 
These pretty flowers are about two 
Sego Lily ——sinches across, their white petals tinged 
Mariposa Tulip ; : 
Cio bilan with yellowish-green or lilac, and often 
Nuttéllii delicately fluted at the edges, often with 
White, palelilac hairy spots inside the petals at their base, 
red “eae , the whole flower very variable in coloring. 
é These Mariposas grow all through the 
Southwest. In the Grand Canyon they begin to come out 
early in May, among the dry grasses halfway down the 
Bright Angel trail, and are a lovely shade of clear lilac. The 
slender stem, about a foot tall, often bears a small bulb near 
the base. It is called Sego Lily (pronounced Ségo) in Utah 
and is the ‘‘State flower.”’ Its bulbs formed a substantial 
part of the food of the early Mormon pioneers when they 
crossed the desert and the flower is therefore held in great 
esteem in Utah. 
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