REVISION OF THE GENUS CALOCHORTUS. 



29 



Francisco Bay to Monterey County in Northern 

 California. Like all Mariposa Tulips which are 

 native to the heavy clays, they are exceptionally 

 vigorous and very easy to grow. Var. El Dorado. — 

 At from 2,000 to 4,000 feet in altitude in the 

 southern half of the Sierra Nevada a form of C. 

 venustus occurs, in which the variations are innu- 

 merable. All have rather narrow petals of a long 

 wedgeshape. In every case there is a richly-coloured 

 eye in the centre of the petal, with many markings 

 and pencillings on the lower third about the densely 

 hairy gland, while in some there is a red or gold 

 blotch at the apex, as in the type. In colour they 

 vary from white through lilac to purple, through 

 pink and salmon to rich deep red, and through 

 cream to very light yellow. In one locality one 

 colour predominates, in another section another. 

 Presumably this is in obedience to some natural law. 

 In some places the variations are absolutely bewil- 

 dering, and thousands of flowers could be selected 

 and no two alike in colour and markings. 



The prevailing soil is a granitic sand, and the 

 plants grow in an open Pine forest and in the little 

 glade-like openings. There are, however, out- 

 croppings of several other formations in which the 

 Calochorti also thrive, and the only spots in which 

 they will not grow are the low wet glades where 

 C. luteus, var. citrinus and var. oculatus, are found. 



Group V., Lilac Mariposas. — The type of this 

 group is C. splendens, and the strong characteristics 

 are in the white, lilac, or purplish petals, having no 

 eye-like spot, and possessing a very small, round, 

 densely-hairy gland, with some scattered hairs about 

 it, and in long, very narrow channelled leaves. Nearly 

 all of the kinds are from Southern California. 



C. splendens. — The type of the species is the var. 

 atroviolaceus of gardens. In this the stem is bul- 

 biferous at the base, very slender, tall, and many- 

 flowered. The flowers are smaller than in most 

 species, colour of petals from lilac to purple, with 

 often a deep purple claw and short hairs on the 

 lower third of petal. Often the gland is absent. It 

 grows along the coast of Southern California, and 

 on the islands along the coast, on bushy hills and 

 tablelands, and is a very excellent plant. Var. 

 montanus is a low slender form found in the high 

 mountains of the interior, where, I am informed, it 

 grows in wet places. The colour is from salmon 

 to pink. It is in cultivation as C. Palmeri. Var. 

 major, a tall species, with few flowers and without 

 bulblets at the base. The petals are pale lilac with 

 long cobwebby hairs on the middle and pale at the 

 base. The flowers are large and showy, but as a 

 garden plant it is inferior to the following. It is 

 found in the dry interior of the coast range of Mon- 

 terey County, Northern California. Var. ruber. — 

 This is the tallest and strongest of the series. The 



petals are from a delicate satiny pink to lilac, with 

 a small round gland and short hairs at the base of 

 the claw. It grows on a high mountain range in 

 Eastern Lake and Napa counties, Northern Cali- 

 fornia, and is the most northerly representative of 

 the species. It grows in a peculiar bluish sticky 

 clay, often in rocky ledges, where the bulbs are 

 sometimes pressed as thin as a wafer. I have dug 

 them where the work was much like quarrying. 

 In loose soils it grows as much as 1 5 inches deep. 

 It ought to prove the hardiest, as it is the most 

 beautiful, of the Lilac Mariposas. 



C. Palmeri. — A little-known species, very like C. 

 splendens, var. montanus ; white to very light purple. 

 It has never been in cultivation, and is known only 

 at a few spots on the western edge of the Mohave 

 desert in the mountains. C. invenustus is another 

 species of this group, which will probably prove to 

 be an extreme variation of var. montanus. 



C. Catalina (C. Lyoni). — This most charming 

 species is of the habit of C. splendens (var. mon.anus), 

 tall, slender, and large flowered. The stem is bulbi- 

 ferous at the base, the petals from white tinged lilac 

 to lilac purple, with a large ovate maroon spot at 

 their base. The gland is oblong and densely matted 

 with hairs, and a few hairs are scattered on the lower 

 third. The seed-pod is oblong, not arrow-shaped 

 or long and slender, as in all other Mariposas. C. 

 Catalin<£ blooms earlier than any other Mariposa 

 Tulip, coming only a little after the Globe Tulips. 



C. excavatus. — Somewhat resembling C. invenus- 

 tus, as described by Professor Greene. It has a broad 

 hairy gland, which is so deeply set as to appear as 

 a yellow sac on the under side of the petal ; the 

 colour of the petals is white, shaded with lurid 

 purple above, and the original locality is south- 

 western Nevada. I have only seen dried specimens. 



C. flexuosus. — In this beautiful species the stem 

 is so weak and flexuous as to be almost creeping. 

 The flowers are of much the same form as in C. 

 splendens type, and purple with a deep purple claw. 

 It is one of the most strikingly coloured of all 

 Calochorti, and grows in an arid region in the ex- 

 treme southern portion of Utah, in a red granitic 

 soil. In seasons of heavy rainfall it is abundant 

 and very brilliant, while in dry seasons few flower 

 at all. I have not been successful in flowering- it. 



C. striatus. — A species known for some time but 

 only recently described by Mr. Parrish. It has affi- 

 nities with C. Palmeri. The gland is acutely triangu- 

 lar and densely tufted with white hairs, the petal is 

 pointed at the tip, light purple striated with darker 

 purple. It grows only in saline meadows, in and 

 about the Mohave desert in Southern California.'* 



C. Dunni. — In this very pretty species, whose 

 affinities are to C. splendens type (var. atroviolaceus), 

 the habit is tall, and there is no bulblet ; the petals 



