GODETIA. FAREWELL TO SPRING.
Godetia viminea, Spach. Evening-Primrose Family.
Stems.—One to three feet high; sometimes stout. Leaves.—Linear to linear-lanceolate; entire; an inch or two long; distant. Flowers.—Nodding in the bud. Calyx-tube.—Two to four lines long. Petals.—Deep rose-color, sometimes yellowish at base with a dark spot; nine to fifteen lines long. Capsules.—Smoothish; eight to eighteen lines long; its sides two-ribbed; sessile or short-pediceled. (See Godetia.) Hab.—From the Columbia River southward to Ventura.
In early summer the rosy flowers of this Godetia make bright masses of color along dry banks and hill-slopes. Its blossoms are very variable as to marking. Sometimes the petals have a bright crimson blotch at the base and sometimes they are without it, both forms often occurring upon the same plant. In some seasons all the flowers are without the blotch.
G. grandiflora, Lindl., found in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, is probably the most showy species we have. The plants are a foot or two high and covered all over with the wonderful flowers, which are often four inches across. These are delicate pink, blotched with rich crimson.
G. Bottæ, Spach., is an exquisite species found in the Coast Ranges, from Monterey to San Diego. Its very slender stems lift the fragile, satiny cups above the dried grasses in charming companies. These blossoms also vary much. Among the prettiest forms is one which is pale rose or lilac, blending to white at the center, delicately striate with purple-dotted lines, and having a rich purple spot in the center. This often grows with the lilac butterfly-tulip, Calochortus splendens, and at a little distance is so similar, it is difficult to distinguish it from the lily. But the lily rarely or never grows in throngs. The capsules of this species have pedicels from three to nine lines long.
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