Vicia gigantea, Hook. Pea Family.

Climbing. Stems.—Five to fifteen feet long. Leaves.—Alternate; pinnate; terminated by a tendril. Leaflets.—Ten to thirteen pairs; linear-oblong; obtuse; mucronulate; one or two inches long. Stipules.—An inch long; semi-sagittate. Racemes.—Dense; one-sided; five to eighteen-flowered. Flowers.—Dull red. Corolla.—Papilionaceous. Petals not spreading. Stamens.—Nine united; one free. Style.—Hairy all around under the stigma. Pod.—An inch or so long. (See Leguminosæ.) Hab.—From San Francisco Bay northward to Sitka.

This vine is usually found in moist places. Its blossoms are never attractive for they have a faded, worn-out look, even when they are fresh. The pods are black when ripe, and the seeds are said to be edible.

[SCARLET BUGLER—Pentstemon centranthifolius.]

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.