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nOUNTAIN
1
JULIA W HENSH
(Ultp i.aa. JitU SItbrarg
Nortlj CHarnlttta §UU (Halhgt
QK201
H56
16014G
This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE CENTS a day thereafter. It is due on the day indicated below:
JA!^ ' " 963 DEC 8 1965
50M— May-54— Form 8
MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF CANADA
Yellow Adder's Tongue
{Erythrofiiiiin gtganteiim )
MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF CANADA
A SIMPLE AND POPULAR GUIDE TO THE NAMES AND
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FLOWERS THAT
BLOOM ABOVE THE CLOUDS
BY
JULIA W. HENSHAW
TORONTO : WILLIAM BRIGGS
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
TO SIR THOMAS GEORGE SHAUGHNESSY
THIS GUIDE TO THE ALPINE FLOWER FIELDS OF CANADA,
ACROSS WHICH THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY
RUNS, IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR
PREFACE
" When the book of Hfe falls open at the jia^^e of sj)rin;;," who does not long to enter the kini:,^clom of Nature and wan- der therein, with bri<^ht-hued flowers abloom about his feet and the silent, scintillatini;- i)eaks standin,-;- eirelewise 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 starr\- blossoms. Held close in the curved arms of the cliffs, these i)atches of \crdure and wondrous-tinted flowers are a revelation to the tra\eller. 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 liny ribbon-like trails that man has cut deep into the heart of the primeval forest. Over the valleys the water wa\ s ha\e sjiread an emerald tide of verdure, set with islands of tlaming I'ainled- cups, blue Gentians, and purple X'etches ; while higher uj) the slopes of the mountains are carpeted with mvriads of \ellow Lilies, Gaillardias, and Arnicas, — a glorious l''ield ot the Cloth of Gold.
As the traveller climbs upwaid the scene changes; e\er\- where there are barren rocks and lowering cliffs, huge escarj)- ments and frowning j^recii^ices, for here Xaluie stands rexealeii in one of her most majestic moods, and all the lines ot the
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 such as 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 can adequately describe the luxuriant profusion of these alpine meadows .'' Who can tell in mere words the glory and the glamour of such a 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 xi
It matters not at what hour one .i;oes to ilie mountains, whether in the amethyst dawn, when the i;-olclen <^^ates of sun- rise fall ajar and the first faint rustle of the leaves stirs the dreaming world to consciousness, dispersin<^ mists and dew; in the brilliant noontide, when life marches on with all her banners unfurled, and every plant is buddin<^^ and blowin*; as the sap runs freely and the sun's effulgent rays turn every- thing to glory ; or in the amber evening, when purj)le 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 tlie world. "
and that at evening offered up sweetest fragrance in their chalice-cups, are given a new joy and beauty b}- the cool clear show^ers from above.
"The paths, the woods, the heavens, tlie 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 tlowers. following the trails that lead to the ali)ine meadows, listening to the bird-songs as w^e pass, wrapt in the peace of the i)erfect hills, while all about us the infinite beauty of things created, the magic of the summer skies, the strength of the tar-Hung bastions, the purity of the eternal snows, and the glory ot the flowers that bloom above the clouds bid us remend)er I hat we are walking
" In the Freedom of the (".ardcn Wild " with
" God of the open Air."
xii 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 xxv.
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
PRKFACIC ,iii
species of plains, i^ iioi beyond the p..\\cr of ilic 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 hii^diest ali)ine meadows.
For their valual^le assistance in the work of i)reparin^ this volume upon the mountain wild flowers my sincere and ^^rate- ful thanks are due to Mr. David McNicoll, Mr. Robert Kerr, and Mr. Richard Marpole.
My sincere thanks are due also to l^rofessor John Macoun. Mr. James Macoun, and Dr. James Fletcher, of Ottawa, f<»r valuable scientific advice and for their interest in mv work.
Vancouver y^^-^*
April, 1906
GEOLOGICAL SLK\LV OK CANADA
Robert Bkll, M.l)., D.Sc. (Cantah.). LL.l).. I.K.S., I.S.O. Acting Deputy Head and Director
Oi I \\v\, November 14. 1905
Dear Mrs. Henshaw : When you first toUl me of your intention to write a popular mountain flora, I assured you that such a work would not only serve a splendid purj^ose in attracting attention to our grand Canadian mountains, but that until the tourist had in his hands some such book that would enal)le him to identifv the manv flowers that grow there in ])rofusion he must feel lost among the unnamed beauties which would surround him. It was the one lH)()k needed.
That the work should have been done as you have done it is more than I could have hoped. The beauty of the photograi)hs, the abso- lute correctness of the grouping of the flowers, the concise and vet complete descriptions, make it easy for even the \isitor of a dav to identify all the i)lants he is likely to see.
Your choice of English names when such had not before been given to our alpine flowers is excellent. They are themsehes often sufficiently descriptive to enable one to identify the sj)ecies. 1 am glad to note, too, that the scientific names you have used arc strictly in accordance with our Canadian nomenclature as indorsed by the Canadian Dominion Government Botanists.
