[Sidenote: =Ptilonella=
_Ptilonélla scàbra (Blepharipappus)_
=White
Spring
Oreg., Ida., Nev., Cal.=]
A charming little desert plant, graceful and airy in character, with
stiff, very slender, branching, roughish stems, about ten inches tall,
and dull green leaves, very rough to the touch, with the edges rolled
back. The delicate little flowers are an inch across, with pure white
rays, and with white centers, which are specked with black and pink.
This is common on the mesas around Reno and looks much like some kinds
of Madia.
[Sidenote: =Desert Holly=
_Perèzia nàna_
=Pink
Spring
Ariz., Tex.=]
An odd little desert plant, only two or three inches high, with stiff,
smooth, dull bluish-green leaves, with prickly edges, like holly leaves
but not so stiff, and one quite pretty, light purplish-pink flower, the
head about an inch long, with purplish bracts. The effect of the whole
plant is of a little sprig stuck into the sand.
[Sidenote: =Brown-foot=
_Perèzia Wrìghtii_
=Pink
Spring
Ariz., Tex.=]
Much like the last, but more commonplace looking, for the flowers are
smaller and the plant much larger. It is about a foot high and grows
among rocks, and the general effect of dull mauve is rather pretty,
though not bright in color. The common name alludes to the plant being
covered with a mass of brown hairs at the base.
There are several kinds of Gutierrezia, all American.
[Sidenote: =Brown-weed=
_Gutierrèzia Saròthrae (G. Euthamiae)_
=Yellow
Summer, autumn
West, etc.=]
A bushy plant, resinous, smooth or nearly so, from six inches to two
feet high, with many stiff, upright branches and alternate, toothless,
narrow leaves, an inch or so long. The flowers have yellow centers and
small yellow rays, forming clusters at the ends of the branches, and
though very small are so numerous as to make effective clumps of bright
color. This grows at the Grand Canyon, and in dry rocky places, as far
east as the Central States.
[Illustration: Ptilonella--P. scabra.
Brown-foot--Perezia Wrightii.