Part 75

Castilleia parviflora, Bong. Figwort Family.

Hairy, at least above; six inches to two feet high. Leaves.--Laciniate-cleft or incised; sometimes entire; two inches or so long; mostly alternate. Flowers.--With conspicuous colored bracts. Calyx.--Tubular; about equally cleft before and behind; tinged with scarlet or yellow. Corolla.--Tubular; six lines to over an inch long; the upper lip equaling the tube; the lower very short; three-toothed; the whole tinged with red or yellow. Stamens.--Four; inclosed in the upper lip. Ovary.--Two-celled. Style long; exserted. Hab.--Throughout California.

Scarlet flowers are so rare, and nature is so chary of that beautiful hue, that these blossoms are especially welcome. Their dense tufts make brilliant dashes of color, which are very noticeable amid the vivid greens of springtime. Strange to say, most of their brilliancy is due not to the corollas, but to the large petal-like bracts under the flowers and to the calyxes. In the vicinity of the seashore these blossoms may be found at almost any time of the year, while inland they have their season of bloom in the spring, resting for the most part during the summer.

They are known in some localities as "Indian plume." The specific name is a very misleading one--for these flowers, far from being small, are in reality comparatively large and fine. The species was probably first named from poor or depauperate specimens. It is in every way a larger, more showy flower than the closely allied species--C. coccinea, Spreng.--of the East, commonly known as the "painted cup."

We have a number of species closely resembling one another. C. foliolosa, Hook. and Arn., may be easily recognized by its white-woolly stems and foliage.

NORTHERN SCARLET LARKSPUR. CHRISTMAS-HORNS.

Delphinium nudicaule, Torr. and Gray. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.

Stems.--A foot or two high; naked or very few-leaved. Leaves.--One to three inches in diameter; deeply three- to five-cleft, or barely parted into obovate or cuneate divisions. Flowers.--Scarlet; in loose, open racemes; on pedicels two to four inches long. Sepals.--Five; petaloid; the upper prolonged upward into a spur containing the smaller spurs of the two upper petals. Spur six to nine lines long. Petals.--Usually four; the two lateral small, not spurred. Stamens.--Many. Pistils.--Mostly three; becoming divergent follicles. Hab.--The Coast Ranges from San Luis Obispo to Oregon.

Though not so intensely brilliant and striking as the southern scarlet larkspur, this is a delightful flower, the sight of which gracing some rocky cañon-wall or making flecks of flame amid the grass, gives us a thrill of pleasure. It would require no great stretch of the imagination to fancy these blossoms a company of pert little red-coated elves clambering over the loose, slender stems. In our childhood we used to hear them called "Christmas-horns."

SCARLET FRITILLARY.

Fritillaria recurva, Benth. Lily Family.

Bulb as in F. lanceolata. Stems.--Eight to eighteen inches high; one- to nine-flowered. Flowers.--Scarlet outside; yellow, spotted with scarlet, within. Perianth.--Campanulate; urn-shaped. Segments.--Twelve to eighteen lines long; with recurved tips. Stamens and style not quite equaling the segments. Capsule.--Rather obtusely angled. (Otherwise as F. lanceolata.) Hab.--The Sierras, from Placer County northward into Oregon.

The scarlet fritillary is without doubt the most beautiful of all our species. It is a wonderful blossom, which seems as much of a marvel to us every time we behold it as it did at first. Usually there are from one to nine of the brilliant bells; but the effect can be imagined when as many as thirty-five have been seen upon a single stem!

F. coccinea, Greene, is another beautiful scarlet-and-yellow species, found in the mountains of Sonoma and Napa Counties. This has from one to four flowers, which are an inch long, with simple campanulate outline, without recurving tips.

COLUMBINE.

Aquilegia truncata, Fisch. and Mey. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.

Stems.--One to three feet high; very slender. Leaves.--Mostly radical; divided into thin, distant leaflets. Flowers.--Scarlet; tinged with yellow; eighteen to twenty-four lines across. Parts in fives. Sepals.--Petaloid; rotately spreading. Petals.--Tubular; produced into long spurs or horns. Stamens.--Numerous on the receptacle; much exserted. Pistils.--Five; simple. Hab.--Throughout California.

Sprung in a cleft of the wayside steep, And saucily nodding, flushing deep, With her airy tropic bells aglow,-- Bold and careless, yet wondrous light, And swung into poise on the stony height, Like a challenge flung to the world below! Skirting the rocks at the forest edge With a running flame from ledge to ledge, Or swaying deeper in shadowy glooms, A smoldering fire in her dusky blooms; Bronzed and molded by wind and sun, Maddening, gladdening every one With a gypsy beauty full and fine,-- A health to the crimson columbine!

--ELAINE GOODALE

To enjoy the exquisite airy beauty of this lovely flower, we must seek it in its own haunts--for there is a touch of wildness in its nature that will not be subdued; nor will it submit to being handled or ruthlessly transported from its own sylvan retreat.

Fringing the stream, peering over the bank, as if to see its own loveliness reflected there, or hiding in the greenest recesses of the woodland, it is always a welcome blossom, and the eye brightens and the pulse quickens upon beholding it.

This species is at home throughout our borders; but there is another form which is said to be found occasionally in our very high mountains--A. coerulea, James. This is plentiful in the Rocky Mountains, and is the State flower of Colorado. Its blossoms, which are blue or white, are large and magnificent, with slender spurs an inch and a half or two inches long.

CLIMBING PENTSTEMON. SCARLET HONEYSUCKLE.

Pentstemon cordifolius, Benth. Figwort Family.

Woody at base, with long, slender branches, which climb over other shrubs. Leaves.--Cordate or ovate; an inch or less long. Calyx.--Campanulate; five-parted. Corolla.--Bright scarlet; eighteen lines long. Sterile stamen bearded down one side. (See Pentstemon.) Hab.--From Santa Barbara to San Diego.

In spring we notice in the borders of southern woodlands and along the roadsides certain long, wandlike branches with beautiful heart-shaped leaves, which are suggestive of those of the garden Fuchsia. Our curiosity is naturally aroused and we wonder what blossom is destined to grace this elegant foliage. Early summer solves the mystery by hanging the tips of these wands with brilliant scarlet blossoms, in every way satisfying the earlier promise.

These flowers often look down at us in a sort of mocking, Mephistophelian manner, as they hang amid the rich greens of other shrubs and trees. Seen with a glass, they are quite glandular. The fifth stamen looks like a very cunning little golden hearth-brush.

HUMMING-BIRD'S SAGE.