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Sierra Club Bulletin 



green ovary and calyx-tube is the dainty little orchid-like flower. 

 The upper lip, very small, is composed of two minute lavender 

 lobes ; the lower lip is broad and spreading, white at the throat, with 

 a bright blue border and three rounded spreading lobes. 



Jackass Meadows, July lO. — Not far from the rushing waters of 

 the South Fork of the San Joaquin we found a beautiful clump of 

 Scarlet Gilia {Gilia aggregata). The long scarlet trumpet-shaped 

 flowers are borne on loose panicles, often a foot long, and when 

 occurring in mass are very striking. If anyone watched these plants 

 carefully he must surely have noticed the humming-birds which were 

 constantly darting about and stealing sweets from the brilliant tubes. 

 Such tubular flowers often have small nectar-secreting glands at the 

 base of their tubes which the humming-birds with their long beaks 

 are easily able to reach. Often the humming-birds help pay for their 

 stolen sweets by transferring pollen from one plant to another. In- 

 deed, it might be easily demonstrated that nature had provided for 

 this method of cross-pollination. In these Scarlet Gilias, as in cer- 

 tain Pentstemons, the stamens, with their anther-sacs full of pollen, 

 are just the right length to dust the little frontal feathers of the 

 humming-bird. The bird then flies to another flower and, first hit- 

 ting the fertile stigma, brushes off some of the pollen upon it. Often 

 the humming-birds become so covered with pollen that they appear 

 to have yellow foreheads. Indeed, in the early days a new species 

 was described as having a yellow patch which distinguished it from 

 our common Anna hummer. Later it was discovered that this yellow 

 would brush off — it was nothing but pollen. That in turn nature 

 has given the humming-birds a strong sense of color is shown by 

 their love for red. A red tomato-can or a red bandana will often 

 cause a hummer to stop in his rapid flight and dart toward the bril- 

 liant object. Many people believe that there is a correlation between 

 the presence of humming-birds in this country and our abundance 

 of bright red flowers. 



Evolution Basin, July 14. — As we approach the higher altitudes 

 the attention centers on those brave plants which occupy the fron- 

 tiers of the earth's vegetation and typify the Alpine Zone. Due to 

 the high actinic quality of the light, most of these plants possess 

 flowers of intensely pure colors. Indeed, the alpine flowers appear 

 very delicate and are in strange contrast to their rugged and barren 

 surroundings. It will be found, however, on closer examination that 