Yours sincerelv
/^
DCJMIMON OK CANADA
Departmi:.\t ok Ackk lltlrk Central Expkrimk.ntal Farm
Ottawa, November 14, 1905
My dear Mrs. Henshaw : I have examined the manuscrii.i and plates of your forthcoming work on mountain wild (lowers with much pleasure. It will certainly supply a very mu( h felt want by jjrovid- ing the many lovers of nature who visit the haunts of these plants with a popular but scientifically accurate guide to most of the strik- ing wild flowers which they are likely to find in the course of their rambles.
The efficiency and comfort of the Canadian Pacific Railway and of their luxurious hotels attract thousands of educated tourists to the mountains every year, and amongst these travellers there may always be found many anxious inquirers after the names of the beautiful flowers which grow everywhere in such ])rofusi()n.
Wishing your book every success, believe me,
Yours verv trulv.
Entoviologist and Botanist to Dominion Ex/'<ri»u-n!ai i'anr.s
CONTENTS
Letter from Professor John Macoin, M.A., F.L.S., I'.K.S.C .. Botanist to the Geological and Natural History Survcv of
Canada xv
Letter from James Fletcher, LL.D., F.K.S.C., I1...S , l.iuu-
mologist and Botanist xvii
List of Plates xxi
Explanation of Botanical Terms xxv
Section
L White to Green Flowers i
IL Pink to Red Flowers 133
in. Blue TO Purple Flowers 1.S3
IV. Yellow to Orange Flowers 257
V. Flowering Shrubs 321
VI. Miscellaneous 3^5
Index to Scientific Names 377
Index to English Names 3S1
LIST OF PLATES
Yellow Adder's Tongue J-'.yythyoii
tiiin i^ii^itiitcntn Frontispiece
Plate
I.
II,
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVII.
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
PA<;f
Western Anemone ....
Wind-flower
Alpine Anemone
Globe Flower
Drummond's Rock-cress . .
Canada \"iolet
Field Chickweed
Spring Beauty
Birch-leaved Spiraa . . .
White Dryas
Common Saxifrage ....
Tall Saxifrage
Alpine Saxifrage
Leptarrhena
Tellima
J Marsh Grass of Tarnassus . \ Fringed Grass of Parnassus
Wild Parsley
Bunch-berry
Northern Bedstraw .... White Heliotrope .... White Aster Pearly Everlasting ....
Yarrow
Ox-eye I )aisy
White Heath
White False Heather . . . fGreen-flowered Wintergreen 1 Red Wintergreen .... One-sided Wintergreen . . One-flowered Wintergreen .
Romanzortia
Contorted Lousewort . . .
TAlpine Bistort
\ Asphodel
Ladies' Tresses
Atietnone occidetttalis
A)ienioiie multifida
Anemone Dyitnunoiniii . . . .
Trolliiis laxiis
Arabis Drtimviondii
I'iola Canadensis
Cerastium arvense
Claytonia sessilifolia
Spircca lucida
Dryas octopetala
Saxifraii^a bronchialis . . . .
Saxifraga \ut/:ana
Saxi/raga nivalis
Leptarrhena pyrolijolia ....
Tellima i^^randi flora
Parnassia mon/anensis\ Parnassia Jimbriata J ' Ligiisticiim apiifolium ....
Cor mis Canadensis
Galium boreale
I'aleriana sitc/iensis
Aster commntatns
Anaphalis mari:;aritaiea . . .
Aihillea lannlosa
( ^hrysanthemitm I.etiia)ithctnum Cassiope Mertensiana . . . . Bryant lius i^landiilijlonis . . . Pyrola chlorantha '\ Pyrola asarifolia j '
Pyrola secunda
Afoneses untflora
Romanzoffia sitihensis ....
Peditularis lontorta
Polyi^oniim ri7-iparum "1 7\\fieldia i^lntinosa ) Spirant/ies Romanzofiiana . . .
3
7
1 1
'3 '7 '9 23
-5 -9 33 35 39 4' 45 47
53 57 59 63 65 60
105
XXll
LIST OF PLATES
Plate XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
XXXIX.
XL.
XLI.
XLII.
XLIII.
XLIV.
XLV.
XLVI.
XLVII.
XLVI 1 1.
XLIX.
L.
LI.
LII.
LIII.
LIV.
LV.
LVI.
LVII.
LVI 1 1.
LIX.
LX.
LXI.
LXII.
LXIII.
LXIV.
LXV.
LXVI.
LXVII.
LXVIII.
LXIX.
LXX.
LXXI.
LXXII.
LXXIII.
LXXIV.
LXXV.
LXXVI.
LXXVII.
