WESTERN ERYTHRONIUM, 



2 53 



and entire absence of mottlingon theleaves ; no 

 other Erythronium is yellow, although several 

 are in shades of cream. From the banks of the 

 Columbia river at Hood river, only a few hun- 

 dred feet above the sea level, to the high peaks 

 of Oregon, Washington, and BritishColumbia, 

 thence east through the high ranges to the 

 Rocky Mountains, along which it grows from 

 British Columbia to Colorado. It grows in Pine 

 woods in a light sandy soil, and flowers very 

 early. A friend who saw it in the high moun- 

 tains of British Columbia describes it in mass 

 as like a field of yellow Daffodils for rich effect. 

 Watson assigns to it major and minor forms, but 

 this I believe to be incorrect. To the minor form 

 he assigns plants from the Blue Mountains of 

 eastern Oregon, mostly found at a height of 

 2,000 or more feet, yet it was in this range that 

 the largest and tallest that I have ever seen grew 

 (2 feet). A variety, albifiorum, bearing white 

 flowers tinged with green, comes from Pine 

 woods in the plain country of eastern Wash- 

 ington at a comparatively low elevation. The 

 name£. Nuttallianum is given to a form of the 

 typical E. grandifiorum, in which the anthers 

 are red ; it differs from the type in no other 

 way. It was describedfrom flowers from Mon- 

 tana. I only know it in lots from the Blue 

 Mountains in eastern Oregon, in which both 

 forms are mingled. 



E. purpurascens. — Leaves narrowly lan- 

 ceolate-obovate, undulate on the margins, en- 

 tirely unmottled, but tinged bronze ; one to 

 eight small flowers crowded on a raceme ; pe- 

 tals only slightly recurved ; flowers campanu- 

 late ; petals light yellow, orange at the centre 

 and tinged purple after a few days ; filaments 

 filiform. Easily known by the metallic tinged, 

 but unmottled leaves, and the small crowded 

 flowers. Sierra Nevada Mountains, from 4,000 

 feet up to sub-alpine regions; also from Plumas 

 to Placer counties, California. 



(2.) Leaves richly mottled; inner petals au- 

 ric led ; style deeply divided after a few days if not 

 on first opening ; flowers in a sessile umbel, and ap- 

 pearing as if each flower had a slender stem of its 

 own ; bulbs producing offsets at the end of under- 

 ground runners. 



E. Hartwegii. — Leaves obovate-lanceo- 

 late, with broadly margined petiole; flowers 

 often three to five ; petals white or cream with 

 an orange and yellow base. Foothills of the 



Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the heat is 

 great in summer and the soil baked ; it grows 

 in dry rocky places under brush, and stands 

 more heat and dryness than any other member 

 of the genus. 



(3.) heaves richly mottled; no auricles at the 

 base of the inner petals ; styles short, club shaped, 

 and not divided. 



E. Howellii. — Leaves obovate-lanceolate 

 with broadly margined petiole ; rarely more 

 than three flowered ; petals light yellow, orange 

 at base, and at least the old flowers tinged rose. 

 Readily known from all others by the absence 

 of auricles at the base of the inner petals ; most 

 nearly related to E. citrinum. The most local of 

 any western species, found in only one limited 

 region of south-western Oregon. 



(4.) Leaves richly mottled in brown; inner 

 petals auric led ; style short, club shaped, and not 

 at all divided ; filaments filiform. 



E. citrinum.- — Leaves obovate-lanceolate, 

 with broadly-margined petiole ; scape often 

 more than three flowered ; petals light yellow 

 with an ovate, bright orange spot above the 

 auricles. 



Thepresence of auricles separates this clear- 

 ly from E. Howellii, and the short, undivided 

 style and the ovate orange spot from E. cali- 

 fornicum; it could not be confused with any 

 other species. South-western Oregon. 



E.Hendersonii. — Leaves obovate-lanceo- 

 late, with broadly-margined petiole ; often 

 more than three flowered ; petals pale purple 

 with deep purple centre. No other Erythro- 

 nium is of this colour. Southern Oregon, to 

 within forty miles of the coast. 



(5.) Leaves richly mottled '; petals auric led ; 

 style club shaped, deeply divided, and the divisions 

 spreading widely in fully open flowers. 



E. californicum. — Stem one to sixteen 

 flowered ; petals cream coloured with an orange 

 base, and often with a maroon band crossing 

 the petal above the auricles ; leaves obovate- 

 lanceolate, and broadly margined on a long 

 petiole ; filaments filiform. 



It is readily distinguished from E. citrinum 

 with its short, club-shaped style, as compared 

 with the long deeply cleft style of this kind. 

 Their colour is the same, but whereas in E. 

 citrinum the orange is in an ovate spot, in E. 

 californicum it suffuses the base. On the other 

 hand, it can only be contused with E. giganteum, 



