Shirley Meadows Star-tulip, Weston's Mariposa

Calochortus westonii is a mountain plant found in California's southern Sierra Nevada at elevations around 2000 meters, usually growing a...Read Moremong fir trees (Abies). The largest colonies are found at the Shirley Meadows Ski Resort in the Greenhorn Mountains of Sequoia National Forest (Kern County) - thus one of the common names. Although reasonably hardy, it spends the winter under a very heavy blanket of snow, which keeps it insulated and dry.

C. westonii belongs to Section I, Pulchelli, Subsection 2. Eleganti (Flowers broadly campanulate, held upright; petals densely bearded; capsules elliptic-oblong, three-winged, pendant; bulbs with membranous tunics.) (Callahan, "The Genus Calochortus" in "Bulbs of North America", Timber Press, 2001)

Once considered a varietas of C. coeruleus (Ownbey, 1940), Calochortus westonii strongly resembles the former except that its flowering stem is shorter, about 6 cm, and the leaves are broader and more erect. The 1.5 cm wide flowers are white with pink to purple-marked centers. The petals are covered with stout white hairs.

The species epitaph honors Edward Roy Weston (1885-1966), one of America's greatest photographers, famous for his precise studies of natural forms and California landscapes, especially around Point Lobos. In 1932 he helped found the f/64 group of purist photographers, along with Ansel Adams, Willard Van Dyke, Imogen Cunningham, and Sonya Noskowiak.

I will add a rating and more culture info as I grow and photograph the plant - in a precise and natural way, with the f-stop set at 64.
;)

Editors note Actually, the attribution is to Edward Roy Weston (1885-1966), a geological draftsman with the Shell Oil Co., amateur photographer, and botanical collector. References are Cantelow and Cantelow, 1957, Biographical Notes on Persons in whose Honor Alice Eastwood Named Native Plants. Leaflets of Western Botany 8 (5): 83-101, and Ernest Twisselman, A Flora of Kern County, p. 149.