LXXVIII.
r 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 . .
fPurple Hedysarum 1^ White Hedysarum
Cow Vetch . . . Large Puiple Aste Large Purple Fleabane Brook Lobelia Harebell. . . . Macoun's Gentian Northern Gentian Mountain Phacelia False Forget-me-not Large Purple Beard- Alpine Speedwell Blue-eyed Grass Purple Garlic . . Vellow Columbine Bladder-pod . . Urummond's Drj-as Vellow Willow-herb Field Golden-rod .
tong
Page
Habefiaria hyperboreaX
■^^ y . . . \Q>() Habenaria obtusata j
HabeJiaria dilatata 1 1 1
Streptopns ajuplexifoliiis . . . 115
Smilaciiia stellata 117
Clhitoiiia luiijlora 121
Veratrmn viride 123
Stenanthium occidentale . . . 127
Zygademis elegans 129
Aqnilegia fortnosa 137
Geiim triflomtn 141
EpilobiiDn latifolium . . . . 145
Linnaa borealis 149
Erigeron glabellus 153
A ntennuTia parvifolia var. rosea 157
Bryantlms empetj-iformis . . 161
Mimzdus Lewis ii 167
Pedictda7-is bracteosa . . . . 171
Orchis rotundifolia 175
Allium recu7-vatiim 179
Clejuatis Cohimbiana . . . . 187
Anemone A^nttalliana . . . . 189
Delphinium Broivnii . . . . 193
Sile7ie acaulis 195
Linum Lewisii 199
Astragalus adsiirgens .... 201
Astragalus alpinus 205
( Hedysarimi boreale'^
^ Hedysa7-um bore ale y ... 209
L var. albiflorimi J
Vicia Cracca 211
Aster conspictms 215
Erigero7i salsuginostis . . . . 217
Lobelia Kal77iii 221
Ca7npa7iida rotu7idifolia . . . 225
Ge7itia7ia Macounii 227
Ge7itia7ia acida 231
Phacelia se7'icea 235
Echi7wsper77iu7n Jioribnndu>n . 237
Pe7iste7no7i Me7iziesii . . . . 241
Vero7iica alpi7ia 245
Sisyri7ichiu77i a7igtistifoliii7n . 249
Allium Scha'7ioprasuin . . . 253
Aquilegia flavesce7is .... 263
Physaria didy7nocarpa . . . 269
L>7yas D7-u77i7nondii .... 273
Epilobiu77i hdeu77i 277
Soli da go decumbe7is 283
LIST OF PLATES
x .\ 1 1 1
LXXIX.
LXXX.
LXXXI.
LXXXII.
LXXXIII.
LXXXIV.
LXXXV.
LXXXVI.
LXXXVII.
LXXXVIII.
LXXXIX.
XC.
XCI.
XCII.
XCIII.
XCIV.
xcv.
XCVI.
XCVII.
XCVIII.
XCIX.
Giant SuiiHower //c/iant/ms jri_i;antdns .
(iiiillariiia arista/a . . Arnica coriiifolm . . Arnica alpina . . . Senecio h'a/sa/nitu" . . Ilicracimn Scoulcri /lieraciiim i^racile . . C 'ypripediuni ptibcscens Acicca spicata Tar. ari^nd Spinea Aritncus . . 1\ II hits A'utka)iits . . A'osa acicii/aris . . . J\vri(s sambucifolia . . A niclanchier a I ni folia Cornus stolonifera . . Sambucus racemosa I 'ibiirniim pauciflorutn Ledutn latifolinm
Great-flowered (iaillardia Heart-leaf Arnica . . . .
Alpine Arnica
Golden Ragwort
Hairy Hawk weed
Small Hawkweed
Large Yellow Lady's Slipper
Red Baneberry
Goat's Beard
Salmon-berry
Prickly Rose
Western Mountain Ash . ,
Service-berry
Red-stemmed Dogwood . . Red-berried Elder . . . .
Arrow-wood
Woolly Labrador Tea . . .
White Mountain Rhododendron Rhododendron albiflorum
Smooth Menziesia Menziesia _i^labella . .
Cotton Grass Eriophorum capitatum
-«7 291
299
303 307 3" 3«5 3-^5 3-7
zy y)
34'
345 347 35'
353
357
EXPLANATION Ol^^ HOTANICAL T1:KMS
The object of these pages is to give as hrietiy as possible a simi)le explanation of those botanical terms most fre(juently used in desLribing 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. Co))}! : the thick fleshy base of a stem. Bulb: an underground stem covered with scales. Stolo)i : a basal branch, rooting at the nodes.
THE ERUIT
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 : w-ithout seed.
THE STEM
Ereet : upright. Simple: not branched.
Decumbent : horizontal on the ground, but vertical at tlie 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 ami swollen, at which leaves are usually borne.
THE LEAE
Bract : a leaf subtending a flower.
Ini'olucre: a circle of bracts round a flower, as in the Sunflower.
Pntire : one the edge of which is not cut or lobed.
xxvi 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.
KXl^LANATlOX OF BOIAMCAI. ri:KMS xxvii
Perianth: said of a flower h.ivinL,^ only one st t of rioral leaves. Pedicel : the small individual stalk of a flower borne in a (luster. Peduncle: the main flower-stalk. Sessile: said of fiowers that grow close to the stem and have no
pedicels. Raceme: a long-shaped flower-head formed hy numerous flowers grow- ing on pedicels along the sides of a common stalk. spike : a raceme with sessile flowers. Head : a dense spike, globular in shape, like a Clover. Corymb: 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 antlier. Anther: a tiny box containing the pollen. Pollen : the fertilizing powder of the plant. Pistil : 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 flesh v spike, as in the Arum Lily. Spathe : the concave bract enveloping a spike.
MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF CANADA
Section I WHITE TO GREEN FLOWERS
Sh
CTKJN
WHITE TO GREEN 1- I,()\\I:rs
Flowers that are luhite to o^reeii, or odasiouallv so, hut not described in this Section
Carolina Crane'sbill . . Alpine Willow-herb . . Hornemann's Willow-herb Rough Fleabane Pink Everlasting Alpine Bilberry . Dwarf Bilberry . Mountain Cranberry Red Bearberry . Alpine Bearberry 3ird's-eye Primrose Shooting Star Red Indian Paint-brush . White Indian Paint-brush Mountain Larkspur Dog Violet Moss Campion Macoun's Vetch Purple Vetch Alpine Oxytrope Eeafy-bracted Aster Alpine Fleabane Arctic Fleabane Four-parted (ientian Northern Gentian Alpine (ientian . Dwarf Gentian Mountain Phacelia False Forget-me-not Loco-weed . . . Small Hawkweed Narrow-leaved Puccoon
Geranium ( aro/inianu>n (Pink to Red Section) Epilobimn auagallulifolium (Pink to Red Section) Epilobiiim Horitemanni (Pink to Red Section) . . ^r/j^^n?;/ (,'/<?Zi^//«5 (Pink to Red Section) .... Aniennaria parvifolia var. rosea (Pink to Red Sectioi racciniimt Myrtillus (Pink to Red Section) . . . l'accinh(m acspiiosniii (Pink to Red Section) Vaccijiium Vitis-Idcea (Pink to Red Section) . . Ardostapliylos Unux-iirsi (Pink to Red Section) ArdostapJiylos alpina (Pink to Red Section) . . /'r/;;/«/«/<7r;//(7.ya (Pink to Red Section) .... Dodecatheon paiiciflorum (Pink to Red Section) Castiileia septcntrionalis (Pink to Red Section) 6a5//7/d-/rt /(?///■(/(?( Pink to Red Section) .... Delpliiniion Browiiii (Blue to Purple Section)
I'iola adiDica (Blue to Purple Section)
Silenc acaulis (Blue to Purple .'section) .... Astragaltis Afacouiiii (Blue to Purple Section) . . Astragalus hypoglotiis (Blue to Purple Section t Oxytropis viscida (Blue to Purple Section) . . . Aster foliaccus (Blue to Purple Section) ... Erigeron lanatus (Blue to Purple Section) . . . Erigeron uiiiftorus (Blue to Purple .*^ection) . . . Gentiana propinqua (Blue to Purple Section) . . Gentiana acuta (Blue to Purple Section) .... Gentiatta aritopliila (Blue to Purple .Section) . . G^«//Vr;/^/;(7.v/r<7/'<? (Blue to I'urple .Section) . . /'//r7r<f//V7 .frr/<^</ (Blue to Purple Section) .... Ecliinospcrmutu floribuudum (Blue to Purple Section C).r_)'/r(j//> Z,<7W(^<-r^; (\'ellow to Orange Section) . . ///>r<74-/«W(^r(/r/A- (Yellow to Orange Section) . . Litliosperiiium augusti folium ( \'ellow to ( )range Section)
'3'' 147 1 48
152 1;;
'5'> 104
•'*>
170 i.^i
>''7
>o;
204 204 207
'•4 220 220 230 230 2;o 230
'>4 ^00
D. H. HILL LIBRARY North Carolina State College
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 live to seven. Fruit: carpels with long tilifomi 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
Atiemone )nultijida. 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 in a 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'l.ATi-; I
\\ I s I iKN .An I-. \1( in 1^ ( .7 1 1 cm oitc occidcutalis)
I'l Al i; i
(. liu-iiioitc iiiiiltifitiii)
MOrMAlN 1"I,()\\1:N
They arc shorl-livcd Howers ; the wind blows ihcir, <>i)cn and wafts thcni awaw Rapidl) the fruit is formed ir. a thinil)lc- liko head, which prcscntl)- bursts and is seen lo contain many w^hite woolly seeds. The leaves arc very deeply cleft.
ALPINE ANEMONE
A>ic»iO}ic DiKmiiiondii. Crowfoot Familv
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. mu/tijida ; it also grows higher up on tlie mountains, and may be found close to })erpetual snow. The leaves are set in a circle round the stalk, about two inclies below the blossom, and also grow up from the base of the i)lant. They are not so delicate or deeply cut as those of A. iiiiiltifuiii. The flower is rather like a white buttercup, and is usualh' shaded with pale blue on the outside. The centre is yellow and green.
