WESTERN ER YTHRONIUM, 



255 



a distance of about thirty miles from the coast, 

 and extending through westernOregon, Wash- 

 ington, and southern British Columbia, grow- 

 ing in heavy lands along streams and damp 

 spots in woods (see E. californicum for com- 

 parison of the two). Structurally it is closely 

 related to E. revolutum, differing principally 

 in colour. This beautiful plant — the E.grandi- 

 Jiorum var. albijiorum and E.giganteum var. albi- 

 Jiorum of various figures and authors — is one 

 of the finest of all Erythroniums. In some 

 sections all the flowers are banded red, while 

 in others this is lacking. In the extreme 

 southern portion of theWillamette valley there 

 is a local form connecting E. giganteum with 

 E. californicum. It is more of a cream colour, 

 with richly mottled leaves, and flowers earlier 

 than the type; I have named it var. prcecox. 



E. revolutum. — Leaves mottled faintly in 

 white and light brown ; stems seldom more 

 than one flowered, very stout ; petals from 

 white tingedpurpleto purple; style verystout, 

 ovary much larger than in other species, and 

 the ripened capsule fully twice as large as in 

 any except E.giganteum; filaments even broader 

 than in the last; auricles very prominent and 

 clasping the ovary. Always found in rather 

 cold heavy soils, often growing on the borders 

 of winter swamps on the edge of heavy timber. 

 The following are distinct colour varieties : — ■ 

 Var. Bolanderii (also known as var. Smithii or 

 E. Smithii) a local form found on the South 

 Fork of the Eel river in Mendocino county, 

 differing from the southern type in seldom 

 turning purple; var. Pink Beauty (Hort.), in 

 Humboldt county, California, the species has 

 flowers of a delicate pink shade of colour, 

 but otherwise the same ; var. Johnsonii (E. 

 Johnsonii) from near the Columbia river, the 

 flowers being of a uniform shade of soft rose- 

 pink. 



The original of E. revolutum was collected 

 by Smith in the end of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, and was said to have come from Van- 

 couver Island; but, as it has never since been 

 found there, it is likely that the specimen 

 was wrongly labelled — an easy thing in col- 

 lections made from a vessel coasting from 

 California to British America. Plants which 

 I collected in Mendocino county, California, 

 were compared by Dr. Baker with the origi- 

 nal specimens at Kew and found to be iden- 



tical. For a long time it was a lost species. 

 Watson must have confused it with E. gigan- 

 teum^ for in the region to which he refers his 

 E. revolutum the former is the only species, 

 while his description of the plant does not 

 agree with either the original descriptions or 

 specimens. 



E. revolutum is distributed in a long slender 

 band (in some places only two or three miles 

 wide) beginning in southern Mendocino 

 county, California, never over fifteen miles 

 from the ocean, and extending to the Columbia 

 river; it has not been traced beyond the river, 

 but so far has not been found on Vancouver 

 island or at other British American points. In 

 California E. californicum meets it, and in 

 Oregon its territory joins that of E.giganteum, 

 but they do not overlap. 



At some Californian points E. californicum 

 grows on the dry slopes and E. revolutum on 

 the wet heavy flats, and they meet on the 

 margins. 



The type of E. revolutum has been found 

 in southern Mendocino county only. Perhaps 

 fifty miles farther north it gives way to the 

 whiter form, which has long been called E. 

 Smithii and later E. revolutum var. Bolanderii. 

 After another eighty miles a form appears 

 with more darkly mottled leaves and soft pink 

 flowers; this is the Pink Beauty of gardens. It 

 is then lost for about 300 miles when it re- 

 appears in the deep rose form known as E. 

 Johnsonii, which crosses the Columbia river, 

 beyond which the country for another 200 

 miles is (botanically) only poorly explored and 

 nothing known of it. Doubtless the gap be- 

 tween Pink Beauty and Johnsonii is filled by 

 intermediates. 



(7.) Leaves cordate at base; petals auric led; 

 f laments f I form; subalpine. 



E. montanum. — Leaves cordate at base, 

 lightly mottled ; style deeply divided ; fila- 

 ments filiform ; petals pure white. 



In the high mountains of Oregon, Wash- 

 ington, and British Columbia at from 4,000 

 feet to near the snow line, where it grows on 

 open slopes in the tufts of grass and is often 

 frozen stiff when in full flower. After forest 

 fires the plants grow very large and fine, and 

 as described their effect must be very beauti- 

 ful. I have found it very difficult to cultivate, 

 remaining dormant so late that the leaves are 



