Elegant Calicoflower

Downingia elegans (Dougl.) Terr. U. S. Expl. Exped 17: 375. 1874.
Clintonia elegans Dougl.; Lindl. Bot. Reg. 15: pi. 1241. 1829.
Plants mostly 10-40 (50) cm. high, glabrous except for the scabrous hypanthium; stems mostly sloutish, sometimes 4 mm. in diameter at base; leaves 0.2-4 (6) mm. wide by 5-25 mm. long; inflorescence few-20 (30) cm. long, loosely or closely few-25(50-) flowered (the mean about 10 flowers), the axis well-marked and straight, usually much overtopping the early flowers; flower-bracts elliptic to lanceolate or ovate, (1) 2-9 mm. wide by (6) 8-26 mm. long, usually 3-6 times as long as wide; corolla glabrous, minutely roughened within at base, "blue," "wisteria blue," "deep navy blue," varying to "lavender-pink" or pure white, the lower Up with a central white spot, this marked near base by two low yellow ridges which are distinctly white-margined, the tube lighter, with purple veins and often with three oblong purple blotches at very base on the lower side, broadly fimnelform (campanulate according to Jepson), the lateral sinuses usually much deeper than the dorsal; two upper lobes ascending and somewhat divergent, acute, lanceolate or elliptic, 1.0-2.5 mm. wide by 3.5-13 mm. long; lower lip concave, in length somewhat exceeded by the two upper lobes, not reflexed nor forming an angle with the tube, the three lobes parallel, in shape oblong, ovate, or deltoid, acute, 2-4 mm. long; filament-tube glabrous, the filaments united their whole length; anther-tube 0.6-1.0 mm. in diameter, usually strongly incurved and often standing at right angles to the filament-tube; anthers bluish-gray with white connectives, these forming (usually) conspicuous longitudinal bands; surface of anthers smooth and glabrous or few-cUiate, not scabrous nor granularroughened; the two shorter anthers white-tufted at tip, each with a short, usually recurved, hornlike process as well; hj-panthium linear, in fruit becoming subulate, the mature capsule broadest near the base, (1.0) 1.5-2 mm. in diameter by (15) 25-45 (55) mm. in length, terete or somewhat angled at maturity; lateral walls papery and easily ruptured when dry, splitting along longitudinal lines but with no evidence of impressed or hyaline divisions; calyx-lobes linear or elliptic, broadest about the middle, obtuse or subacute, 1.0-2.5 mm. broad by (3) 4-10 (14) mm. long, ascending; seeds shining, not lined nor twisted.
TvPE i.oc.lity: "Plains of the Columbia, near Wallawallah R., and near the head springs of the Multnomah," Douglas.
Filament-tube 4.5-10.5 mm. long; corolla 8-18 mm. long. I2a. D. elegans var. elegans.
Filament-tube less than 4.5 mm. long; corolla 5-9 mm. long. 126. D. elegans var. brachypetala.
12a. Downingia elegans var. elegans McVaugh, Mem. Torrey Club 19^: 51. 1941.
Clintonia elegans Dougl.; Lindl. loc. cit., as to type. Cy»am/)jij^«xuoia Raf. Herb. Raf. 48. 1833. (Nomen nudum.)
Clintonia corymbosa A. DC. in DC. Prodr. 7: 347. 1839. {Douglas in 1830, herb. DC, photo!) Downingia elegans Torr. U. S. Expl. Eiped. 17; 375. 1874. Bolelia elegans Greene, Pittonia 2: 126. 1890. DoiL'ningia corymbosa Xelson & Macbr. Bet. Gaz. 55: 382. 1913.
Doumingia eUgans f. rosea St. John, Res. Stud. State Coll. Wash. 1: 105. 1929. (St. John 9627; isotype. Gray!)
Corolla 8-13 (18) mm. long, the tube (1.5) 2.0-3.2 (4.3) mm. long (measured to lateral sinuses) and (3.3) 4.0-5.5 mm. long (measured to dorsal sinus); filament-tube (4.5) 6.0-8.0 (10.5) mm. long; anther-tube (2.2) 2.5-3.5 (4.0) mm. long.
Distribution: Northern Idaho and northeastern Washington, south in the mountains to Elko County, Nevada, and Plumas and Humboldt Coimties, California.
12b. Downingia elegans var. brachypetala (Gand.) McVaugh, Mem. Torrey Club 19^: 55. 1941.
Do-umingia brachypetala Gand. Bull. Soc. Bot. Fr. 65: 55. 1918.
Corolla 5-9 mm. long, the tube 1.5-2.5 (3.5) mm. long, measured to dorsal sinus 3.6-4.0 ram.; filaments 3-4 mm. long; anther-tube 2.0-2.5 mm. long; capsule apparently slightly broader in proportion to its length than in var. elegans.
Type locality: Falcon Valley, Klickitat County, Washington, Suksdorf 2762 (isotype. Gray!). Distribution: Lake and Mendocino Counties, California, and northward along the Ca.scade Ranges to southern Washington; rarely in northeastern California and northern Idaho.

Downingia elegans is a species of flowering plants in the bellflower family known by the common names elegant calicoflower and Californian lobelia. This showy wildflower is native to western North America from California to British Columbia, where it is a resident of meadows and vernal pool ecosystems. This annual grows on a branching erect stem with many pointed leaves. At the top of each stem branch is one or more flowers, each one half to two centimeters wide. The tubular flower has two long, narrow, pointed upper lobes which are generally rich purple. The lower lip is fused into one three-lobed surface, which is purple with a large blotch of white in the center. The lobes may be quite pointed. There is sometimes some yellow coloration near the mouth of the tube.