(Anum ae eps oct, ‘send ve ee Pes | i ft Alay Tiabe ms ¢ ie 5 ot ONGUE I ‘ythronium giganteum) r ADDER’S YELLOW y) 0 ( MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF AMERICA A SIMPLE AND POPULAR GUIDE TO THE NAMES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FLOWERS THAT BLOOM ABOVE THE CLOUDS BYA)J JULIA WY HENSHAW LIBRARY NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN ae BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS Che Atheneum ress 1906 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1906, by JULIA W. HENSHAW in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1906, by JULIA W. HENSHAW at the Department of Agriculture ENTERED AT STATIONERS’ HALL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 66.6 The Athenxnum Press GINN & COMPANY + PRO- PRIETORS + BOSTON - U.S.A, MQ) =5IR THOMAS GEORGE SHAUGHNESSY - THIS GUIDE TO THE ALPINE FLOWER-FIELDS OF THE WEST IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR SEP 20 1918 PREE ACE ‘“ When the book of life falls open at the page of spring,” who does not long to enter the kingdom of Nature and wan- der therein, with bright-hued flowers abloom about his feet and the silent, scintillating peaks standing circlewise above his head ? High up where the snow-crowned mountain monarchs rule over an enchanting land of foliage, ferns, and fungi, outspanned in sunshine beneath the broad blue tent of the western sky, the alpine meadows are ablaze with starry blossoms. Held close in the curved arms of the cliffs, these patches of verdure and wondrous-tinted flowers are a revelation to the traveller. From the mountains of the Yukon and Alaska to the hills of Nova Scotia and New England, in the Rockies, the Selkirks, and the vast mountain ranges of Montana, Dakota, Wash- ington, Oregon, California, and other western states, one will find that the same miracle has been wrought. On the lower levels, white-flowered, scarlet-fruited shrubs stretch out long branches, weighted with clustered loveliness, across the tiny ribbon-like trails that man has cut deep into the heart of the primeval forest. Over the valleys the water ways have spread an emerald tide of verdure, set with islands of flaming Painted- cups, blue Gentians, and purple Vetches ; while higher up the slopes of the mountains are carpeted with myriads of yellow Lilies, Gaillardias, and Arnicas,—a glorious Field of the Cloth of Gold. As the traveller climbs upward the scene changes; every- where there are barren rocks and towering cliffs, huge escarp- ments and frowning precipices, for here Nature stands revealed in one of her most majestic moods, and all the lines of the vil Vill PREFACE landscape are sketched out rugged and severe. Then comes the sudden turn round the corner of some cliff, the o’ertop- ping of some steep stone ledge, and behold! before one lies a garden suchas kings might envy. But how describe the ecstasy of standing knee-deep in the fragrance of a thousand flowers ? After the crossing of the bare, bleak rocks it is like a triumphal entry into Paradise. Here are pink Garlics, Harebells sway- ing in wild waywardness, Veronicas looking up with their wide- open blue eyes, Heathers red, rose,and white, amethyst Asters, and sweet-scented Orchids, all mingling their perfume with the shining green leaves and waxen petals of the Rhododendrons and the great snowy chalices of the Globe Flowers. Who canadequately describe the luxuriant profusion of these alpine meadows? Who can tell in mere words the glory and the glamourof sucha scene? All around one the dazzling peaks in their frozen and pitiless beauty point long slender fingers up to God; cruel crevasses split the gigantic rocks from tree- less top to pine-clad base, where glaciers cling to the cliffs with sparkling tentacles, and lichened stone-slopes are graciously clothed by the creeping Juniper, and the pale green mantle of Lyall’s Larches. Far below lies the universe in miniature, lakes, rivers, and forests, a few scattered dwellings nestling in the umbrage of the conifers, — ‘‘a wondrous woof of various greens ”’ cover- ing the mountain sides, sharp scythe-cut by many a winding pathway or brawling torrent along whose margent the willow wands sway lightly in the wind. In the foreground is set the splendid sod where prodigal Nature has planted countless flowers, — acre on acre of yellow and scarlet and blue giant Lady’s Slippers, delicate Helio- tropes, Geraniums, Forget-me-nots, and Columbines. Such is a picture of the Land of Immortal Loveliness, where, far above the clouds, man meets Nature face to face and finds that it is good. PREFACE a It matters not at what hour one goes to the mountains, whether in the amethyst dawn, when the golden gates of sun- rise fall ajar and the first faint rustle of the leaves stirs the dreaming world to consciousness, dispersing mists and dew; in the brilliant noontide, when life marches on with all her banners unfurled, and every plant is budding and blowing as the sap runs freely and the sun’s effulgent rays turn every- thing to glory ; or in the amber evening, when purple shadows steal with phantom feet from cliff to cliff, and down in the depths of the forest the gentle dusk drops tears that spangle leaf and bloom, as God lights the star-lamps of His high heaven and puts out the day. Even when we listen to the rhythm of the rain all is beau- tiful, for the flowers that greeted the dawn with opal hearts wide-blown, that at noontide were found with “ Each affluent petal outstretched and uncurled To the glory and gladness and shine of the world, ” and that at evening offered up sweetest fragrance in their chalice-cups, are given a new joy and beauty by the cool clear showers from above. “The paths, the woods, the heavens, the hills, Are not a world today, But just a place God made for us In which to play.” So we wander in search of the mountain wild flowers, following the trails that lead to the alpine meadows, listening to the bird-songs as we pass, wrapt in the peace of the perfect hills, while all about us the infinite beauty of things created, the magic of the summer skies, the strength of the far-flung bastions, the purity of the eternal snows, and the glory of the flowers that bloom above the clouds bid us remember that we are walking “In the Freedom of the Garden Wild ”’ with ‘God of the open Air.” x PREFACE As this book is intended more for the use of the general public than for botanists, the flowers herein described are clas- sified according to colour, and without special reference to their scientific relationship ; for the first attribute of a plant that attracts the traveller’s eye is invariably its colour, his first question usually being, What is that red flower? (or blue flower, or yellow flower, as the case may be). Of order, genus, and species he probably knows nothing, and therefore the descriptions given in this guide to the mountain wild flowers are so simply and clearly worded that any plants indexed may be readily located in one of the colour sections, together with its name and chief characteristics. There are, however, a few botanical terms which it is well the reader should understand; these are given in the “ Ex- planation of Botanical Terms ”’ on page xix. The nomenclature followed throughout this work is strictly in accordance with that endorsed by Professor John Macoun, botanist to the Federal Government of Canada. Plants will be found to vary greatly in size and appearance at various altitudes, becoming smaller and shorter as the sum- mits of the mountains are approached, until at 7000 or 8000 feet one will find the tiny leaves of the Moss Campion and Mountain Saxifrage growing flat upon the ground, their starry blossoms having no perceptible stalks, but being set close down into the moss-like plants. The Aplopappi, Speedwells, Chickweeds, Whitlow-grass, Eriogonums, Androsaces, Saxi- frages, and Stonecrops are all in evidence at very high eleva- tions, growing in dwarfed alpine forms, and, together with the Heaths, Heathers, and Anemones, are among the last flowers found at the edge of perpetual snow. During the course of a short walk in any direction among the mountains, one may gather many exquisite flowers, for he is not obliged to wander far afield in order to find blossoms of every hue; while even to reach tree-line, with its rarer PREFACE x1 species of plants, is not beyond the power of the ordinary traveller who starts out from a chalet hotel at an average altitude of 4500 feet, and therefore has only to climb another couple of thousand feet to arrive at the highest alpine meadows. For their valuable assistance in the work of preparing this volume upon the mountain wild flowers my sincere and grate- ful thanks are due to Mr. David McNicoll, Mr. Robert Kerr, and Mr. Richard Marpole. My sincere thanks are due also to Professor John Macoun, Mr. James Macoun, and Dr. James Fletcher, of Ottawa, for valuable scientific advice and for their interest in my work. VANCOUVER frcda AA. Derecho. April, 1906 CONTENES PaGeE NBO HES AURIS rae gesce te oe we ie Re A eek ee fe ey, EXPLANATION OF BOTANICAL TERMS . . . = . c SES sabre wetixe SECTION Fea st ONGREENEHEOWERS: wa in -a Gee es ae es I Peis LOWNMED LOWERS! foo. wea. Boe we Meee = 133 Pe oewe COOP URPEEYPLOWERS Go. 2 ss = & » « « *» 183 ee VEEPOWeTO ORANGE. FLOWERS. =<-:° 2 < 2-4 © . 5) 4257 SPSL eIW BRING SHIBUBS 0) of otc ead ic 2. Gh tee we tan a we B2T PeVMSCEUMANEOUS cae 6 oir of EA BOS a, We, BOG PepreeCOCOCIENTIEIC NAMES. oc 2 2. 