Perhaps the most characteristic western flowers are the members of
the genus Calochortus. They grow freely all through the West, as far
north as British America, and down into Mexico, but they never get
east of Nebraska, so these gay and graceful flowers may be considered
the peculiar property of the West. Calochortus means "beautiful grass"
and the leaves are usually grasslike, the stems slender and the
flowers bright in color, decorative and interesting in form. They have
three sepals, often greenish, and three large, colored petals, with
a honey-gland, usually covered with hairs, at the base of each. They
are allied to true Tulips, so the popular name is suitable, and they
fall into three groups: Globe Tulips, with nodding, globular flowers,
and nodding capsules; Star Tulips, with erect, star-like flowers and
nodding capsules; and Mariposa Tulips, with large, somewhat cup-shaped
flowers and erect capsules. Mariposa means "butterfly" in Spanish
and is appropriate, for the brilliant hairy spots on the petals are
wonderfully like the markings of a butterfly's wing and the airy
blossoms seem to have but just alighted on the tips of their slender
stalks. They usually grow on dry open hillsides and their leaves
have often withered away before the flowers bloom. The various forms
run into each other, so that it is impossible to determine all the
different species. They have solid bulbs, some of which are edible,
considered a delicacy by the Indians and called Noonas.
[Sidenote: =Golden Lily Bell
Yellow Globe Tulip=
_Calochórtus amàbilis_
=Yellow
Spring
California=]
A charming plant, with pale bluish-green foliage, with a beautiful
"bloom," which sets off the clear-yellow blossoms to perfection. There
are from two to twenty flowers on each stem and the petals are smooth,
except for a neat, stiff fringe of hairs along the margins and the
matted hairs on the glands, which are often reddish. These lovely
flowers, common in northern California, are peculiarly fresh in color
and when growing among the grass in the shade of oak trees they have
the springlike charm of Daffodils in English woods.
[Illustration: Yellow Globe Tulip--Calochortus amabilis.]
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =Satin-bell.
White Globe Tulip=
_Calochórtus álbus_
=White
Spring
California=]
Beautiful and popular flowers, with a great deal of individuality and
quite Japanese in the decorative arrangement of the graceful stems and
glossy, rich green foliage. The narrow root-leaf is over a foot long
and spreads on the ground and other smaller leaves are disposed along
the bending stem, which is from one to two feet tall and hung with
pretty light-green buds and beautiful drooping blossoms, over an inch
long, pearly white, sometimes tinged with lilac, with a satiny sheen
and delicate yet crisp in texture. The papery sepals are greenish-white
and the petals are sometimes tinged with purple at the base and are
prettily fringed with hairs along the edges and often cross their tips
in a very engaging way. They are covered inside with long, silky, white
or yellow hairs and the glands are crescent-shaped, with close, short,
sticky, white or yellow hairs, and form pale-green humps on the outside
of the petals; the anthers are cream-color and the pistil whitish. The
capsule is one or two inches long, with a short beak and brown seeds.
These plants grow on shady banks in the Coast Ranges and have several
pretty common names, such as Lantern of the Fairies and Alabaster
Tulip, as well as the misleading name Hairbell, which causes this
flower to be confused with the Harebell or Campanula.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Satin Bell--Calochortus albus.]
[Illustration]
[Sidenote: =White Star Tulip=
_Calochórtus nùdus_
=White
Summer
California=]
This is a delicate and charming little flower, growing best in meadowy
places in the woods of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at moderate
altitudes, sometimes to a height of over seven thousand feet. The
single, ribbonlike leaf is much taller than the flower-stalk, which
is only a few inches high and bears several pretty flowers, measuring
over an inch across, with pale-green sepals and three pure-white
or pale-lilac, fan-shaped petals, with a little notch in the edge,
almost without hairs and marked with a lilac crescent at the base; the
honey-gland is divided crosswise by a toothed scale and the anthers are
light blue. The nodding capsule is pointed at both ends.
[Sidenote: =White Pussy's Ears=
_Calochórtus Maweànus_
=White, gray
Spring
Cal., Oreg.=]
A charming little plant, with lovely little flowers, about an inch
across, with white or pale-lilac sepals and white petals, hairy all
over inside, often lilac at the base, the crescent-shaped gland covered
with violet hairs and the anthers and pistil lilac. Usually the general
effect is of a most delicate shade of gray and the little blossoms do
not droop, but look straight up at one from among the grass. This is
common in northern California.
[Sidenote: =Yellow Pussy's Ears.
Yellow Star Tulip.=
_Calochórtus Bénthami_
=Yellow
Spring
California=]
Much like the last in character, from three to seven inches tall, with
bluish-green, stiffish leaves and a few quaintly pretty flowers. They
are about an inch across, clear light-yellow, with smooth sepals and
the petals thickly covered with yellow hairs and sometimes brown at the
base. This is common in the Sierra foothills.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Star Tulip--Calochortus nudus.