It's hard to imagine me not going gaga over them; many of them are sinfully gorgeous. Also, they aren't found in the eastern U.S.; they range from Mexico up into western North America. Being something I had never seen until I moved to California certainly made my heart go pitty-pat.
I was excited by them. I gamboled about in fields of them. I leapt from the Jeep whenever I spotted what appeared to be a new species, or a variant. Maybe I did get infatuated, but fickle, fickle me; I was easily swayed by other flowers in shorter skirts.
No ... that wasn't it at all. I was thrilled by the Mariposas we found during our adventures in California, but I wasn't infatuated. It was merely a flirtation, and why was it merely a flirtation? Because it was another pretty face that was going to make me wait until the third date before we held hands; it was going to make me wait until the fifth date until we shared a goodnight smooch. If I could hang on for ten dates ... well, I better have an engagement ring about my person.
Mariposas, for all their beauty and frequent abundance, were a lot of work. That is they were often difficult to identify, and I get discouraged easily.
There are about 60 species in the genus, and while they are lilies, they look a lot like tulips. They have what is described as a distinctive nectary (where the booty ... the plunder ... the nectar is), which is near the base of each inner petal. It's the shape of these nectaries that allows patient wildflower lovers to identify some of the otherwise annoyingly similar species. But Mariposas are stand-back-and-look-at-me beautiful, not hands-and-knees-inspection beautiful.
Okay, maybe they are both kinds of beautiful, but it was just so much work. I guess this boils down to my laziness.
Anyway, Mariposas. Here, for starters, is a list of some of the species: Lyall's Star Tulip (C. lyallii), White Globe Lily (C. albus), Tolmie's Pussy Ears (C. tolmei), Elegant Cat's Ears (C. elegans), Beavertail Cat's Ears (C. coeruleus), Naked Cat's Ear (C. nudus), Lesser Star Tulip (C. minimus), Oakland Star Tulip (C. umbellatus), Square Mariposa Tulip (C. venustus), Catalina Mariposa Tulip (C. catalinae), Leichtlin's Mariposa Tulip (C. leichtlinii), Superb Mariposa Tulip (C. superbus), Dunn's Mariposa Tulip (C. dunnii), Sego Lily (C. nuttallii), Howell's Mariposa Tulip (C. howelii), Big Pod Mariposa Tulip (C. eurycarpus), Lobb's Mariposa Tulip (C. subalpinus), Goldenbowl Mariposa Tulip (C. concolor), Tiburon Mariposa Tulip (C. tiburonensis), Club-haired Mariposa Tulip (C. clavatus), Golden Fairy Lantern (C. amabilis), San Luis Obispo Mariposa Tulip (C. obispoensis), Gold Nuggets (C. luteus), Yellow Star Tulip (C. monophyllus), Weed's Mariposa Tulip (C. weedii), Kennedy's Mariposa Tulip (C. kennedyi), Rose Fairy Lantern (C. amoenus), Pink Star Tulip (C. uniflorus), Plummer's Mariposa Tulip (C. plummerae), Sagebrush Mariposa Tulip (C. macrocarpus), Splendid Mariposa Tulip (C. splendens), Striped Mariposa Tulip (C. striatus), and Shy Mariposa Tulip (C. invenustus). They come in white, yellow, pink, shades of pink, pinkish-white. Many have burgundy spots or yellow highlights or stripes or are hairy or have fringes ... some species even have a wide variation in coloration and markings, making them easier to confuse with other species.
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