PURDY'S CALIFORNIA BULBS AND SEEDS 5 
CALOCHORTI 
These are lovely bulbous plants, which are best described under the separate groups. 
Section I. GLOBE TULIPS 
Words convey only a faint idea of these flowers. Their form is similar, but there 
is a great difference in color. All are exquisite in tints and the perfection of grace in 
form. The plants are rather tall and slender, with leaf-wrapped stems of odd shape. 
They are natives of woodlands, delighting in loose soils, and liking leaf-mold and light 
shades. At the same time, most of them will do well in heavy soils, and are fine subjects 
to naturalize among rocks or in shaded woods. In the East, as well as the West, they 
succeed very well if given the care suggested in cultural directions. 
Globe Tulips are very satisfactory for pot-plants, and a colony of six to twelve 
makes a most beautiful mass of color. 
Albus, Fairy Lantern. White. 3 cts. each, 25 cts. per doz., $2 per 100; medium- 
sized bulbs for naturalization, $1.50 per 100, $10 per 1,000. 
Pulchellus. A beautiful flower, like Albus, but a soft lemon-yellow. 5 cts. each, 
50 cts per doz. 
Amabilis. Rich yellow. 3 cts. each, 25 cts. per doz., $2 per 100; smaller-flowering 
bulbs, $1.50 per lOO, Sio per 1,000. 
Section IL STAR TULIPS; CAT'S EARS 
Slender woodland plants; fine for naturalization in rockwork and woodland. 
Benthamii, bright yellow; Maweanus major, white; these at 3c. each, 30c. per doz. 
Section III 
TRUE MARIPOSA or BUTTERFLY TULIPS 
Until one has seen a good collection of these plants, he has no idea how much nature 
can do in the variation of one flower. All Mariposas are simply forms of Calochoiiiis 
vemislus, yet there are six well-marked strains, all with the slender grace of stem belong- 
ing to the species. 
Cup-shaped flowers, one to many on a stem, wonderfully marked with eyes and dots 
and pencilings in rich colors, are characteristics. Yet each strain carries out the plan 
on a color scheme of its own, and then can be compared only with the orchids in won- 
derful variability of beauty. 
Mariposa is simply the Spanish word for butterfly and is applied to these Tulii)s 
because the eyes and markings of the flowers are so much like those on a butterfly's 
wings. It is a musical word given to a county and to a town in California, and we 
would hardly like to give it up for its English equivalent. 
MARIPOSA TULIPS FOR SAN FRANCISCO AND OTHER 
HUMID CLIMATES 
.At the Panama-Pacific International Exposition 1 had a large bed of various Calo- 
chorti. The soil was a mixture of ocean sand and loam, and when the bed was planted, 
the soil was removed to about 4 inches in depth, then a layer of perhaps a half-inch of 
well-rotted manure was spread evenly. Over this a layer of loam was placed, and, the 
bulbs were planted about 2 inches deep. All of the Fairy Lanterns and Star Tulips 
thrived well. Among the Mariposa Tulips, Calochorti, Venustus citrinus, Venustus 
oculatus, Venustus Vesta, and Luteus grew and flowered wonderfully well, and were 
entirely free from disease. I feel justified in recommending these species for any garden 
in the Bay region; and I would also say thai they are among the most beautiful specres 
of Mariposa Tulips known. The Eldorado strains in these same beds were attacked by 
lily leaf-rot and suffered much. 
