Tahoe wildflowers. The parched sun-baked slopes near Carson Pass seem a long way away and a long time ago on a soggy autumn evening in England.

 Back in July they were dotted with the dainty (but very tough) flowers of Mariposa Lily. This is a somewhat generic common name which covers numerous species in the Calochortus genus. More accurately these appear to be the Smokey Mariposa (C. leichtlinii).

 I have since read that the tubers of various Calochortus plants were eaten by Native Americans but a handful of nuts and a few glugs of water was my lunch that day.