BLUE GILIA.
Cilia Chamissonis, Greene. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
Stems.—About a foot high. Leaves.—Alternate; dissected into linear segments. Flowers.—In capitate clusters an inch and a half across; deep blue. Calyx.—Five-toothed. Corolla.—Four lines long; with five obtuse lobes. Stamens.—Exserted. Anthers nearly white. (See Gilia.) Hab.—The Coast of Central California.
This pretty Gilia is quite common about San Francisco in springtime, and often makes masses of bright deep blue over the fields.
G. capitata, Dougl., is a closely allied species, found in the Coast Ranges from Central California northward. This is in every way a more delicate plant. Its stems are taller and more slender; its flower-heads are less than an inch across, and composed of very small light-blue flowers, with feathery, exserted stamens.
G. achilleæfolia, Benth., is a beautiful form, closely related to both the above, but quite variable in habit. Its flowers are light lavender-blue, six lines or so long, and are borne in larger clusters, often two inches across, on long, naked peduncles. At a little distance these blossoms somewhat resemble the clusters of Brodiæa capitata.
![[BLUE GILIA—Gilia Chamissonis.]](#3624944100741987669_f113.png.id-824848823636086472.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}