5 58-6 Bde ce Pee 1 B77 Beret TONGLISH, MAMES so cn) Gott a be Be dG PA eee os, BOL EIST OF REALES Yellow Adder’s Tongue PLATE Ie ie ee IV. Vic Vale VII. Wann IIMS X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. ONE XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. XXXIII. Western Anemone Wind-flower Alpine Anemone . Globe Flower Drummond's Rock-cress . Canada Violet . Field Chickweed . Spring Beauty . Birch-leaved Spiraea White Dryas Common Saxifrage . Tall Saxifrage . Alpine Saxifrage . Leptarrhena Tellima Marsh Grass of Parnassus . Fringed Grass of Parnassus Wild Parsley Bunch-berry . Northern Bedstraw . White Heliotrope White Aster Pearly Everlasting Yarrow Ox-eye Daisy White Heath ; White False Heather . ( Green-flowered Wintergreen {Red Wintergreen . One-sided Wintergreen One-flowered Wintergreen Romanzoftia Contorted Lousewort Alpine Bistort | Asphodel Ladies’ Tresses Lrythronium siganteum Frontispiece PAGE Anemone occidentalis . 5 Anemone multifida 7 Anemone Drummond . IT Trollius laxus : 13 Arabis Drummondit . 17 Viola Canadensis 19 Cerastium arvense 2 Claytonia sessilifolia . 2 Spirea lucida 2 Dryas octopetala 33 Saxifraga bronchialis 35 Saxifraga Nutkana 39 Saxifraga nivalis : 41 Leptarrhena pyrolifolia . 45 Tellima grandiflora 47 Parnassia montanensis : Parnassia fimbriata } 5 Ligusticum apiifolium 53 Cornus Canadensis 57 Galium boreale 59 Valeriana sitchensis . 63 Aster commutatus . 65 Anaphalis margaritacea 69 Achillea lanitlosa BPS cyl 7a Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum 75 Cassiope Mertensiana 77 Bryanthus glanduliflorus SI Pyrola chlorantha \ 8 Pyrola asarifolia §$ 3 Pyrola secunda . 87 Moneses uniflora gI Romanzoffia sitchensis 93 Pedicularis contorta 97 Polygonum BEEBE roi Tofieldia glutinosa J Spiranthes Romanzofiiane . XV1 PLATE XXXIV. XXXV. XXXVI. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XX XIX. XL. XLI. XLII. XLII. XLIV. XLV. XLVI. XLVIT. XLVIIT. XLIX. L. 163 EE LII. TUE. LIV. LV. LVI. LVII. LVIII. LIX. LX. LXI. LXII. LXIII. LXIV. LXV. LXV. 1G Oe LXVIII. LXIX. LXX. LXXI. LXXII. LXXIII. LXXIV. LXXV. LXXVI. LXXVII. LXXVIII. ( Leafy Orchis Small Orchis White Bog Orchis . White Twisted-stalk Spikenard Queen-cup . : False Hellebore . Stenanthium Tall Zygadene Western Columbine Long-plumed Avens Water Willow-herb Northern Twin-flower Rough Fleabane Pink Everlasting Red False Heather Red Money-flower . Wood Betony Fly-spotted Orchis Pink Garlic Wild Clematis Pasque Flower Mountain Larkspur Moss Campion Wild Flax . Ascending Vetch Alpine Vetch . (Purple Hedysarum . White Hedysarum Cow Vetch. Large Purple Aster Large Purple F feaane Brook Lobelia Harebell. Macoun’s Gentian Northern Gentian Mountain Phacelia . False Forget-me-not Large Purple Beard-tongue Alpine Speedwell Blue-eyed Grass Purple Garlic . Yellow Columbine . Bladder-pod Drummond’s Dryas Yellow Willow-herb Field Golden-rod LIST OF PLATES Habenaria hyperborea flabenaria obtusata } : Hlabenaria dilatata . Streptopus amplexifolius . Smilacina stellata Clintonia uniflora Veratrum viride . Stenanthium occidentale . Zygadenus elegans Aquilegia formosa Geum triflorum . Epilobium latifolium Linnea borealis Evrigeron glabellus Antennaria parvifoliavar rosea Bryanthus empetriformis Mimulus Lewtsii Pedicularis bracteosa Orchis rotundifolia . Allium recurvatum . Clematis Columbiana . Anemone Nuttalliana . Delphinium Brown . Silene acaulis . Linum Lewisit : Astragalus adsurgens . Astragalus alpinus . ( Hedysar um boreale < Hedysarum boreale > var. albiflorum J Vicia Cracca Aster conspicuus . Erigeron salsuginosus . Lobelia Kalmiu E Campanula rotundifolia . Gentiana Macouni . Gentiana acuta Phacelia sericea . Echinospermum flor anda : Penstemon Menuesu Veronica alpina . ; Sisyrinchium angustifolium Allium Schanoprasum Aquilegia flavescens Physaria didymocarpa Dryas Drummond Epilobium luteum Solidago decumbens . PaGE 109 TEE 115 117 121 123 127 129 NN WKH WN KW WKN WH NN Wo DAMS + HWW Ww WN OWwWwWwouneNNN Henn LIST OF PLATES PLATE LXXIX. LXXX. LXXXI. LXXXII. LXXXIII. LXXXIV. LXXXV. LXXXVI. LXXXVII. LXXXVIII. LXXXIX. xi: 2<(EMe XCII. > lUle XCIV. XCV. MEEVEE XCVII. XCVIII. XCIX. Giant Sunflower Great-fiowered Guardia, Heart-leaf Arnica Alpine Arnica Golden Ragwort Hairy Hawkweed . Small Hawkweed . Large Yellow Lady’s Strapon Red Baneberry . Goat’s Beard Salmon-berry Prickly Rose : Western Mountain ets Service-berry Red-stemmed Dogw Gad Red-berried Elder Arrow-wood BES Or Woolly Labrador Tea . White Mountain Rhododendron Smooth Menziesia Cotton Grass flelianthus giganteus . Gaillardia aristata . Arnica cordifolia Arnica alpina Senecio Balsamite . Llreracium Scouleré flieracium gracile Cypripedium pubescens Actea spicata var. arguta Spirea Aruncus Rubus Nutkanus Rosa acicularis Pyrus sambucifolia . Amelanchier alnifolia Cornus stolonifera . Sambucus racemosa Viburnum pauciflorum Ledum latifolium Rhododendron albiflorum Menzesia glabella Lriophorum capitatum ri 4 4 oe . to & Ls A e ¢ tL. . ; on ~~ se pt ttn elena ea a kp or = <_* - i 7 -~ an ‘vy *y 1) ee ’ A = ¥ ia ) ; We ‘ «= @€ ¢ * 4 . * . wie «ie 4 i is a ° i 5 ‘ ‘ « . : . - « * ‘ See ee a 3 * . . ' ’ . os * . & aye * . e - * * * * . “ a « ’ ‘ i t 4 i a EXPLANATION OF BOTANICAL TERMS The object of these pages is to give as briefly as possible a simple explanation of those botanical terms most frequently used in describing plants. THE ROOT Rootstock : a creeping stem, growing below the surface of the ground. Tuber: a thick portion of a rootstock, usually possessing eyes like a potato. Corm. the thick fleshy base of a stem. Bulb: an underground stem covered with scales. Stolon: a basal branch, rooting at the nodes. EE SOs Achene. a dry one-seeded fruit. Berry: a pulpy fruit. Capsule: a dry fruit with two or more carpels. Drupe: a single fruit, with a fleshy outer wall and a bony inner wall. Plumose: resembling a plume, like the Clematis in seed. Sterile: without seed. THE STEM Erect: upright. Simple: not branched. Decumbent: horizontal on the ground, but vertical at the end. Procumbent: flat on the ground. Creeping: running along the earth and rooting at the joints. Scape. the leafless flower-stalk of a stemless plant. Node; the junction of two portions of the stem, often hard and swollen, at which leaves are usually borne. THE LEAF Bract: a leaf subtending a flower. Involucre: a circle of bracts round a flower, as in the Sunflower. Entire: one the edge of which is not cut or lobed. XIX Bk EXPLANATION OF BOTANICAL TERMS Simple: one which is not divided into leaflets. Compound: one which is divided into leaflets. Alternate: when one leaf grows just above the other on another side of the stem. Opposite: when two appear at each joint, having the semicircle of the stem between them. Whorled: when they grow in a circle round the stem. Cordate: heart-shaped. Obcordate: inversely heart-shaped. Linear: very narrow, like grass. Lanceolate: narrow, tapering towards the top. Oblanceolate: inversely lanceolate. Ovate: egg-shaped, broader at the bottom. Obovate: egg-shaped, broader at the top. Elliptical: oblong, narrowed at the top and bottom. Oval: broadly elliptical. Spatulate: rounded at the top and narrow at the base. Orbicular: round. Reniform: nearly round, with a deep indentation at the stalk. Auriculate: having two rounded lobes at the base. Sagittate: having two pointed lobes at the base. Undulate: with wavy margins. Crenate: with rounded teeth on margins. Serrate: with sharp teeth on margins. Incised: with deep jagged teeth. Lobed: with divisions cut to about the middle. Cleft: with divisions cut more than halfway into the leaf. Divided: cleft to the midrib. Pubescent: covered with fine hairs. Glabrous : without any hairs, smooth. Glaucous : covered with a bloom, as on the plum. Mucronate: with a short sharp tip. THE FLOWER Calyx: the outer lower set of leaves at the base of the flower. Usually green, but sometimes bright coloured. Sepals; the leaves of the calyx when it is divided to the base. Corolla: the inner set of leaves of the flower. Petals: the leaves of the corolla when it is divided to the base. EXPLANATION OF BOTANICAL TERMS XX1 Perianth: said of a flower having only one set of floral leaves. Pedicel: the small individual stalk of a flower borne in a cluster. Peduncle: the main flower-stalk. Sessile; said of flowers that grow close to the stem and have no pedicels. Raceme.: a long-shaped flower-head formed by numerous flowers grow- ing on pedicels along the sides of a common stalk. Spike: a raceme with sessile flowers. Hlead: a dense spike, globular in shape, like a Clover. Corymé.: a raceme with the lower flowers on longer stalks, so that the cluster is almost flat on the top, as in the Yarrow. Umbel: like a corymb, but with the pedicels all branching from a central point. Axillary: growing from the axil, or angle, formed by the leaf and the stem. Stamens : composed of Filament: the stalk to uphold the anther. Anther: a tiny box containing the pollen. Pollen: the fertilizing powder of the plant. Pistzl: composed of Ovary: containing the ovules, or undeveloped seeds. Style: a slender stalk surmounting the ovary. Stigma. a variously formed tip of the style, which has a rough moist surface to catch the pollen that fertilizes the seeds by means of minute tubes that penetrate the style and convey the pollen from the stigma to the ovules. Spadix: a fleshy spike, as in the Arum Lily. Spathe.: the concave bract enveloping a spike. MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF AMERICA SECTION With PO-GREEN FEOWERS Section [| Wiis TO-GREEN PLOWERS Flowers that are white to green, or occasionally so, but not described in this Section Carolina Crane’s-bill Geranium Carolinianum (Pink to Red Section) . . 139 Alpine Willow-herb Epilobium anagallidifolium (Pink to Red Section) . 147 Hornemann’s Willow-herb fzlobium Hornemanni (Pink to Red Section) . . . 148 Rough .Fleabane Erigeron glabellus (Pink to Red Section) . . .. . Pink Everlasting Antennaria parvifolia var. rosea (Pink to Red Section) 152 Alpine Bilberry . Vaccinium Myrtillus (Pink to Red Section) . 