SCARLET GILIA.
Gilia aggregata, Spreng. Phlox or Polemonium Family.
Stems.—One to three feet high. Leaves.—Pinnately parted into seven to thirteen linear, pointed divisions. Upper leaves more simple. Flowers.—In a loose panicle. Calyx.—Deeply five-cleft; glandular. Corolla.—Scarlet, pink, or rarely even white; with funnel-form tube, one inch long; and rotately spreading five-lobed border. Lobes three to six lines long. (See Gilia.) Hab.—Throughout the Sierras.
The scarlet Gilia is a familiar flower in the Sierras in late summer, growing everywhere in dry places. It may be easily recognized by its rich, glossy, flat, green leaves, pinnately divided into linear divisions, its tall, loosely branching habit, and its bright, delicate scarlet flowers, standing out horizontally from the stem. The corolla-lobes are often flesh-pink or yellowish within, splashed or streaked with scarlet. The whole plant is quite viscid.