FEW-FLOWERED ANEMONE
Anetnoic par7'iJlora. Crowfoot Family
Stems: erect, very slender. Leaves: basal ones long-petioled, three- parted, the broad wedge-shaped divisions obtusely lobed or crenate, tho.se 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 Anem(»-
nes, it is usually found growing in the thick torcsts, single and
solitary. The flowers are white, veined and shaded with blue
at the base of the seixils.
lO WHITE TO CrREEX
MEADOW-RUE
TJialictniin occidcntak. Crowfoot Famil}'
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 laxHs. 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 E'lower 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 f^ow^er 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.
i'i..vn: 111
Ai.riNi: An I. MOM.
{.I //l'///(>>/c DrininiionJii) I I
ri All: i\-
|
:■ l^^^^JfiSf |
|
|
IPI ^^ |
( Trolliiis lijxus) '3
MOUNTAIN FIOWKRS
WATER-CRESS
Xastur/iion oj[]'uiiialc. Mustard Familv
Aquatic, glabrous; root fibrous. Stems: stout, hollow, rooting at the decumbent base. Leaves: pinnate, leaticts rounded or elongated, the ter- minal ones largest. Flowers: petals white: sejjals four, earlv-falling ; stamens six: style short, thick. Fruit: jjods divaricately spreading, seeds in two rows. Not indigenous.
Surely it is a libel to tall this ])lant Xasturtnon, which signifies ''twisted nose," and is given to Water-cress simply because we are supposed to turn uj) our noses when we eat its acrid leaves. Those who go out to gather flowers will seldom pause to pick this insignificant ))lant, whose clusters of small white flowers grow close beside, or actually in, the streams and ponds, and whose only claim \\\){)x\ our attention lies in the pleasant pungent flavour of its leaves.
STONY ROCK-CRESS
Ai'abis Holbcvllii. Mustard Family
Stems: erect, simple. Leaves: spatulate. petioled, entire or sparingly toothed; stem-leaves erect, cla.sping. Flowers: white or jjinkish. Fruit: pods linear, drooping.
Growing out of a cluster of long-shaped leaves, the Stony Rock-cress has a tall stalk, up which main' liny narrow leaves cling. The flowers are small, white, mauve, or pinkish bells, growing in a raceme. This plant, as its name indicates, is gen- erally found in very dry, ston\- places. It grows from eight to eighteen inches high, and has ver\- long, narrow seetl-jiods, which droop downwards.
ALPINE ROCK-CRESS
Arabis avifniis. Mustard I'amily
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.
1 6 WHITE TO GREEN
A plant somewhat resembling ^. Holbcvllii, but its flowers are more confined to the top of the stalk. They are usually white.
HAIRY ROCK-CRESS
A?-abis 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 Dntmmondii. 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. alpi7ia and D. aurea see Yellow to Orange Section.
SHEPHERD'S PURSE
C apse Ha Bursa-pas torts. 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.
Ml \-
1)1<1 MMoND.s Kin K-CHI•.,^^ {.lrd/>/s Dnimnioiuin)
PLAl I. \ I
Canada \ ioi.i-.t
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 2 1
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 P'amily
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 vejy 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.
2 2 WHITE TO GREEN
WHITE CAMPION
Sile7te Mac02t?iii. 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
Silene iioctijiora. Pink Family
Stems : viscid-pubescent, simple or branching. Leaves : obovate, obtuse, nari'owed 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.
Pl.VlK \II
l-ll 1.1) CllICKWEKl) ( Cera st in w arz ■oisc)
iM.Aii; \ III
Sruixd 1]i:al IV
( Clayton ia sessilifoliii)
2'^
MOUNTAIN FIX)\V]<:RS
ROCK SANDWORT
Arciiaria naniifolia. I'iiik Faiiiilv
Stems: diffusely cespitose, ,i;;lahrous 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 hnds a home in crevices of the rocks at extremely high altitudes. Hiere are many different species of Sandwort in all m(Kintain regions, and some of them, such as A. biflora^ or Arctic Sand- wort, have been found 9000 feet above sea level ; but the\- 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 /onj^ipes. 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, ver}- pointed at the ends.
FIELD CHICKWEED
Cerastiuiii an'eiise. Fink Familv
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 manv a sunny bank and dry meadow during the months of June and July. It is frequently called "Star of Bethlehem," and
28 WHITE TO (iREEX
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. alpiiunn var. BcJiringianinn, or Alpine Chickweed, a silky- haired species, with whitish leaves.
SPRING BEAUTY
Claytouia sessilifolia. Purslane Family
Stems: weak, from a 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 live ; 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."'
Miskodced is the Indian name for the Spring Beauty.
viA'i'i: IX
13 1 R C II- L E A \- 1-: D S P I K .11 A
{^Spivica lucida)
29
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
WHITE GERANIUM
Geranium Richardsoni. (ieraniuni Faniil\-
Stems : erect with slender branches, one to three feet \\v^\\. Leaves : deej^ly 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 flowxTs.
WHITE CLOVER
TrifoIiu?n rcpciis. 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, T. Jiybridum, 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 Cloxer blossoms recalls to us the well-remembered fields where
" South winds jostle them. Bumble-bees come. Hover, hesitate, Drink, and are gone.*'
WHITE TO GREEN
INDIAN VETCH
Astragalus aboriginonDn. 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
LatJiynts ocJvroleitcus. 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, cUmbs 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.
iM.A'n; X
33
IM.Ali: XI
35
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
J/
WHITE HEDYSARUM
Hcdysanmi borealc i>ar. alhijlontiii. Tea Family
This is a white species of //. borealc, a full destripiion of which will be found in the Blue to Purj^le Section.