155 Dwarf Bilberry . Vaccinium cespitosum (Pink to Red Section) 155 Mountain Cranberry Vaccinium Vitis-Ide@a (Pink to Red Section) 155 Red Bearberry Arctostaphylos Urva-ursi (Pink to Red Section) 158 Alpine Bearberry Arctostaphylos alpina (Pink to Red Section) 159 Bird’s-eye Primrose Primula farinosa (Pink to Red Section) 3 164 Shooting Star . Dodecatheon pauciflorum (Pink to Red Section) 165 Red Indian Paint-brush . Castilleia septentrionalis (Pink to Red Section) 166 White Indian Paint-brush Castilleia pallida (Pink to Red Section) 170 Mountain Larkspur Delphinium Brownii (Blue to Purple Section) Igl Dog Violet Viola adunca (Blue to Purple Section) . 197 Moss Campion Silene acaulis (Blue to Purple Section) ; 197 Macoun’s Vetch Astragalus Macounii (Blue to Purple Section) . 204 Purple Vetch Astragalus hypoglottis (Blue to Purple Section) 204 Alpine Oxytrope Oxytropis viscida (Blue to Purple Section) 207 Leafy-bracted Aster Aster foliaceus (Blue to Purple Section) 214 Alpine Fleabane Erigeron lanatus (Blue to Purple Section) 220 Arctic Fleabane Erigeron uniflorus (Blue to Purple Section) . 220 Four-parted Gentian Gentiana propingua (Blue to Purple Section) 230 Northern Gentian Gentiana acuta (Blue to Purple Section) » 230 Alpine Gentian . Gentiana arctophila (Blue to Purple Section) » 230 Dwarf Gentian Gentiana prostrata (Blue to Purple Section) . 230 Mountain Phacelia . Phacelia sericea (Blue to Purple Section) See (233 False Forget-me-not Echinospermum floribundum (Blue to Purple Section) 234 Loco-weed . : Oxytropis Lamberti (Yellow to Orange Section) . 3) 272 Small Hawkweed Hieracium gracile (Yellow to Orange Section) 305 Narrow-leaved Puccoon . Lithospermum angustifolium (Yellow to Orange Section) 309 eI 4 WHITE TO GREEN WESTERN ANEMONE Anemone occidentalis. Crowfoot Family Stems: erect, six to eighteen inches high. Leaves: large, long-petioled, biternate and pinnate. Flowers: large, solitary; petals none; sepals five to seven. Fruit: carpels with long filiform styles that become plumose tails to the achenes. The Western Anemone is one of the most beautiful of the early spring mountain flowers. Its handsome white cups, purple-shaded on the outside, may be found growing close to the retreating line of snow during the months of May and June, and later on in the season its big fluffy seed-heads are eagerly gathered by those who delight in artistic things. This plant, like many others of the Crowfoot Family, has no petals, only a lovely calyx fashioned into about six sepals, which do duty instead. WIND-FLOWER Anemone multifida. Crowfoot Family Stems: villous with long silky hairs. Leaves: long-petioled, nearly semi- circular in outline, ternate, stem-leaves smaller, nearly sessile. Flowers: of five to eight sepals. Fruit: globular to oblong; achenes densely woolly. The Wind-flower, as this delicate little Anemone is usually called, appears on the dry meadows in the spring time ina vast variety of hues, with many blossoms and much fruit. Its colours range from white to red, with many intermediate shades of yellow, pink, and purple-blue. It is to Pliny, the famous ancient philosopher, that it owes its name, for he declared that only the wind would cause Anemones to open ; while a later poet has sung how Venus in her grief over the death of Adonis ‘poured out tears amain,’’ and how ‘gentle flowers ’’ were born to bloom at every drop that fell from her lovely eyes: «“ Where streams his blood, there blushing springs the rose, And where a tear has dropped, a wind-flower blows.” I 4 PLATE WESTERN ANEMONE (dnemone occiden talis) 5 PLATE ht R D-FLOWE N I W (Anemone multifida) a : a a | MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 9 They are short-lived flowers; the wind blows them open and wafts them away. Rapidly the fruit is formed ina thimble- like head, which presently bursts and is seen to contain many white woolly seeds. The leaves are very deeply cleft. ALPINE ANEMONE Anemone Drummonadit. Crowfoot Family Stems: slender, three to ten inches high from tufted rootstocks. Leaves: on long petioles, ternate, leaflets deeply lobed. Flowers: of five to seven sepals, silky-villous outside; style slender, glabrous. Fruit: achenes densely villous. The Alpine Anemone has a larger flower and thicker stalks than A. multifida ; it also grows higher up on the mountains, and may be found close to perpetual snow. The leaves are set in a circle round the stalk, about two inches below the blossom, and also grow up from the base of the plant. They are not so delicate or deeply cut as those of A. multifida. The flower is rather like a white buttercup, and is usually shaded with pale blue on the outside. The centre is yellow and green. FEW-FLOWERED ANEMONE Anemone parviflora. Crowfoot Family Stems: erect, very slender. Leaves: basal ones long-petioled, three- parted, the broad wedge-shaped divisions obtusely lobed or crenate, those of the involucre nearly sessile, similarly lobed. Flowers: small, of oval, very obtuse sepals. Fruit: globose; achenes densely woolly. The smallest and most delicate of all the mountain Anemo- nes, it is usually found growing in the thick forests, single and solitary. The flowers are white, veined and shaded with blue at the base of the sepals. 1O WHITE TO GREEN MEADOW-RUE Thalictrum occidentale. Crowfoot Family Stems: slender, one to three feet high. Leaves: ternate, the lower ones petioled. Flowers: nodding on very slender pedicels in an ample open panicle; filaments purplish-green; anther linear, cuspidate; calyx of four to eight sepals that fall early. Fruit: achenes one to ten in each head, ribbed, lanceolate. A dainty plant, with delicate foliage closely resembling robust maiden-hair fern. The eye of the traveller is at once caught by its pretty tassels, which hang in clusters and are of a pale green colour, tipped with reddish-purple. It is fre- quently found along the margins of alpine streams, being much admired in fruit, when it shows numerous seed-bearing stars, tipped with thread-like points. GLOBE FLOWER Trollius laxus. Crowfoot Family Stems: weak, ascending. Leaves: palmately divided, the segments many-cleft. Flowers: solitary; sepals five to six, white, with a greenish tinge outside; petals fifteen to twenty-five, bright yellow, minute, much shorter than the numerous stamens. The Globe Flower is one of the most conspicuous of all the early spring mountain plants that grow at very high altitudes. Close to the borders of alpine lakes and streams, and in marshy places where the snow has recently melted, beds of this beautiful large white flower may be found, its brilliant golden centre gleaming in the sunshine, and its rich, glossy foliage forming a superb setting for its perfect purity. Do not confuse it with one of the Anemones. Note that its centre is far larger and more golden in hue; also that the foliage is coarser and thicker. There is a bushy circle of leaves set on the stalk about one inch below the blossom. The Globe Flower is frequently found growing up through the snow. PLATE. III (ea MO ALPINE ANI (Anemone Drummondit) Il 7 i ee ee eT! eek. See Pee aT eS PRAT EM TV. MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 15 WATER-CRESS Nasturtium officinale. Mustard Family Aquatic, glabrous; root fibrous. Stems: stout, hollow, rooting at the decumbent base. Leaves: pinnate, leaflets rounded or elongated, the ter- minal ones largest. Flowers: petals white; sepals four, early-falling ; stamens six; style short, thick. Fruit: pods divaricately spreading, seeds in two rows. Not indigenous. Surely it is a libel to call this plant Nasturtium, which signifies ‘twisted nose,’ and is given to Water-cress simply because we are supposed to turn up our noses when we eat its acrid leaves. Those who go out to gather flowers will seldom pause to pick this insignificant plant, whose clusters of small white flowers grow close beside, or actually in, the streams and ponds, and whose only claim upon our attention lies in the pleasant pungent flavour of its leaves. STONY ROCK-CRESS Arabis Holbellii, Mustard Family Stems: erect, simple. Leaves: spatulate, petioled, entire or sparingly toothed ; stem-leaves erect, clasping. Flowers: white or pinkish. Fruit: pods linear, drooping. Growing out of a cluster of long-shaped leaves, the Stony Rock-cress has a tall stalk, up which many tiny narrow leaves cling. The flowers are small, white, mauve, or pinkish bells, growing inaraceme. This plant, as its name indicates, is gen- erally found in very dry, stony places. It grows from eight to eighteen inches high, and has very long, narrow seed-pods, which droop downwards. ALPINE ROCK-CRESS Arabis confinis. Mustard Family Stems: glaucous, simple or sparingly branched, one to two feet high. Leaves: stellate, pubescent, obovate; stem-leaves sessile, auricled at the base. Fruit: pods narrow, one to two inches long, spreading. 16 WHITE TO GREEN A pliant somewhat resembling A. Holbwiiiz, but its flowers are more confined to the top of the stalk. They are usually white. HAIRY ROCK-CRESS Arabis hirsuta. Mustard Family Stems: erect, nearly simple, rough-hairy. Leaves: in a rosulate cluster, ovate to spatulate, sparsely dentate ; stem-leaves partly clasping by a cor- date base. Flowers: white, small. Fruit: pods strictly erect, linear. This plant is easily distinguished from the other Rock- cresses by its hairy stalks and leaves. DRUMMOND’S ROCK-CRESS Arabis Drummond. Mustard Family Stems: erect. Leaves: lanceolate, sagittate. Flowers: petals white (sel- dom pink), twice the length of the sepals. Fruit: pods loosely erect; seeds wing-margined. A handsome leafy species of Rock-cress, very abundant in some localities. It has erect flat pods. WHITE WHITLOW-GRASS Draba incana. Mustard Family Stems: hoary, pubescent. Leaves: oblong-lanceolate, nearly entire. Flowers: petals notched; style minute. Fruit: pods acute, twisted when ripe, on short erect pedicels. A plant partaking of the appearance of a weed, and closely resembling a white mustard. For D. alpina and D. aurea see Yellow to Orange Section. SHEPHERD’S PURSE Capsella Bursa-pastoris. Mustard Family Stems: branching. Leaves: mostly runcinate-pinnatifid, cauline, lanceo- late, auricled at base. Flowers: small, white, in long loose racemes ; petals four; sepals four. Fruit: pods cuneate-triangular, truncate above ; seeds ten or twelve in each cell. Not indigenous. PEATE, V DRUMMOND’S ROCK-CRESS (Arabis Drum monait) 17 PLATE VI CANADA VIOLET (Viola Canadensis) a 4% ~ 4 ’ Pa es : 1 — han Pid | a) DS Pees i eo . 