Sierran Calico Flower

Downingia montana Greene, Pittonia 2: 104. 1890
BoUlia montana Greene, Pittonia 2: 127. 1890.
Downingia bicomula var. montana Jepson, MadroSo 1: 102. 1922.
Plants few15 cm. high, slender, entirely glabrous or the hypanthium minutely scabrous; upper part of the stem rarely minutely scabrous; leaves linear to elliptic or subulate, sometimes few-toothed, 0.3-1.0 (1.5) mm, wide by (2) 5-13 (18) mm. long, acute to attenuate; inflorescence 3-12 cm. long, loosely 1-10-flowered; flower-bracts similar to the leaves but slightly larger, often toothed, 0.8-1.5 mm. wide by 8-16 mm. long, 8-13 times as long as wide; corolla 9-12 mm. long, glabrous, the lobes of the lower lip light blue or violet, the central part of lip white, the base dark bluish-purple, with two prominent purple folds at the angle, the tube blue becoming violet, the lower side within with two greenish yellow ridges alternating with three purple grooves, the central part of the lower lip usually appearing bright yellow in dried material; corolla-tube 3.3-5.0 mm. long, narrowly funnel shaped, often nearly cylindrical below and expanded near the summit, the lateral sinuses extending well below the angle of the lower Up, cut more deeply than the dorsal by a distance of from 0.5-1.0 mm.; two upper corolla-lobes narrowly triangular, erect, usually concealing the anther-tube (in dried material), 4.0-5.5 mm. long, sometimes minutely roughened on the margins near tips; filament tube 3-4 (4.7) mm. long, its apex usually not surpassing the dorsal sinus of the corolla, the filaments connate nearly their whole length, glabrous or very minutely pubescent on the margins at base; anther-tube 1.7-2.2 mm. long, all 5 anthers prominently bearded at tip, the two shorter ones with stiff tufts of bristles and each with a short hornlike process as well; hypanthium linear, becoming narrowly subulate in fruit, the mature capsule 0.6-1.5 mm. in diameter by 15-35 (45) mm. long, the lateral walls firm, usually with three evident hyaline valves, these apparent as impressed longitudinal lines at an early stage; calyx-lobes linear-subulate or very narrowly elliptic, acute, sometimes scabrous-ciliate on the margins, the two lower ones usually conspicuously shorter than the others, all ascending, often appressed in anthesis, (2) 4-8 (11) mm. long; seeds not twisted, the surface scarcely lustrous, the fine longitudinal markings easily %TsibIe with a magnification of about 20 diameters.
Type ix)Calitv: Lake Eleanor, Tuolumne County, California, Drew, June 1889 (herb. Greene I). DisTRLBUTiONL Western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, California, from Tuolumne County to Siskiyou County.

Downingia montana is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name Sierra calicoflower. This showy wildflower is native to California, where it lives in the meadows and pine forests of the high mountains. Its range may extend into Oregon. This annual grows an erect stem, which may branch or not, with a few sparse small, pointed leaves. Atop the stem is usually one tubular flower. The upper lip is made up of two narrow, pointed lobes usually a shade of lavender, and the lower lip is the same color, with a central field of white and two prominent projections which may be colored yellow and dark purple. The lower lip has three lobes, each of which may have a tooth. The fruit is a capsule one to four centimeters long.