BIRCH-LEAVED SPIRiEA
Spircca 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 corj-mbs; petals five, rounded.
A small bushy shrub with woody stems bearin<.; lar^^e 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 Spiraea is really a flowering shrub, but is ])laced in this Section for greater convenience, as it is here that most travellers will look for it.
ALPINE SPIRJEA
Spircea pecti)iata. 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 tin)- blossom having six white petals and a niunber 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.
T^S WHITE TO GREEN
CREEPING RASPBERRY
Rubus pcdatits. 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 octopctala. 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 Djyas 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.
I'i.Air: XII
Tall Saxifra(.i-:
39
IM.ATI-; XIll
Alpine Saxikka<,i-:
{S(7xif'raj^a ni' 'a I is)
41
MOUxXTAIX FLOWERS ,.
4 J
WILD STRAWBERRY
Frai^aria i^lauca. Rose Family
Stems: running, and forming new plants. Leaves: tufted fnMii tiie root, villous-pubescent with spreading hairs, long-petioled, palmatelv-trifoliate; leaflets oval, obtuse, dentate, the terminal one cuneate. Flowers: of five petals, cymose; scape with appressed puhescens and generallv glaucous leaves. Fruit: red, ovoid.
Nearly every one will easily reco^^nize the blossoms of the Wild Strawberry plant. " Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did." This is equally true of the fragrant scarlet fruits on the mountain side as of their cultivated cousins in the garden.
TALL CINQUEFOIL
Potentilla argiita. Rose Family
Steins: erect, stout, simple below. Leaves: seven-to-eleven foliolate : leaflets ovate, obtuse at the apex, — the terminal one cuneate, the others rounded at the base. Flowers: cyme strict, close; calyx densely pubescent.
Cinquefoils are very numerous in the mountain regions, and somewhat resemble buttercups. The Tall Cinquefoil is a fine showy plant, its white flowers growing in a cluster and having five petals ; the stalks are hairy and have many leaves growing up them. See also page 276 in the Yellow to Orange Section.
COMMON SAXIFRAGE
Saxifraga bronchialis. Saxifrage Faniily
Stems: one to six inches high, ascending, slender, j)roducing ^h(•rt branchlets. Leaves: coriaceous, lanceolate, mucroiiate, sessile, with a broad base finely ciliate. Flowers: few, in an oi)on corymb on slender pedicels; petals oblong, white, marked with red spots.
Frequently the traveller will hnd immense rocky slopes literally covered with the pretty htlle blossoms of this Sa.xi- frage, which may easily be recognized by the bright red sj^ots
44 WHITE TO GREEN
that mark its five white petals. It is a low-growing species, the flower-stalks seldom exceeding six inches in height, and being much branched and reddish in colour. The tiny narrow leaves are very stiff, — indeed, a noticeable characteristic of the whole plant is its rigid nature. The name is derived from saxum, ''a rock," SiW^ frango, "I break," and the Germans call it StcinbrccJi, because it grows so thickly in the crevices of the rocks that it is supposed to disintegrate them by its growth. All the Saxifrages are much visited by flies and bees, and
" Scarce less the cleft-born wild-flower seems to enjoy Existence, than the winged plunderer That sucks its sweets.'"
NODDING SAXIFRAGE
Saxifraga cer)tna. Saxifrage Family
Stems: tall, slender, glutinous. Leaves: alternate, basal ones petioled, broadly renifomi, palmately five-to-seven lobed: upper leaves smaller, entire, sessile, bract-like, with small red bulblets in their axils. Flowers : ter- minal, nodding.
A creamy-white flower, more rare than many of its sister Saxifrages, and growing from four to eight inches high. The traveller will at once be struck by the little bright red bulbs that grow in the axils, where each upper leaf is attached to the stalk ; and by this characteristic, as well as by its lower palm-like leaves, the Nodding Saxifrage may be readily known. It growls among the rocks at very high altitudes.
LYALL'S SAXIFRAGE
Saxifraga Lyallii. Saxifrage Family
Stems: glabrous, caudex creeping, sparingly branched. Leaves: obovate, attenuate below to a margined petiole, coarsely toothed at the summit. Flowers : numerous : calyx parted to the base ; petals round-obovate ; fila- ments flat. Fruit: capsule united only at base; beaks red. erect.
IM All-: XI\'
LeI'TAKRHKNA
{^Leptarrheua pyroUfolia) 45
I'l.Ai 1-: \\
'1' 1. 1.1. IMA
47
MOUNTAIN FLOWKRS .,^
There are two tall \ery branching- white Saxifra<;es which to the ordinary e\e closely resemble one another, namely, Lyall's Saxifrage and Tall Saxifrage, and a careful reference to the descriptions of each should be made in determining a particular plant.