4 Ne Pra ae % i < r ies | f : . e, » - eo —) oe oa tech « a .. = . ~ > ’ a : 4 VT ah 5 : or . , - ~ a » ? ‘ a) y ¥ ’ ’ e _. - i I> ww, 7 i - ' = » ‘ ¢ r 7 ‘ &. 7 ~ « af iy ; s 7 * - 7 . ~~. - i a > « a MOUNTAIN FLOWERS Dil This common little white-flowered plant grows all over the world in temperate zones and at various altitudes. Its tiny heart-shaped seed-purses have amused the children of many countries. It is closely related to Candytuft, to which it bears a strong resemblance. PENNY-CRESS Thlaspi arvense. Mustard Family Stems: erect, glabrous. Leaves: petioled, oblanceolate, dentate ; stem- leaves oblong. Flowers: white, pedicels spreading or curved upward. Fruit: pods nearly orbicular when ripe, broad, very flat, notched at the apex, in long racemes; seeds rugose. Not indigenous. Penny-cress very nearly resembles Shepherd’s Purse, and the easiest way to distinguish between the two plants is to note that while the seed-pods of the latter are triangular in shape, those of the Penny-cress are nearly round, both being notched at the top. Then, also, the leaves differ: those of the Shepherd’s Purse are deeply cut, and those of the Penny- cress are only slightly toothed. CANADA VIOLET Viola Canadensis. Violet Family Stems: glabrous, six inches to two feet high. Leaves: cordate, pointed, serrate ; stipules entire.. Flowers: petals white, tinged and veined with purple, sometimes nearly mauve-pink ; spur very short; stigma beakless. One of the most beautiful of the many violets that grow in the mountains, its lovely white petals, purple-shaded on the back, giving forth a delicate fragrance, and its tall leafy stems bearing aloft many blossoms. Usually it is found in the moist mossy woods, where it flourishes luxuriantly; but it also grows on the open alpine meadows, though here its stalks are not so tall nor its flowers so large as they are in the shade of the pines and firs. The Canada Violet continues to bloom from June until September. 22 WHITE TO GREEN WHITE CAMPION Stlene Macount?. Pink Family Stems: slender, from a branching rootstock, minutely pubescent. Leaves: linear-oblanceolate. Flowers: few, on pedicels; calyx inflated, with short obtuse teeth; petals little exserted, with a broadly-auricled claw, and large, thin quadrate appendages, the flabellate bifid blade with a linear tooth on each side. Like many of the Campions, this one is very sticky, and is characterized, in common with other members of the Pink Family, by its slender stems being jointed and the leaves set in pairs at the joints. It gives out a faint sweet odour, and is usually found growing among the stones on steep hillsides. NIGHT-FLOWERING CATCHFLY Stlene noctiflora, Pink Family Stems: viscid-pubescent, simple or branching. Leaves: obovate, obtuse, narrowed into a broad petiole; upper leaves sessile, ovate, acute. Flowers: few, white, in a loose dichotomous panicle; calyx long, tubular, veined, its teeth linear. Not indigenous. There is little need to describe this plant in detail, since its name alone is sufficient to indicate its chief characteristics. Closed tightly against all invasion during the daytime, and only opening wide its white starry blossoms to the wooing of the soft night wind, this Catchfly sends forth sweetest per- fume and lures the crepuscular flies to their doom by first attracting with its scent and its snowiness, and then entrap- ing with its stickiness those poor deluded insects that hover over its beauty, enchanted until enchained. Thus does the Catchfly protect its nectar from pilfering insects and pre- serve it for the butterflies, who, while they sip the sweets, carry the pollen from flower to flower and thereby fertilize the plants. PEATE, VIL FIELD CHICKWEED (Cerastium arvense) 22 ei?) PLATE: VIE SPRING BEAUTY (Claytonia sessilifolia) MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 27 ROCK SANDWORT Arenaria nardifolia. Pink Family Stems: diffusely cespitose, glabrous below, branching from the base. Leaves: slender, rigid, subulate, numerous, fascicled in the axils. Flowers: petals oblong-obovate ; sepals ovate, very acute. Fruit: capsule as long as the calyx. A tiny plant with white starry blossoms that finds a home in crevices of the rocks at extremely high altitudes. There are many different species of Sandwort in all mountain regions, and some of them, such as A. dzffora, or Arctic Sand- wort, have been found gooo feet above sea level; but they are insignificant plants, and only attract passing attention when seen near the snow-line, where vegetation is so sparse that even the smallest flower is welcomed with avidity. STICHWORT Stellaria longipes. Pink Family Stems: smooth. Leaves: ascending, linear-lanceolate. Flowers: few, on long slender pedicels; petals two-cleft; sepals ovate. Fruit: capsule ovoid. Seeds smooth. A pretty little flower, with whitish-green leaves, very pointed at the ends. FIELD CHICKWEED Cerastium arvense. Pink Family Stems: erect, pubescent with reflexed hairs, cespitose, four to eight inches high. Leaves: linear-oblong, acute, clasping; bracts small. Flowers: cymose, few-flowered ; petals five, obcordate. This is quite the prettiest and most attractive of all the Chickweeds, and will be found growing in profusion on many a sunny bank and dry meadow during the months of June and July. It is frequently called “Star of Bethlehem,’ and 28 WHITE TO GREEN has five snow-white petals, each of which is divided at the edge. All the Chickweeds are white,and among those that are specially prolific in mountain regions may be mentioned C. alpinum var. Behringianum, or Alpine Chickweed, a silky- haired species, with whitish leaves. SPRING BEAUTY Claytonia sessilifolia. Purslane Family Stems: weak, froma tuber. Leaves: few, opposite, oblong. Flowers: in a loose raceme on slender pedicels, nodding, white or pale pink; veins rose; calyx of two ovate sepals; petals five; style three-cleft at apex. Close to the snow, in warm wet valleys, when the June sunshine has awakened the alpine world from its winter sleep, you will find the Spring Beauty, and as you stoop to gather it the whole plant (consisting of a tuberous root and one stalk with two leaves upon it and a cluster of blossoms at the top) will inevitably come up in your hand, so easily does it leave the ground. No sooner does this happen than the petals begin to close, the leaves to droop, and the stem to grow limp. Ten minutes afterwards the flower is hopelessly wilted. Whether white or delicate pink, the Spring Beauty is always veined with bright rose colour. There are few more exquisite wild blossoms on this continent than “These little dream-flowers found in Spring,” of which Longfellow wrote in ‘“‘ Hiawatha”’ ‘‘ Where the fire had smoked and smouldered, Saw the earliest flower of Spring-time, Saw the Beauty of the Spring-time, Saw the Miskodeed in blossom.” Miskodeed is the Indian name for the Spring Beauty. PLATE IX BIRCH-LEAVED SPIRAA (Spzr@a lucida) 9 > MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 31 WHITE GERANIUM Geranium Richardsont. Geranium Family Stems: erect with slender branches, one to three feet high. Leaves: deeply five-to-seven-cleft, lobes sharply incised. Flowers: petals entire, hirsute at base; sepals glandular, pilose. This Geranium is almost invariably white, but very occa- sionally it is purple-red. The plant is a handsome one, tall, with rich foliage and fine flowers. WHITE CLOVER Trifolium repens. Pea Family Perennial, branching at the base, rooting at the nodes. Leaves: long- petioled; stipules narrow, lanceolate; leaflets obcordate, denticulate. Flowers: white or pinkish, in loose, globose long-peduncled heads ; calyx teeth acuminate. Fruit: pods four-seeded. Not indigenous. This Common or Honeysuckle Clover is widely distributed. It may be quickly recognized by the fact that the leaves all grow on long stalks directly from the root, whereas the other white species, 7. hybridum, or Alsatian Clover, is much taller and has numerous leaves growing up on its flower- stalks. The latter species is frequently pinkish in hue. Clovers have a very close association with our childhood, those happy bygone days when we plucked out single flowers from the rounded heads and sucked the slender tubes of nectar; and always the sweet scent of the Clover blossoms recalls to us the well-remembered fields where “ South winds jostle them, Bumble-bees come, Hover, hesitate, Drink, and are gone.” 22 WHITE TO GREEN INDIAN VETCH Astragalus aboriginorum. Pea Family Stems: finely glabrate, erect, branched. Leaves: leaflets linear, obtuse ; stipules ovate, acute, foliaceous. Flowers: white, tinged with mauve in loose racemes; peduncles longer than the leaves ; calyx blackish-pubescent, its teeth subulate. Fruit: pods semi-elliptic. One of the least attractive of the Vetches. It has a long yellow root which is collected in the spring by the Stoney and Cree Indians as an article of food. The leaves are whitish and rather silky, and the flowers are chiefly noticeable by reason