[Sidenote: =Butterfly Tulip
Mariposa Tulip=
_Calochórtus lùteus var. oculàtus_
=Many colors
Spring, summer
California=]
The commonest kind in northern California, found in both the Sierra
Nevada and Coast Mountains, and one of the most beautiful of all the
Mariposas. The broad petals, each about an inch and a half long, are
usually white, lilac, or yellowish, with an "eye" like that on a
peacock's feather, giving the name _oculatus_. Occasionally they are
deep rose-color, as in the colored picture, though this is not typical,
and have a vivid blotch of shaded maroon and crimson and an orange spot
on each petal, with some maroon-colored hairs at the base. The sepals
are striped with pink and maroon and twist into spirals as they fade;
the pistil and the blunt anthers are mauve; the honey-gland narrowly
crescent-shaped; the leaves pale-green and the delicate stem over a
foot tall. This Mariposa is extremely variable and seems sometimes to
merge into _C. venústus_, a similar kind, and gorgeous varieties of
both may be seen along the Yosemite road on the down grade to Wawona.
There are many similar Mariposas, but the casual flower-lover who
finds any of these beautiful flowers will probably be satisfied to
know that they are Butterfly Tulips, without going into the technical
peculiarities which differentiate them.
[Sidenote: =Yellow Mariposa Tulip=
_Calochórtus lùteus var. citrìnus_
=Yellow
Spring
California=]
A fine robust plant, about a foot tall, with a stout stem, light,
bright green leaves, and exceedingly handsome flowers, over two inches
across. The sepals are yellowish, with a black spot and streaks of
brown, and the petals are deep lemon-yellow, each with a rich maroon
spot near the center and a hairy, brown, crescent-shaped gland below,
often flecked with maroon at the margins and base, with cream-colored
anthers and a yellowish pistil. This is very much like a Tulip in
character and looks very gay and cheerful growing in green fields. The
typical _C. luteus_ is similar, but smaller and duller in color.
[Illustration: Butterfly Tulip--Calochortus luteus. var. oculatu.]
[Illustration: Yellow Mariposa Tulip--Calochortus luteus var.
citrinus.]
[Sidenote: =Orange Mariposa Tulip=
_Calochórtus Kénnedyi_
=Orange-red
Spring
Cal., Ariz.=]
A wonderful flower, exceedingly brilliant and unusual in color, not
quite like anything else in nature. The stout, firm stem is from
two inches to over a foot tall and the leaves are dark-green, with
a delicate bluish "bloom." The flowers are about two inches across,
with pale-green sepals, bordered with pale-pink and orange inside,
and beautiful petals, thick in texture and easily bruised, delicate
peach-color outside and bright orange-vermilion within, each petal
ornamented with a purplish gland, covered with matted hairs and crossed
with a band of long vermilion hairs. When the stems are very short
the flaming flowers look like Crocuses, sprouting out of the barren
desert soil, but when they are tall they have the gorgeous effect of
Tulips. These plants grow in the Mohave Desert, but are rather rare in
California. They are very abundant in the foothills and on the mountain
slopes of Arizona, giving a beautiful orange-red color to the landscape
for miles in spring, there being literally thousands in a small area.
[Sidenote: =Sego Lily
Mariposa Tulip=
_Calochórtus Nuttállii_
=White, pale lilac
Early summer
Ariz., Cal., Utah=]
These pretty flowers are about two inches across, their white petals
tinged with yellowish-green or lilac, and often delicately fluted at
the edges, often with hairy spots inside the petals at their base,
the whole flower very variable in coloring. These Mariposas grow all
through the Southwest. In the Grand Canyon they begin to come out early
in May, among the dry grasses halfway down the Bright Angel trail,
and are a lovely shade of clear lilac. The slender stem, about a foot
tall, often bears a small bulb near the base. It is called Sego Lily
(pronounced Sègo) in Utah and is the "State flower." Its bulbs formed
a substantial part of the food of the early Mormon pioneers when they
crossed the desert and the flower is therefore held in great esteem in
Utah.
[Illustration: Sego Lily--Calochortus Nuttallii.]