Lyall's Saxifrage is the smaller of the two i)lants, and is less branching ; its leaves grow in a cluster at the base, are rounded, deeply toothed, and often tinged and streaked with red. The flowers, which are very numerous, are white. A special distinguishing feature is the seed-pods, three or four in number, which develop in the centre of each flower in a cluster, and are red, with very pointed beaks.
TALL SAXIFRAGE
Saxifraga Xutkatia. Saxifrage Familv
Stems: tall, erect from a fleshy caudex, paniculately l)ranchc(l ahove. Leaves: cuneate, spatulate, attenuate to a broad petiole, coarsely dentate above the middle. Flowers: numerous, in a loose secund panicle: petals five, white, with a red spot at base of hlade : filaments clavate as loni^; as the petals. Fruit : beaks red, erect.
The Tall Saxifrage is a larger and handsomer ])lant than Lyall's variety. It is also more branching, growing from six to eighteen inches high, and covered with many lin\ while blossoms, each with a bright orange or red spot at the biise of the blade. The leaves grow in a clustei- at the Ixise, from the centre of which the flower-stalks spring; they are hairy, long-shaped, and sharply toothed. You can best dis- tinguish the Tall Saxifrage from Lyall's s])ecies by the lea\ es, which in the former are spatulate and long-shaped and in the latter rounded. The Tall Saxifrage also generally has small bulblets growing below the flowers.
^O WHITE TO GREEN
ALPINE SAXIFRAGE
Saxifraga nivalis. Saxifrage Family
Stems: six inches high, viscid-pubescent, with few or no bracts. Leaves: ovate, narrowed into a margined petiole. Flowers: white, in a compact cluster. Fruit : follicles divergent, purple-red.
A plant which grows at extremely high altitudes, as well as on the lower mountain slopes. It, too, has a cluster of leaves at the base, rounded and toothed at the top and nar- rowing down sharply towards the root. The flowers grow in handsome compact heads, and the stalks, usually quite bare of leaves, are reddish and not straight. The seed-pods are purple-red and spreading.
LEPTARRHENA
LeptaryJicua Pyrolifolia. Saxifrage Family
Stems: six to fifteen inches high, rigid, with one or two small leaves with sheathing petioles. Leaves: obovate, coarsely serrate above the middle, attenuate below to a short-winged petiole, which is dilated and sheathing at the base. Flowers: numerous, in bracted paniculate racemes ; petals five, entire, linear, white ; calyx campanulate. Fruit : carpels purple- red, divergent.
A very handsome plant, with closely clustered flower-heads and thick glossy leaves. In seed it is remarkable for its rich purple-red appearance. It grows in cjuantities near many alpine streams.
TELLIMA
TcUijua grandijlora. Saxifrage Family
Stems : hispid-pubescent, from short tufted rootstocks. Leaves : round- cordate, three-to-nine lobed, coarsely toothed, on long petioles. Flowers : cream-colour, with rose-pink margins, on very short reflexed pedicels ; calyx thick, C3'lindraceous, with turbinate tube and short, triangular, erect lobes, inflated ; petals laciniately cut into filiform segments, narrowed below to a short claw.
I'l.Aij; x\i
AIarsii (ikAss ()|- I'AKNASSLS {Piirmjssw /uivit,tnens/s)
FiiixciED Grass of Parnassus {Pantassin ti'nf^ri.itn)
51
I'l-Aii-; x\ I]
W'liA) Pakslkv {Ligitstiaiin npiifoiiitm)
53
MOUN'l'AIX fi,()\\i:rs
A plant that is casil\ recognized by means oi its long stalks, bearing numerous round cream-coloured or green blos- soms, which are set closely against it, their edges rose colour and deeply fringed. It grows from one to two feet high and has quantities of foliage, the leaves being large, rounded, and lobed, with fine white hairs standing up all over them.
FALSE MITRE-WORT
Tiarella uiiifoliata. Saxifrage Family
Stems: slender, spreading from runnin<( rootstocks. Leaves: simjjJe, cordate, acute, obscurely tive-to-seven lobed on long tine petioles. Flowers: numerous, in a narrow panicle; calyx cleft to near the base; petals five, filiform ; stamens ten.
The tiny feathery flowers of the False Mitre-wort are found in great quantities in the mountains. Their large heart- shaped leaves appear to carpet the ground about three inches above the soil in the localities where they abound, and their great white masses of delicate bloom have earned for them the name of " Foam-Flower." The Latin name Tiarella means "a little tiara," and refers to the shape of the capsule, while iDiifoliata refers to the one leaf on the flower-stalk.
TRUE MITRE-WORT
Mifclla Brcweri. Saxifrage Family
Stems: pubescent with brownish hairs. Leaves: round-cordate, three-to- five lobed, toothed. Flowers: small, green, in simple spicate racemes : calyx short, campanulate : petals pectinately pinnate, with filiform pinna-a.
The True Mitre-wort is one of the few absolutely green flowers that grow in the mountains; it derives its name ot Mitclla, or Bishop's Cap, from the form of the seed-pod. It differs from the False Mitre-wort, first, in that its blossoms are much more fragile and green, and secondly, in that it is more leafy and is covered with liny liairs.