of their dark-hued hairy calyx. ARCTIC VETCH Phaca Americana. Pea Family Stems: erect, nearly simple, tall, leafy, subglabrous. Leaves: leaflets seven-to-nine paired, ovate, and elliptic-oblong; peduncles equalling the leaves. Flowers: white, in a loose raceme. Fruit: pods oblong, acute at each end, black-hairy. A handsome plant, growing one to two feet high, with many leaves, and big white-flowered heads. It has no tendrils, but grows very stiffly with thick upright stalks. WHITE VETCH Lathyrus ochroleucus. Pea Family Stems: slender, trailing. Leaves: leaflets in three to four pairs, ovate, distinctly petioled; stipules semi-cordate, entire. Flowers: seven-to-ten flowered, ochroleucus; tendrils branched. Fruit: pods oblong-linear, sessile, glabrous. No one wandering in the summer woods can mistake this dainty, delicate White Vetch, which trails along the ground, climbs over fallen trees, and twines its tiny branching tendrils about the shrubs beside which it grows. The flowers resemble those of the common garden green pea. oS) G2 PLATE X DRYAS WHITE (Dryas octopetala) 35. PLATE XI COMMON SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga bronchialis) * 2 MOUNTAIN FLOWERS a7 WHITE HEDYSARUM Hedysarum boreale var. albiforum. Pea Family This is a white species of //. doreale, a full description of which will be found in the Blue to Purple Section. BIRCH-LEAVED SPIRAEA Spirea lucida. Rose Family Stems: erect, reddish, woody, one to two feet high. Leaves: lower ones small, obovate; upper ones oval, acutish, unequally serrate on short peti- oles. Flowers: cream-colour in compound corymbs; petals five, rounded. A small bushy shrub with woody stems bearing large showy, fluffy flower-heads, flattened on the top and formed of numerous tiny cream-coloured blossoms tinged with pink. It frequently grows by the side of mountain roads and at the edge of trails, where the bright sunshine brings it out to perfection. The red woody stems break off with a sharp snap, and the scent of the flowers is extremely sweet. This Spirzea is really a flowering shrub, but is placed in this Section for greater convenience, as it is here that most travellers will look for it. ALPINE SPIRAEA Spirea pectinata. Rose Family Stems: cespitose, creeping, very leafy; flowering stems erect. Leaves: trifoliolate, persistent; leaflets deeply lobed. Flowers: in short terminal racemes; calyx-lobes ovate, acute, equalling the tube; petals obovate. A lovely trailing plant, its flowers growing to an average height of four inches, in elongated heads, each individual tiny blossom having six white petals and a number of yellow stamens. The leaves grow close to the ground, resembling a large moss, and are deeply fringed and fern-like. The shoots of the plant run along the ground; the stems of the flowers are brittle and woody. 38 WHITE TO GREEN CREEPING RASPBERRY Rubus pedatus. Rose Family Stems: trailing, filiform, rooting at the nodes, pubescent. Leaves: tri- foliolate; leaflets cuneate-obovate, incised, serrate. Flowers: solitary on long slender pedicels; sepals nearly glabrous, entire, exceeding the petals. Fruit: large red juicy drupelets. A charming little vine that trails over the rocks and creeps along the ground, gemming the moss with its starry five- petalled white flowers, in the centre of each of which grow many fine yellow-tipped stamens. The leaves are divided into three (or very rarely five) leaflets, which are coarsely toothed at the edges. The fruit consists of a cluster of from three to six red juicy globules, pressed together and held in a cup of tiny green leaves. The long lithe strands of this pretty, deli- cate vine are most decorative, as many white flowers and scarlet fruits may be gathered at the same time upon a single trailing branch. WHITE DRYAS Dryas octopetala. Rose Family Stems: prostrate, woody at the base, branched. Leaves: oblong-ovate, coarsely crenate-toothed, obtuse at each end, green and glabrous above, densely white-canescent beneath, the veins prominent. Flowers: white. Fruit: plumose, conspicuous. These beautiful white-cupped flowers grow close to the ground, generally in dry sandy or rocky places. They do not always have eight petals, as their name would indicate, but may be found with from six to twelve on a single flower. The name Dryas is from the Latin, signifying ‘a wood- nymph,” and certainly the velvety petals of this dainty plant, growing amid a mass of silver-backed leaves, are sufficiently exquisite to warrant the appellation. PLATE XII TALL SAXIFRAGE (Saxifraga Nutkana) 39 . Ira ~ ~ ‘ ~ y ' . . s “ Y ’ €> a. - x 7 ae ; r ’ : ha ae . - i ad ct Ve : a ve *r’ a } : . . i’ > PLATE XXVII GREEN-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN (Pyrola chlorantha) RED WINTERGREEN (Pyrola asarifolia J 83 MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 85 The beautiful white mountain Heath grows abundantly at high altitudes and is much prized by travellers. Its branches appear four-sided by reason of the manner in which the tiny leaves grow on them, and from these branches slender stalks are sent forth bearing at their tips waxen nodding bells, each composed of a five-lobed corolla with a small green calyx. “Meek dwellers mid yon terror-stricken cliffs, With brows so pure, and incense-breathing lips, Whence are ye? Did some white-winged messenger, On Mercy’s missions, trust your timid germ. To the cold cradle of eternal snows; Or, breathing on the callous icicles, Bid them with tear-drops nurse ye?” WHITE FALSE HEATHER Bryanthus glanduliflorus. Heath Family Stems: rigid, fastigiately branched. Leaves: numerous, crowded, but somewhat spreading, linear-oblong, obtuse, narrowed at the base to a short petiole. Flowers: corolla short-lobed, glabrous. The flowers of the White Heather are like little fat cream- coloured bulbs, with a tiny opening that is lobed. Its leaves are longer and more spreading than those of the Heath, near which it usually grows. GREEN-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN Pyrola chlorantha. Heath Family Stems: three-to-ten flowered. Leaves: small, orbicular, coriaceous, not shining. Flowers: nodding; calyx-lobes short, ovate, acute; petals very obtuse ; stamens declined; anthers distinctly contracted below the open- ings, with beaked tips; style declined, and curved upwards towards the apex, longer than the petals. This Lily-of-the-Valley-like plant is found in the dry woods among the moss, and always in the shade. On a tall, slender, single-bracted stalk grow numerous little nodding greenish- white bells, five-lobed, with yellow-brown stamens and a long, 86 WHITE TO GREEN protruding, green style that is curved upwards at the apex and tipped by a large five-parted stigma. The leaves, round and small, grow in a cluster at the base of the plant, which springs from running roots. It has a slight sweet odour, and, in com- mon with all the Pyrolas, is an evergreen. In the accompanying illustration, Plate XX VII, this Green- flowered Wintergreen is shown, together with /. asarifola, or Red Wintergreen, a description of which is given in the Pink to Red Section. ONE-SIDED WINTERGREEN Pyrola secunda, Heath Family Stems: caulescent from a branching base. Leaves: ovate, mostly thin, acute, narrowed at the base, crenulate, serrate. Flowers: numerous, in a dense, secund, drooping raceme; petals greenish; stamens unequally connivent around the pistil; style straight and longer than the petals. In the young plant the stem of the One-sided Wintergreen will be found erect, but as the days pass and the little buds open, the weight of the secund raceme bends it over until it droops gracefully downwards. The flowers, which all grow on one side of the stem, are greenish-white in hue, and the long style protrudes far beyond the petals. The leaves grow at the base of the plant and are oval, their margins being serrated; they extend a short way up the stem, which is frequently bracted above. SMALL WINTERGREEN Pyrola minor. Heath Family Stems: seven-to-sixteen flowered. Leaves: orbicular to oval, crenulate, mucronate at the apex, rounded subcordate at the base. Flowers: race- mose, nodding ; calyx-lobes triangular, ovate ; style straight, short. A smaller, more delicate species of Wintergreen, found prin- cipally near running water, and which has whiter bells than PLATE XXVIII “ See ae A Pa ONE-SIDED WINTERGREEN (Pyrola secunda) 87 MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 89 either of the two preceding forms. It may always be dis- tinguished from other Pyrolas, even in bud, by the fact that it has a short style, which does not protrude beyond the petals of the gobular blossoms. A slight fragrant scent emanates from its waxen bells. ONE-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN Moneses uniflora. Heath Family Stems: bearing three whorls of leaves at the base, continued above into a bracted scape. Leaves: orbicular, petioled, serrulate. Flowers: solitary, drooping; petals five, widely spreading, sessile; style straight; stigma peltate, large, conspicuous, with five narrow lobes. Dr. Gray has called this fragrant flower a “single delight,” and certainly it is a joy to the traveller to find its solitary droop- ing blossoms bent close down upon the soft green carpet of the July woods. In the deep shade of the conifers beds of these exquisite waxen Wintergreens grow in profusion, each flower hanging its head and resembling a shining star. Turn its face upwards, however, and you will find its white petals have ten yellow-tipped stamens placed at their base, and that the style, which is very large and long, projecting from a conspicuous round green ovary, is crowned by a five-lobed stigma. The leaves are set in three circles on the stem, close to the ground, and are dark