YELLOW GLOBE-TULIP. DIOGENES' LANTERN. GOLDEN LILY-BELL.
Calochortus pulchellus, Dougl. Lily Family.
Stems.—Somewhat flexuous, with spreading branches; two inches to a foot or more high. Radical leaf.—Equaling or exceeding the stem; four to twelve lines broad. Sepals.—Greenish or yellow; eight to twelve lines long. Petals.—Yellow; strongly arched; glandular ciliate. Gland.—A deep pit, conspicuously prominent on the outside of the petals, covered within by appressed hairs. (See Calochortus.) Hab.—Coast Ranges, from Monterey to Mendocino County.
[DIOGENES' LANTERN—Calochortus pulchellus.]
![[DIOGENES' LANTERN—Calochortus pulchellus.]](#3624944100741987669_f050.png.id-4785479898681901972.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
We have no more charmingly graceful flower than the yellow globe-tulip. A single, long, grasslike leaf precedes the flexuous stem, with its quaintly arched and delicately fringed blossoms. There is a certain quizzical look about these flowers—something akin to the inquiring look of Diogenes, as he thrust his lantern into all sorts of out-of-the-way places in broad daylight. The margins of the petals look as though they had been snipped into a very fine, delicate fringe, unlike the slender, tapering hairs of C. alba.
The Indians are fond of the bulbs, which they eat with great relish, calling them "Bo."