[Sidenote: =Evening Snow=
_Linánthus dichótomus (Gilia)_
=White
Spring
California=]
Exceedingly pretty flowers, with very slender, brown stems, often
branching, from two to twelve inches tall, and a few, rather
inconspicuous, dull green leaves. The flowers are an inch or more
across, with a salver-form corolla, with a long slender tube, white and
beautifully sheeny in texture, bordered with dull pink on the outside,
showing where the petals overlapped in the bud; the stamens and pistil
not showing in the throat. They have a strong and unpleasant odor, but
the effect of the airy flowers is beautiful, especially in the desert,
as they sway to and fro in the wind on their slender stalks. They
open only in the evening, but stay open all night and keep on opening
and closing for several days, getting larger as they grow older. This
is common on open slopes and hills, but is variable and not easily
distinguished from similar species.
[Sidenote: =Yellow Gilia=
_Linánthus àureus (Gilia)_
=Yellow
Spring
Arizona=]
A charming little desert plant, about three inches tall, with a very
slender, usually smooth, widely branching stem and small, pale green
leaves, apparently in whorls and cut into very narrow divisions, quite
stiff and tipped with a bristle. The flowers are about half an inch
across, bright yellow, with an orange-colored "eye" and tube, orange
anthers and a yellow pistil, and they look exceedingly gay and pretty
on the pale sand of the desert.
[Sidenote: _Linánthus parviflòrus (Gilia)_
=White, pink, lilac
Spring
California=]
A very pretty little plant, slightly hairy, with a slender stem, from
three to ten inches tall, and clusters of small, stiff, dark green
leaves. The flowers are about three-quarters of an inch across, with
long, threadlike, yellow tubes, sometimes an inch and a half long,
and white, pink, or lilac petals, with an orange or white "eye" and
often brownish on the outside, with yellow anthers and a conspicuously
long, yellow pistil. This is common throughout California, growing in
open ground on hills and sea-cliffs. _L. parviflorus var. aciculàris_
is similar, but smaller. The flowers are similar, but often have so
little white about them that they are yellow in general effect, and are
sometimes specked with crimson at the base of the petals. They grow in
sandy places in southern California.
[Illustration: Evening Snow--L. dichotomus.
Yellow Gilia--L. aureus.