green, smooth-surfaced, and have serrated margins. The One-flowered Wintergreen is a dweller in the darkest corners of the woods, where “ That delicate forest flower, With scented breath, and look so like a smile, Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mould, An emanation from the indwelling life.” 90 WHITE TO GREEN SWEET ANDROSACE Androsace Chamejasme. Primrose Family Stems: slender. Leaves: in more or less open rosulate tufts, one-nerved, ovate. Flowers: in capitate umbels. The sweet smell of these delicate little clustered blossoms, that grow from one to three inches above the soil and fill the air with fragrance, is most attractive. Their primrose-like petals, of creamy or pinkish hue, look up with yellow eyes to greet each passer-by, while rosulate tufts of tiny narrow leaves are set about the slender stems. ALPINE ANDROSACE Androsace septentrionalis. Primrose Family Stems: slender, many-flowered. Leaves: rosulate, lanceolate. Flowers: calyx-tube obpyramidal, with subulate, acute, green lobes; corolla-lobe obovate, longer than the calyx. A very different species from the foregoing one, having much branched, thread-like stems, bearing numerous tiny white flowers. STAR-FLOWER Trientalis Americana. Primrose Family Rootstock creeping, sending up many stem-like branches, which are naked below, the leaves all in a verticil of five to ten at the summit. Leaves: membranous, lanceolate, acuminate at both ends, sessile. Flowers: solitary or few; calyx usually of seven sepals; corolla wheel-shaped, of seven petal-like segments. The pretty blossoms of this Star-flower are generally white, though sometimes tinged with mauvish-pink, and so grace- fully are they poised on slender stalks above a whorl of pointed leaves that every puff of wind blows them gently to and fro. The number seven recurs with marked frequency in this particular plant, —the calyx is seven-parted, the corolla PLATE XXIX (AWoneses uniflora) Z ta] (ea os oc) ra {ea = Z iS Ss a 3) 2 ae = ° A a a) Zz O PEATE XXX (sesuayrjts vuffozunmoy) VISAAOZNVNOY MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 95 segments are seven, and the stamens seven, while the leaves of the whorl also are usually seven in number, some being large and some small. Bryant writes of the alpine meadows, “ Where star-flowers strew the rivulet’s side,” but as a matter of fact it is generally in the shady woods, near the foot of some large forest tree, that these dainty little flowers are found BUCKBEAN Menyanthes trifoliata. Gentian Family Rootstock thick, scaly, marked by the scars of bases of former petioles. Leaves: trifoliate, leaflets oblong, entire, obtuse at the apex, narrowed to the sessile base. Flowers: in a raceme borne on a long, scape-like, naked peduncle; calyx short; corolla funnel-form, five-cleft, its lobes bearded within. This is a perennial swamp herb whose lovely white flowers and triple leaves are the glory of many a secluded mountain marsh. The face of the five white or purplish-pink divisions of the corolla are covered with soft hairs, which give the flowers a dainty feathery appearance, and inside the tube are placed the five stamens, while the style is long and projects beyond them. ROMANZOFFIA Romanzoffia sitchensts. Water-leaf Family Stems: slender, scape-like, ascending or spreading. Leaves: round-reni- form, three-to-seven lobed on slender petioles. Flowers: in a loose ter- minal raceme; corolla funnel-form, the broad lobes rounded. One of the most exquisite fragrant alpine plants, that grows “ Where the sunlight fills the hours, Dissolves the crust, displays the flowers.” At high altitudes, when the warmth of July has melted the snow and set the flowers free, you will find the creamy 96 WHITE TO GREEN blossoms of this Romanzoffia in many a nook amongst the forbidding rocks, its corollas gleaming like shimmering pearls in the green setting of their round scalloped leaves. The tex- ture of these flowers is simply marvellous, for they have a bloom upon them so beautiful that it resembles nothing less than richest white velvet, while in their centres a few pale yellow stamens give to each blossom a heart of gold. Romanzoffia is seldom found below an altitude of 6000 feet, and where the cliffs rise bleak and barren, where the ways are ice bound and the rocks are bare, there it is a joy to find this lovely plant snugly ensconced in some tiny cleft that is watered by the melting snows. Only those who have toiled and climbed in search of it can know the full delight of its discovery. WHITE LOUSEWORT Pedicularis racemosa. Figwort Family Stems: glabrous, leafy to the top. Leaves: all cauline, lanceolate, un- divided, finely serrulate. Flowers: few, in short leafy racemes; calyx oblique, deeper cleft before than behind, the lobes abruptly acuminate; galea produced into an incurved beak, nearly as long as the broad lower lip, hamate-deflexed. The dull white or very pale yellow beaked flowers of the White Lousewort are set in a close cluster at the top of the stalks, and are embedded amongst small deeply-fringed leaves. The repellent common name of this plant is derived directly from the Latin one, which was bestowed upon it because once upon a time farmers believed that when their flocks fed upon these flowers the sheep were liable to be attacked by certain tiny lice, called pediculus. Four species of Lousewort grow in the mountain regions, two of which will be found in the Pink to Red Section of this book, while a fourth one is Pedicularits contorta, or Con- torted Lousewort, a plant very like ?. racemosa, but having its cream-coloured flowers set singly all the way up on the PLATE XXXI CONTORTED LOUSEWORT (Pedicularis contorta) 97 es ene ee ee oh ha s 5 . one wy a oe — eee MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 99 slender stalks. Its foliage is fern-like and often tinged with reddish-brown; long leaves grow out from the base, and small ones are interspersed with the numerous blossoms on the stems. The Contorted Lousewort grows at very high altitudes, being usually found at 7000 feet. COMMON PLANTAIN Plantago major. Plantain Family Rootstock short, thick, erect. Leaves: spreading, ovate, entire; spike dense, obtuse at apex. Flowers: perfect, proterogynous; sepals broadly ovate, scarious on the margins. Fruit: pyxis seeded, circumsessile near the middle. The Common Plantain is so familiar to travellers that it calls for no special description. It has greenish flower-spikes and reddish seeds. P. Rugeliz, or Pale Plantain, is somewhat similar to the preceding species, but has a slightly broader leaf and a less dense flower-spike. | LAMB’S QUARTERS Chenopodium album. Goosefoot Family Stems: slender, erect, commonly much branched. Leaves: rhombic- ovate, the upper ones lanceolate, obtuse or acute. Flowers: bractless, densely clustered in a compound panicled spike; calyx segments strongly keeled. Fruit: seed firmly attached to the pericarp. A weed that abounds near habitation, even in the mountain regions. A commonplace plant, and yet one that is not altogether without beauty, since its foliage is of an unusually delicate tender green. The white flowers, which grow in dense spikes, are inconspicuous. 100 WHITE TO GREEN TALL ERIOGONUM Eriogonum umbellatum. Buckwheat Family Stems: depressed and shrubby below, much branched. Leaves: oblong, white tomentose below, green and glabrous above; peduncles six to fif- teen inches high, naked, bearing a simple umbel of three to ten rays, sub- tended by a whorl of leaves. A somewhat rare and most curious plant. In dry stony places and on rocky slopes you will find the long-stalked blossoms of the Tall Eriogonum, with its handsome flat-topped clusters of cream-coloured flowers, tipped and tinged with vivid rose pink, that have a peculiar bunch of tiny narrow leaves set just where the little stems of the individual flower- umbels spring from the top of the main stalk. It is also a most fascinating plant, both by reason of the fact that its fine cream and rose blossoms grow in barren localities, and also because its leaves (which are green above and silvery beneath) grow near to the ground, on slender, branching, woody stems, while the flower-stalks are extremely long, often reaching a height of over twelve inches. E. androsaceum, or Dwarf Eriogonum, is the alpine species, and almost an exact reproduction in miniature of its ‘“ Tall” relation. The chief difference between the two plants is that the Dwarf Eriogonum is more hairy and woolly, and generally has cream-coloured flowers without any tingeing of pink. It only grows about three inches high, and is found at 7500 feet. ALPINE BISTORT Polygonum viviparum. Buckwheat Family Stems: slender, simple. Leaves: ovate, subcordate, attenuate at base; cauline leaves lanceolate. Flowers: raceme narrowly cylindric, densely flowered, bearing a number of ovoid-conic bulblets at base. The name Polygonum comes from the Greek, its meaning being ‘‘many kneed,”’ and refers to the enlarged joints of the PLATE XXXII gonum viviparum) , ¢ ALPINE BistortT (Po ASPHODEL (Tofeldia glutinosa) Io! ; 7 te. : = : a ee a ee we j Cn —— ee eee Ha a MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 103 stems, which are sheathed by the stalks of the long-shaped leaves. The flowers are very numerous in the mountains, are white to rose colour, and grow in dense narrow spikes, which have several little bulbs below the full-blown blossoms. The Speasrane meds, sce Plate xX Xl: A description of Polygonum amphibium, or Water Persi- caria, will be found in the Miscellaneous Section. WHITE COMANDRA Comandra pallida. Sandalwood Family Stems: glaucous, slender, simple, very leafy. Leaves: linear, acute, sessile. Flowers: cymes several-flowered, corymbose, clustered at the summit, peduncles short. The Comandra is parasitic on the roots of other plants. It has pretty little whitish-green flowers, which grow in clusters and are bulb-shaped at the base, spreading out into five lobes at the top. The leaves are very narrow and grow close to and all the way up the stalk, and the fruit is a nut-like berry, which retains at its tip the upper short part of the calyx. C. livida, or Swamp Comandra, differs from the foregoing species in that it has wider leaves, each one growing on its own tiny stalk attached to the main stem; and whereas the flowers of the White Comandra grow in clusters at the top of the stems, those of the Swamp Comandra grow in the axils of the leaves lower down on the stems, and its fruit is a roundish red and edible berry. CORAL-ROOT Corallorhiza innata. Orchid Family Root coralloid, branching. Stems: glabrous, clothed with closely sheathing scales. Flowers: in long racemes on short minutely bracted pedicels; sepals and petals narrow, lip short; spur a sac adnate to the summit of the ovary. Fruit: capsule oblong. 