LITTLE ALPINE LILY.
Lilium parvum, Kell. Lily Family.
Bulbs.—Small; of short, thick, jointed scales. Stem.—Slender; eighteen inches to six feet high. Leaves.—Scattered, or in whorls; two to five inches long; an inch or less broad; rich green. Flowers.—Orange-vermilion, dotted with purple; two to fifty; scattered or somewhat whorled. Capsule.—Sub-spherical; six to nine lines long. Hab.—The High Sierras, from Yosemite Valley to Lake Tahoe.
Passing from the parched and dusty plains of our central valleys in July and August, we are transported as though upon the magic tapestry of Prince Houssain into a heavenly region of springtime, where the streams, fed by the snow lying in shadowy mountain fastnesses, gush through plushy emerald meadows, starred with millions of daisies and bordered by luxuriant tangles of larkspurs, columbines, monk's-hoods, lupines, and a thousand other charming plants—a veritable flower-lover's paradise.
Here from the thickets, standing with their roots in the rich, loamy soil of the brookside, gleam the small orange blossoms of the little alpine lily—little only in flower, for the slender stems often rise to a height of six feet, producing several whorls of rich green leaves. These lilies are but an inch or an inch a half long, with their perianth-segments yellow or orange below and deeper orange-vermilion above, their tips only being rolled backward.