92 Californian Lilies. 



after the snow has melted. The stalk grows up from three to five 

 feet, densely leaved in whorls, and with from a few to twenty-five 

 flowers, pure white and with a most delicious fragrance. I have 

 seen places fairly white with this lily and the air heavy with per- 

 fume. The bulb is large. I have bloomed it at Ukiah, but find 

 it rather harder to bloom than any of the other native lilies. I 

 believe, however, that it is quite successfully grown in England. 

 It should be given a loose soil and abundant moisture during the 

 growing season . 



Lilium rubescens is like L, Washingtonianum in every particu- 

 lar excepting that the flower blooms out pure white, blotched 

 with purple, and gradually gets darker till it is of rich ruby color, 

 hence its name. Similar as the two lilies are in habit, their native 

 .homes are very different. L. Washingtonianum is a lily of the 

 high Sierras, L. rubescens of the Coast Range. It is found in the 

 redwoods close to the coast, on shaded hillsides in sandstone 

 gravel, and on high ridges in the chapparal. The finest I have 

 ever seen in numbers were on a chapparal ridge in a soil of gravel 

 mixed with mold, of the ordinary chapparal soil. The bulb 

 grows deep and has abundant moisture in winter and spring, but 

 in the summer such places get very dry. A friend grows and 

 blooms them readily in half barrels filled with sand and mold 

 and placed in the shade. The first essentials with them are per- 

 fect drainage and a loose, porous soil. Of all our California lilies 

 it is the most beautiful, and of all lilies the most deliciously fra- 

 grant. A flower will perfume the leaves of a book for months, 

 and a well grown plant is the admiration of all beholders. 



Carl PurJy. 



CALIFORNIA FLOWERS IN ENGLAND. 



(Extracts from correspondence.) 



Phacelia Parryi, with dark violet purple flowers, is now well- 

 known. It has been in cultivation here several years and seed is 

 cheap. It is lower in price and much less in request than P. 

 campanularia, which I introduced through Messrs. Parish. The 

 latter is more delicate. If the season happens to be wet, the 

 plants die off. 



If the Californian seeds like the European climate they soon get 

 cheapened, through the competition which prevails here. But 

 they are not all at home, in England at least. I failed to do pny 

 good with Gilia aurea, which Messrs. Parish once sent me. But 

 G. dianthoides, G. dichotoma, and others do very well. 



Mimulus glutinosus has long been grown here under its early 

 name of Diplacus (Nuttall's), also a form with red flowers (puni- 

 ceus); they outlive mild winters, but perish in severe ones. I 

 may make the same remark of Dicentra chrysantha. It is only 

 seen to advantage in a climate like yours — which would suit me 

 well, but I am too old to transplant. 