104 WHITE TO GREEN A plant impossible to mistake, for its roots are exactly like branches of coral, composed of thick, white, blunt fibres, and may be found in moist shady places. The flowers grow in a raceme on single, thick, fleshy stems, that are clothed with closely sheathed bracts and are of a queer purplish-green colour, frequently marked with white. It has no leaves. The Coral-root is a saprophyte ; that is to say, it lives upon the dead and decomposing forms of other plants, and this explains why it is such a vegetable degenerate of the beau- tiful family of orchids. It has lost its leaves, also its ch/o- rophyll, or honest green colouring matter, through its bad habits, and to-day belongs to that pirate tribe which feeds upon food already assimilated by another, and thereby incurs the displeasure of Nature, whose laws demand honest conduct in her kingdom as sternly as do those of man; and so, when the Coral-root refused to manufacture its own upbuilding materials out of the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, and proceeded to prey upon decaying matter, Nature took away its. leaves and chlorophyll and only left it sufficient branching extensions at the base to secure it in the soil. HEART-LEAFED TWAYBLADE Listera cordata. Orchid Family Root fleshy-fibrous. Stems: very slender. Leaves: sessile, cordate, ovate, mucronate. Flowers: in racemes, minute pedicels bracted; sepals and petals oblong-linear, lip narrow, the segments setaceous and ciliolate. A small orchid with two large leaves growing midway up its slender stem, by which it may always be readily recognized. The flowers are purplish-green, very tiny, and are set in a small raceme at the top of the stalk. It grows in the cool woods. L. convallarioides, or Broad-lipped Twayblade, also has the same two distinguishing stem-leaves, which, however, are rounder than in the foregoing species, while its flowers are PLATE XXXIII LADIES’ TRESSES (Spzranthes Romanzoffiana) 105 MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 107 yellowish-green, fairly large, and possess a broad lip with two lobes at the delicate apex. The Twayblades present a strong contrast to the Coral- root. They are conspicuously green and healthy of leaf. LADIES’ TRESSES Spiranthes Romanzofiana. Orchid Family Root tuberous. Stems: glabrous, leafy below, bracted above. Leaves: oblong-lanceolate. Flowers: spike dense, in three rows, conspicuously bracted ; perianth white, the petals and sepals all connivent, lip recurved, ovate-oblong, contracted below the narrower wavy-crenulate summit. This is the last orchid of the season, found chiefly in wet marshy places, just when the power of the summer sun begins to wane. It is a beautiful fragrant flower, growing in dense snowy spikes, and has long narrow leaves. Considering that orchids are reckoned as amongst the rarest and richest treas- ures of Nature, it is strange how many species of them grow wild in the mountains. Of course they are all terrestrial ones ; we have none of the kinds which grow on trees and develop false bulbs. RATTLESNAKE PLANTAIN Goodyera Menziesiz. Orchid Family Stems: scape glandular pubescent. Leaves: blotched with white, ovate. Flowers: galea concave, ovate, with a short, spreading, recurved tip; anther ovate, pointed on the base of the stigma into a gland-bearing awl- shaped beak. This plant has a cluster of leaves at the base only; these are covered with a network of white veins and frequently also have white blotches on them. The flowers grow in a bracted spike, are greenish-white, and have a very hairy stalk. Goodyera repens, or Small Rattlesnake Plantain, has also peculiar white-veined leaves, but in this species they grow up the stalk as well as at its base. The whole plant is smaller than G. Menztesz7, and its insignificant flowers grow only on 108 WHITE TO GREEN one side of the stem, which is much bracted and hairy. The name ‘ Rattlesnake’”’ applies to the resemblance between the curiously veined leaves and the body of a snake. This plant frequently grows in decaying wood. LONG-BRACTED ORCHIS Flabenaria bracteata. Orchid Family Stems: stout. Leaves: lanceolate, obtuse, the upper ones much smaller, the bracts two or three times longer than the ovaries. Flowers: green, the spike loosely flowered ; petals very narrow ; sepals ovate-lanceolate, dilated at the base; lip oblong-spatulate, three-toothed at the apex, and more than twice as long as the sac-like spur. This is one of the conspicuous green orchids which grow in great profusion in the mountain regions. It has a stout juicy stem, broad leaves, and many long pointed bracts on its flower- spike. Usually found in wet places, this Orchis may always be distinguished by the long bracts, from which it derives its name. SMALL ORCHIS Flabenaria obtusata. Orchid Family Stems: slender, naked, four-angled. Leaves: leaf solitary, basal, obovate. Flowers: spike long, loosely flowered, green; petals short, dilated, con- nate with the base of the column; sepals upper one erect, green with white margins; lip entire, lanceolate, deflexed; spur as long as the lip, blunt; anther-sacs widely divergent; glands small and thick. A delicate green and white Orchis that may always be known by its single basal leaf. It is very like a white and green Lily-of-the-Valley, and its flowers grow widely separated on the slender stalks. LEAFY ORCHIS Habenaria hyperborea. Orchid Family Stems: stout. Leaves: lanceolate, acute. Flowers: small, green; spike narrow, petals and sepals ovate, obtuse, upper sepal crenulate at the apex ; lip lanceolate, entire, obtuse ; spur equalling the lip, glands small. PLATE XXXIV en asia waite > wae LEAFY ORCHIS (Habenaria hyperborea) SMALL ORCHIS (//abenaria obtusata) 109 PLATE XXXV ep} 4 = any O wZ io eS) fas) — —_ rs) ae & 4 — an) — 3 8 Ss s 8 “S _ S ~ 2é ie S = SN ~ S 8 ~— - : ¥ oe a og : . , _y ugh, * ¢ on? 7 f an ¢ —e La 7 x -” f 7 : 7 Ax. 7 Ai. : - ; >) : - Q 7 ' SG => ? amet ye ee MOUNTAIN FLOWERS Jim 2) This green Orchis somewhat resembles A. obtusata, but may easily be distinguished by the fact that it has several leaves growing up on and clasping its stem, which is also decidedly stouter than the stem of the preceding species. The Leafy Orchis grows in the open woods, preferring a moist spot. It has many flowers on each stalk, and they grow Closely set together. WHITE BOG ORCHIS Hlabenaria dilatata. Orchid Family Stems: thick, fleshy, one to two feet high. Leaves: lanceolate, obtuse. Flowers: spike long, white, very fragrant, bracted; sepals ovate, obtuse ; lip entire, dilated; anther-sacs parallel; glands close together; stigma with a trowel-shaped beak. To walk through the woods, deep and dark, where the trees and shrubs grow densely side by side and flowers are few and far between; and then to suddenly emerge into the open, where the sun’s light is flooding across the marsh-lands, carpeted by myriads of tall White Bog Orchis, is a pleasure so dazzling that, once experienced, it will never be forgotten. Fragrant as hyacinths, these exquisite snowy orchids grow to a great height in the mountain marshes, and so beautiful and wonderfully delicate are their blossoms that travellers long to transplant them to some lowland garden, in order to see their velvety spikes grow and grace civilization with a woodland loveliness. But as a rule this experiment is tried in vain, for few of the orchids will flourish so far from their native soil. Words fail to truly describe these plants of almost unearthly beauty. From their dainty petals «“ Odours ascend, Spreading themselves through the serener air Where gentle breezes strive to bless, And all God’s world knows happiness.” Those who find them will always love and treasure them. 114 WHITE TO GREEN There is another very large species of the same genus, much resembling 7. d/a/ata, but taller, and sometimes growing to the immense height of five feet. It is called H /ewcostachys, or Giant Orchis, and, like the Bog Orchis, has snow-white fragrant flowers. MOUNTAIN LADY’S SLIPPER Cypripedium passerinum, Orchid Family Stems: stout, leafy. Leaves: ovate, acuminate. Flowers: solitary or two; petals and sepals pale green; lip dull white, veined, and with bright red spots; anther ovate-triangulate, yellow with red spots. Fruit: capsule drooping. This is the small white Lady’s Slipper, and its discovery in the mountains is of sufficiently rare occurrence to be quite an event in the history of the day to the ordinary traveller. It is usually in shady places, where the soil is moist and rich, that these little velvety orchids are found. The dull white sacs, hairy inside and spotted with bright red, are quite unmistak- able; the stalks are leafy and usually bear only a single ter- minal flower, though