*’ 
PHLOX FAMILY. Polemoniaceae. 
There are many kinds of Linanthus; low, slender 
annuals, with opposite, palmately-divided leaves and thus 
differing from Gilia, the divisions narrow or threadlike, 
looking almost like whorls in some kinds, or rarely toothless, 
occasionally some of the upper leaves alternate; the flowers 
scattered, or in terminal, roundish clusters; the calyx-tube 
thin and dry between the ribs or angles, the teeth equal; the 
corolla more or less wheel-shaped, funnel-form, or salver- 
form; the stamens equally inserted on the corolla; the 
seeds few or many, developing mucilage when moistened. 
The Greek name means “flax flower.” 
A queer little plant, only about two 
Linénthus ; ‘ d 
fat ae (Gilia) inches high, with almost no stem, very 
White small, stiff leaves, and several large, 
- Spring pretty flowers, with cream-white corollas, 
California 
about an inch across, with five crests in 
the throat, and the tube tinged with purple on the outside. 
They are exceedingly fragile and diaphanous in texture 
and form little white tufts, which look very odd and attrac- 
tive, sprinkled over the sand in the Mohave Desert. 
This has slender, purplish, rather hairy 
Linénthus brevi- 
caies (Gil wt stems, from six to eight inches tall, stiff, 
Pink, violet dull green, hairy leaves, tipped with bris- 
Spring tles, and flowers over half an inch across, 
California 
with sticky, hairy calyxes. The slender 
corolla-tubes are half an inch long, with delicate rose-pink or 
violet petals, white anthers, and a whitish pistil. This looks 
very pretty growing on the bare sand of the Mohave Desert. 
. This is very pretty, with a stiff, slender, 
Linénthus an- a ¥¢ 3 
drosaceus (Gilia) hairy, branching stem, from three inches to 
Lilac, pink, or a foot tall, with stiffish, dull green leaves, 
white apparently in whorls and cut into very nar- 
mar Te row divisions, with bristlesor hairs along the 
margins. The flowers are over half an inch 
across, with a long threadlike tube, and are usually bright 
lilac but sometimes pink or white, with a yellow, white, or 
almost black ‘‘eye,’”’ orange-colored anthers and a long, 
yellow pistil. The flower-cluster is mixed with many bracts 
and the stems often branch very symmetrically, with 
clusters at the tips. This is common on dry hillsides, 
growing in the grass, and often makes-bright patches of 
color. There are several named varieties. 
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