There are only a few kinds of Stanleya, all western; tall, stout,
smooth perennials, or biennials, with a "bloom"; flowers large, mostly
yellow, without bracts, in long, terminal, clusters; sepals long,
narrow; petals long, narrow, with long claws; stamens six, very nearly
equal; ovary on a short stalk, with a short style or none; pods long,
narrow and flattish, with long stalks; seeds numerous. Named for Lord
Edward Stanley, President of the Linnaean Society.
[Sidenote: =Golden Prince's Plume=
_Stánleya pinnatífida_
=Yellow
Spring
Southwest and New Mex.=]
The pretty common name of this tall, handsome plant was given by
Helen Hunt Jackson and the long, feathery wand of numerous blossoms
is beautiful and suggests a plume. On the other hand, the straggling
flowers have such long, narrow, curling petals, the threadlike
filaments look so much like curling antennae and the long, thin pods
stick out so awkwardly, like insects' legs, from among the flowers
on the lower part of the stalk, that we find the general effect is
rather weird and spidery. In fact the plant I drew had a large yellow
spider, precisely the color of the flowers, half-concealed among them.
The stem is from two to five feet high; the leaves are smooth, pale
bluish-green, the lower ones with leaflets and a leaf-stalk, and the
flowers are bright-yellow, or cream-color, about an inch across. This
grows usually in dampish spots, in arid regions. The picture is of one
I found in Indian Garden Canyon, a branch of the Grand Canyon.
[Sidenote: _Dryopétalon runcinàtum_
=White
Spring
Arizona=]
The only kind, a fine plant, well worth cultivation; smooth and
branching, about two feet tall, with handsome, bluish-green leaves,
with a "bloom," the root-leaves with long, purplish leaf-stalks and
sometimes nine inches long; the flowers half an inch across, with
a lilac-tinged calyx and white petals, prettily toothed, forming a
pretty, rather flat-topped cluster. The pods are very slender, nearly
straight, one or two inches long. This grows among rocks, in protected
situations, and is not common. Only a few, separate flowers are given
in the picture, as the plant I found, near the Desert Laboratory at
Tucson, was almost out of bloom.
[Illustration: Dryopetalon runcinatum.