GENTIAN FAMILY, Gentianaceae. 
of its luxuriant size and pale foliage, and if Mr. Burbank 
could make the flowers clear white or purple it would be 
magnificent. It grows in the western mountains, as far 
east as Dakota and New Mexico. The finest I ever saw 
were on an open slope, in a high pass in the Wasatch 
Mountains, where they reared their pale spires proudly far 
above the surrounding herbage. 
Quite a pretty plant, too colorless to be 
Small Columbo : : 
effective at a distance, but not coarse, 
Frdsera nitida 
Bluish-white with a smooth, pale stem, over a foot tall, 
Summer and smooth, dull, bluish-green leaves, 
Cal., Oreg. slightly stiffish, prettily bordered with 
white, mostly in a clump near the base. The flowers are 
about half an inch across, shaped like the last; with bluish- 
' white petals, specked with dull-purple, with a green line 
on the outside, with one green gland near the center, 
fringed all around; large whitish anthers, becoming 
pinkish, and a white pistil. 
There are a good many kinds of Erythrea, widely dis- 
tributed, usually with red or pink flowers; calyx with five or 
four, narrow lobes, or divisions; corolla salver-form, with 
five or four lobes; anthers twisting spirally after shedding 
their pollen; stigmas two, oblong or fan-shaped. The Greek 
name means ‘“‘red”’ and the common name, Centaury, 
from the Latin, meaning ‘‘a hundred gold pieces,”’ alludes 
to the supposedly valuable medicinal properties of these 
plants. 
From three to twelve inches tall, with 
enticda apple-green leaves, mostly on the stems, 
Centaury smooth and thin in texture, and flowers 
Erythraéa ventista an inch or more across, a very vivid shade 
(Centaurium) of purplish-pink, with a yellow or white 
Canchalagua, 
ee SY “eye,” bright yellow anthers and green 
ema pistil. These are attractive, because they 
look so gay and cheerful, but the color isa 
little crude. The flowers are not so large in Yosemite as 
they are in some places, such as Point Loma, but are very 
numerous and cover large patches with brilliant color. 
These plants are called Canchalagua by Spanish-Califor- 
nians, who use them medicinally. 
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