Part 9

Purple Ground Cherry Quincula lobata

Plate 19, fig. 1

This Ground Cherry has beautiful purple flowers, each with a white-rayed, woolly star in the center of the corolla. The plants are low and spreading, and 2-8 in. high. They are found in waste places and along roadsides at 4000-6000 ft., blooming in early and midsummer. The common Ground Cherries usually have yellow flowers and the berries are edible, often being made into jams and pies.

POTATO FAMILY

1 Purple Ground Cherry: Quincula lobata 4 Buffalo Bur: Solanum rostratum

MORNING GLORY FAMILY

2 Bush Morning Glory: Ipomoea leptophylla

PHLOX FAMILY

3 Trumpet Phlox: Gilia aggregata 5 Nectar Cup: Polemonium speciosum 6 Jacob’s Ladder: Polemonium pulchellum 7 Tiny Trumpet: Collomia linearis]

Buffalo Bur Solanum rostratum

Plate 19, fig. 4

The yellow flowers of the Buffalo Bur are similar to those of its near relative, the potato. They grow on bushy plants, 1-3 ft. high and are found along roadsides, in fallow fields and pastures at 4000-6000 ft. They bloom throughout the summer and the prickly pods are found along with the flowers. The common name refers to the prickles on pod and stem, and the specific one to the curious beak of the flower. The Buffalo Bur is an annual and hence it can be easily gotten rid of by cutting or burning.

MORNING GLORY FAMILY

Bush Morning Glory Ipomoea leptophylla

Plate 19, fig. 2

The bushy form of this plant makes it a very strange Morning Glory in looks, but the flowers are characteristic, opening in the morning and closing and withering later in the day. The large pink or red blossoms cover the bushes with a riot of color during the summer. The bushes grow to a height of 2-5 ft. and possess huge roots, some of them attaining the size of a man. They are found on plains and foothills and in sandhills at 3000-6000 ft. The Bush Morning Glory is highly ornamental and should be in cultivation.

PHLOX FAMILY

Trumpet Phlox Gilia aggregata

Plate 19, fig. 3

The flowers of the Trumpet Phlox show a wide range of color. In the mountains they are usually pink, while on the plains pure white and deep red are the commonest colors. The blossoms are clustered along the slender stems which are 2-4 ft. tall. The plants are widely distributed on plains, foothills and open places in the mountains at 6000-10000 ft. and they bloom throughout the summer. The humming-bird is a regular visitor of this flower for the sake of its nectar. In fact, the latter can be secured only by humming-birds and butterflies because of the length of the tube. In Indian legend, the nectar of the Trumpet Phylox was the drink of the wild dove.

Nectar Cup Polemonium speciosum

Plate 19, fig. 5

The fragrant pale blue flowers of the Nectar Cup are hidden away on the highest peaks of Colorado at 12000-14000 ft. They grow in dense heads at the tips of stems about a foot tall and bloom in midsummer. The name refers to the abundant honey at the base of the corolla tube.

Jacob’s Ladder Polemonium pulchellum

Plate 19, fig. 6

Jacob’s Ladder doubtless receives its name from the ladder-like leaves. The flowers are delicately blue with white tubes and are clustered on graceful stems a foot tall or less. They may be found in spruce forests on the mountains at 8000-14000 ft. and bloom in summer, often so abundantly as to form a blue carpet on the forest floor.

Tiny Trumpet Collomia linearis

Plate 19, fig. 7