10 Joint Bulletins 4 and 5 



White erythronium, many of the flowers pale pink, carpeted the 

 richer uplands and along the water-courses the red-hud, one of our 

 most beautiful flowering trees, flaunted its crimson banners, a challenge 

 to the eye for a long distance; one creek in particular had its bank 

 for miles crowded with this exquisite tree literally loaded with flow- 

 ers, each tree a perfect bouquet. 



A little later a drive out into the oil country found the country 

 bright blue with millions upon millions of the flowers of the blue-eyed 

 grass growing in unbelievable profusion. A few miles farther showed 

 milk vetch and Nothoscorclium, Gilia linearis, Verbena Canadensis, and, 

 in the moister places, butter-weed gave variety to the scene. 



About the middle of April, Nature suddenly went mad and poured 

 out blossoms with such lavishness and in such a variety of colors one's 

 head reeled in trying to see all. Baptisia tinctoria, Astragalus and 

 other leguminosae, Amsonia, Zizia aurea, shone cream color or purple 

 or blue or gold; Oxalis violaceae spread an exquisite violet carpet in 

 the meadows, the deep blue spiderwort of our northern old-fashioned 

 gardens grew everywhere boldly by the roadsides, and zephyranthes 

 gaily nodded their dainty pink and white bells in the wind. Every day 

 brought flowers new and charming, but one of the most beautiful of 

 all was an evening primrose, 0. laciniata var. grandiflora, with low- 

 growing, widely-spreading plants often two and one-half to three feet 

 in diameter and absolutely covered with great, sweet-scented snowy 

 blossoms glowing in the dusk like fairy dancing grounds, and visited 

 by the fairies in the shape of large, velvety moths that came in 

 myriads to feast on honey-dew. 



Scarcely less interesting is 0. pallida, a taller growing plant with 

 its white flowers turning to an exquisite pink. At this time we began 

 to note a verbena — V. Mpinnatifida, like our garden verbenas, only of 

 a bushy rather than a trailing habit, and bearing countless heads of 

 flowers in all shades of purple and mauve. 



Toward the last of April two mallows became very conspicuous, the 

 Callirhoe, or poppy mallow of our gardens, growing in the clay along 

 the dusty roadsides and showing great bouquets of bright crimson 

 blooms each from two and one-half to four inches in diameter; and the 

 false mallow, M. coceineum, in much the same habitat and in even 

 greater abundance, with smaller flowers, bright orange rather than 

 "pink-red." It was strikingly in evidence, especially on the reserva- 

 tion, while the red-seed dandelion was common on the city's outskirts. 



Another interesting plant found at this time was the Psoralea eseu- 