occasionally two shell-like blooms adorn the fat juicy stem, one at its apex and the other a couple of inches lower down. There is a rich tropical beauty about orchids strongly sug- gestive of the Orient. They do not seem to be at home in the stern wild mountain fastnesses, but rather to belong to a world of cloudless skies and riotous foliage, where exotic flowers are set like jewels in the lavish luxuriance of the clement zone. WHITE TWISTED-STALK Streplopus amplexifolius. Lily Family Rootstock short, stout, horizontal, covered with thick fibrous roots. Stems: glabrous, branching below the middle. Leaves: acuminate at the apex, cordate-clasping at the base, glaucous beneath. Flowers: one to two, greenish-white. Fruit: red oval berry, many-seeded. PLATE XXXVI Te WHITE TWISTED-STALK (Streptopus amplexifolius) 115 PLATE XXXVII ees i 3 1 | SPIKENARD (Smilacina stellata) 117 oF MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 119 This Twisted-stalk is a large plant with many clasping, pointed leaves growing all the way up on both sides of its long branching stems, with one solitary leaf at the apex. These leaves are handsome, green and glossy on the top, with strongly marked veins, and are covered with a whitish bloom on the under side. Looking at the plant from above it appears to bear no flowers at all, but turn over its stems and you will find beneath each leaf one or two tiny greenish-white bells, hanging on sharply bent thread-like stalks that spring from the axils of the leaves ; these flowers in time turn into bright red oval berries. The name Twisted-stalk is derived from its abruptly bent flower stems. For S. voseus, S. brevipes, and S. curvipes see the Pink to Red Section. SPIKENARD Smilacina stellata. Lily Family Stems: stout, erect, or somewhat zigzag. Leaves: lanceolate, sessile, somewhat clasping, acute, acuminate at the apex, rather concave. Flowers: raceme sessile or short-peduncled, several-flowered. Fruit: bright red berry dotted with purple. Large colonies of this pretty Spikenard, which to ordinary eyes looks like a wild Lily-of-the-Valley, grow near the banks of mountain streams and in the moist meadows. It is a lovely plant that grows up very stiff and straight out of the ground, and has stout stems which are leafy all the way from the base to the slender flower racemes. These racemes are composed of from five to fifteen little starry blossoms, each one having a white six-parted perianth. The leaves are of a whitish-green hue. 120 WHITE TO GREEN FALSE SOLOMON’S SEAL Suilacina amplexicaults. Lily Family Stems: stout, ascending, leafy. Leaves: oval, clasping, acuminate, their margins minutely ciliate. Flowers: panicle densely flowered; perianth- segments oblong. Fruit: red aromatic berry, flecked with purple. The long leafy wands of the False Solomon’s Seal are exceed- ingly attractive, with their handsome terminal clusters of little creamy blossoms that look like full feathery plumes as they wave gently to and fro in the soft summer breeze and cast their faint fragrance across the woods. Very handsome, too, are the leaves of this large plant. Why it is banned with such a base name as False Solomon’s Seal I do not know. There is nothing “false” about it except its name; and while its luxuriant broad foliage resembles that of both the True Solo- mon’s Seal and the Twisted-stalk, still its flowers are entirely different, growing in close terminal panicles, whereas those of the other plants mentioned grow in small individual bells from the axils of the leaves. However, False Solomon’s Seal is its name, and by such it is known all over the world. QUEEN-CUP Clintonia uniflora. Lily Family Stems: villous-pubescent. Leaves: few, lanceolate, acute, attenuate below to a sheathing petiole. Flowers: solitary; peduncle scape-like, shorter than the leaves; perianth campanulate, of six segments, white ; style equalling the stamens. Fruit: blue berry. An exquisite six-parted white flower with a heart of gold, found growing in the shady woods. Its leaves fairly carpet the ground in the localities where it abounds; they are large and glossy and resemble those of the Lily-of-the-Valley. The stems, which usually bear only a single flower, are very hairy. Tho- reau has complained bitterly that this beautiful dweller of PEATE XXXVITE QUEEN-CuP (Chntonia uniflora) 121 PEAT Hy SOCK LX FALSE HELLEBORE (Veratrum viride) MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 125 the forest should be called after so prosaic an individual as the Governor of New York, and soundly berates Gray for the fault; but may not Clinton, the man of affairs, statecraft, and finance, have had an artistic side to his character ? May he not have been a true lover of Nature and an ardent admirer of the splendid throng of amazing and mysterious beauties that enrich with the perfume of their presence the land of the alpine flower-fields ? I feel that a great honour has been conferred upon me in that I have been permitted to name this lovely plant — Queen- cup. Hitherto it has been nameless in the English language, and it seems to me that no more fitting title could be bestowed upon the Céxfonta uniflora, with its great shining leaves, amongst which are set the pure white chalices of its blossoms, than Queen-cup, — the queen of all the snowy flower-cups of the alpine forests. ASPHODEL Tofieldia glutinosa. Lily Family Stems: viscid-pubescent with black glands, bearing two to four leaves near the base. Leaves: basal ones tufted. Flowers: terminal racemes oblong, the upper flowers opening first, becoming longer in fruit; invo- lucral bracts minute, united at the apices, borne just below the flower ; perianth-segments oblong, obtuse, membranous. Fruit: seeds tailed at each end. A traveller cannot pick the long spikes of tiny white blos- soms which belong to this plant without at once recognizing its name by the exceedingly sticky and hairy nature of the stems. The Latin designation ¢/u¢zmosa exactly describes it. The Asphodel grows along the banks of streams and in wet Places. see Plate XXXII. 126 WHITE TO GREEN FALSE HELLEBORE Veratrum viride. Lily Family Stems: stout, tall, very leafy. Leaves: acute, strongly veined, short- petioled, sheathing, the upper ones successively narrower, those of the inflorescence small. Flowers: panicles long, pubescent, densely many- flowered, its lower branches spreading. This is by far the largest and handsomest green-flowered plant which grows in the mountains. Its foliage is immense in size, bright green, and the leaves have a peculiar plaited appearance. In the early spring the stout solid spears of the False Hellebore push their way up through the soil and soon begin to unfold with the increasing warmth of the sun’s rays. Then the long stiff spikes and graceful pendent tassels of flowers commence to lengthen and unfold, yellowish at first, and later on becoming greener. The flowers are composed of six petals and have six whitish stamens. Burton in his Anxatomie of Melancholy refers to the alleged curative properties of the Hellebore as an antidote for madness. “ Borage and hellebore fill two scenes, Sovereign plants to purge the veins Of melancholy, and cheer the heart Of those black fumes which make it smart.” Yet according to the principle that those herbs which cure may also kill, the Hellebore is best known to us as a very poisonous plant. STENANTHIUM Stenanthium occidentale. Lily Family Bulb oblong-ovoid, coated. Stems: slender, erect, glabrous. Leaves: few, linear, lanceolate, acuminate. Flowers: raceme simple, flowers cam- panulate, nodding, segments of the perianth brownish-green; bracts some- what scarious; pedicels slender, spreading, longer than the bracts. Fruit; seeds linear, flat, winged. PLATE XI STENANTHIUM (Stenanthium occidentale) 127 fi PLATE XLI TALL ZYGADENE (Zygadenus elegans) 129 MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 131 This plant grows only in shady places and is tall, with many brownish-green bells nodding on its slender stalks. It has very narrow ribbon-like leaves growing from the base and also up the stems. TALL ZYGADENE Zygadenus elegans. Lily Family Bulb ovoid, membranous, coated. Stems: slender. Leaves: very glau- cous, narrow; bracts long-keeled, lanceolate, rather large. Flowers: in a single raceme, or a large panicle, its branches slender, ascending, the perianth adnate to the base of the ovary, its segments broadly oval, the inner abruptly contracted to a short claw, gland obcordate. Fruit: seeds oblong, angular. A tall attractive plant whose branching stems are covered by many round creamy flowers splashed with green. These flowers are six-parted and have a number of brown-tipped stamens clustered about the large green base of the pistil. The capsule, or dry fruit, which develops as the floral leaves die and drop off, is three-lobed and very large. The leaves of the Tall Zygadene are long and narrow and are covered with a whitish bloom. Z. venenosus, or Poisonous Zygadene, is a slightly shorter, smaller species of this genus, also frequently found in the mountain regions. Its yellowish-green flowers grow closely together and it has roughish leaves. So poisonous is this plant that animals frequently die from the effects of eating it. . @ MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF AMERICA Section I] PINK tO RED BLOWERS Z | 4 : | ae - { Zz ae : oe x b rif -¢ P 3 : ' ; ; é n a A es SEciiom eh PINK TO-RED FEOWERS Flowers that are pink to red, or occasionally so, but not described tn this Section PAGE Wind-flower . . . . . Anemone multifida (White to Green Section) . . . 4 Stony Rock-cress. . . . Avabis Holbellii (White to Green Section) . . . . 15 Alpine Rock-cress . . . Avabis confinis (White to Green Section) . . . . 15 Drummond’s Rock-cress .