SULPHUR-FLOWER.
Eriogonum umbellatum, Torr. Buckwheat Family.
Leaves.—All radical; obovate to oblong-spatulate; two inches or less long; mostly smooth above; sometimes woolly below. Scapes.—Three to twelve inches high. Flowers.—Sulphur-yellow; two or three lines long; many contained in each little top-shaped involucre, on threadlike stems. Involucres.—Two lines or so long; deeply cleft, the lobes becoming reflexed. Perianth.—Six-parted. Stamens.—Nine. Ovary.—Triangular; one-celled. Styles.—Three. Stigmas capitate. Hab.—Mountains of Middle and Northern California, and eastward.
Large companies of the sulphur-flower may be seen in the Sierras in July and August, where it covers open, dry, rocky slopes, making brilliant masses of color.
Growing with this is often found another species—E. ursinum, Wats.—with flowers of a beautiful translucent cream-color, often tinged with pink.