For my April flight to Los Angeles in 1998 I prepared a chart with information from Brian Mathew's writings. It gave me the vital statistics of every erythronium species that grows in north-west America. The purpose of the chart was to help me memorise the pertinent details, such as whether the leaves were patterned or plain, and the colour of the pollen. At Los Angeles I had to wait for the flight to Medford, where my hostess was building up a wild plant nursery. She had a great reputation for the seed she supplied, and knew where to find erythroniums. With the help of a Land Rover and a well-stocked picnic basket, we set out to discover all we could.
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