Hab.—Los Angeles County to San Luis Obispo and El Dorado County.
Of all our Mariposa tulips, this is the largest-flowered and stoutest-stemmed, and once seen is not readily forgotten. Its magnificent flowers are sometimes six inches across, though not usually so large, and have the form of a broad-based cup. The sturdy, zigzagging stems and glaucous leaves and bracts, combined with the large rich, canary-colored or golden flowers, make a striking plant. The first glance within the cup shows the ring of club-shaped hairs, characteristic of this species, and the anthers radiating starlike in the center; and as the latter are often a dark, rich prune-purple, the effect can readily be imagined.
I saw this charming Mariposa blooming in abundance in May near Newhall, where its golden cups were conspicuously beautiful against the soft browns of the drying fields and hill-slopes. It is usually found growing upon lava soil.
C. Weedii, Wood., found from San Diego to San Luis Obispo, is a charming species, somewhat similar to the above. Its flowers are yellow, purple, or pure white, and it may be known by several characteristics. Its bulb is heavily coated with coarse fibers; it has a single, long radical leaf, like C. albus, but unusual among the Mariposas; and its cups are covered all over within with silky hairs.
Malacothrix Californica, DC. Composite Family.
Leaves.—All radical; pinnately parted into very narrow linear divisions. Scape.—Six inches to a foot high; bearing a solitary, large, light-yellow head. Flower-head.—Composed of strap-shaped ray-flowers only; five-toothed at the apex. Involucres.—Of narrow acute scales in two or three series. Receptacle.—Nearly naked. Hab.—San Francisco to San Diego, and eastward.
These beautiful Compositæ are conspicuous upon our open plains in late spring, and are among the handsomest plants of the family. The fine flowers seem to be sown like disks of light over the flower-carpet of the plain.