56 WHFl K TO C;REEN
ALUM-ROOT
HeucJiera oi'd/i/o/ia. Saxifrage Family
Stems: six to eighteen inches high, leafless. Leaves: ovate, cordate, crenate. Flowers: greenish-cream, small, in terminal panicles, spike-like, cylindrical, two to four inches long ; calyx campanulate ; petals filifonn or none. Fruit: seeds hispid.
This plant is usually' found in very dry stony places, among the rocks or on gravelly slopes. It is remarkable for its tall stiff stalks, which are leafless and end in a dense spike of closely-set creamy flowers. The leaves are green and reddish, round, and with wavy margins. It is a peculiar but not an attractive plant.
MARSH GRASS OF PARNASSUS
Parnassia jno/ifa/iensis. Saxifrage Family
Stems: bearing one clasping ovate leaf. Leaves: ovate, petioled, obtuse at the apex, cordate at the base. Flowers: elliptic, few-veined ; petals five : stamens numerous, in clusters at the base of each petal.
Why "Grass," and why "of Parnassus".? Assuredly the traveller will be surprised when he finds what kind of flower bears this exceedingly unsuitable name, for the Grass of Parnassus is like a delicate white buttercup, the veins in its petals being strongly marked, and numerous stamens growing at the base of every blade. Each stalk is clasped by a single little round leaf, and a mass of smooth glossy foliage grows close to the ground. These basal leaves are much curled up, and in low-lying marshes and other wet places you will find them in profusion during the month of July. Perhaps it was the velvety petals of the Grass of Parnassus that caused Emerson to ask :
" Why Nature loves the number five. And why the star-form she repeats ? "
I'l Ai i: x\iii
BrN( ii-Hi:kk\
57
i\uKT111:KN lil,l)STKA\V
{(lo/iiini borealc)
59
MOUNTAIN KIX)\\1:KS (,i
For in this particular mountain wild Mower the H\c petals and the star-form arc both cspcciall\- eonsi)icuous.
Another species of this <^^enus is /'. Junbnata, or l'"rin<;ed Grass ot Parnassus, also \er\' common in moist ])laces anion*;- the mountains. It closel\- resembles the ])lant already described, but may be clearly distinguished from it, because the petals are conspicuously fringed towards the base and have fine marginal hairs.
P. Kotrjcbuci, or Al])ine Grass of Parnassus, is a tiny spe- cies, only a few inches high, and is found at great altitudes.
WILD PARSLEY
Z /«,'■// .s7/V//y// apiif'oliitiii . Parsley Faniil}-
Roots large, aromatic. Stems: thick. Leaves: radical, ternate, or biter- nate, then once or twice pinnate, the segments ovate, laciniately pinnatifid. Flowers: in umbels of numerous rays, with iinolucre of linear bracts; calyx-lobes obsolete.
A beautiful ]:)lant, having fine wliite flower-heads and decorative fern-like foliage.
COW-PARSNIP
Heracleuin la)iatn»i. Parsley Family
Stems: very stout, tomentose-pubescent, rigid. Leaves: petioled, ter- nately divided, the segments broadly ovate, cordate, stalked, lobed and sharply .serrate : petioles much inflated. Flowers: umbels many-rayed.
Hcyaclcitni, from the Greek name t)f Hercules, is an excel- lent designation for this huge Cow-Parsnij^ which among plants is certainly a veritable hero for strength and si/e. frequentlv growing to a height of eight teet. its huge leaves and great clusters of white flowers, often measiuing a foot across, are verv sliowy, and once seen will always be remembei-ed. The i)lant has an extremely nasty smell.
62 WHITE TO GREEN
BUNCH-BERRY
Cornus Canadensis. Dogwood Family
Stems, erect. Leaves: verticillate at the summit of the stem, sessile, oval, pinnately veined, acute at each end, entire ; bracts involucral, white. Flowers: greenish, capitate. Fruit: red, globose.
A slender tough stem bearing a circle of four or five oval, pointed leaves at its summit, out of the midst of which grows a cluster of inconspicuous tiny green flowers, surrounded by four beautiful white bracts, — such is the Bunch-berry, or Pigeon-berry, which we find everywhere in the forests. It will surprise many travellers to learn that the lovely white leaves are not the petals, but only the bracts encircling the w^ee green flowers in the centre.
When these white bracts have fallen off, each flower-head develops into a bunch of small scarlet berries, from which the species derives its common name.
NORTHERN BEDSTRAW
Galiiiin borealc. Madder Family
Stems: smooth, branched, leafy. Leaves: in fours, linear, acute. Flowers: in terminal panicles, dense, many-flowered in small compact cymes. Fruit: hispid.
The Northern Bedstraw may be distinguished by the fact that its tiny narrow leaves grow in circles of four round the stems. It is a plant bearing many small white flowers in clusters, and the seeds are twin burs, covered with numerous hooked bristles, by means of which they cling to the clothing of the passer-by and the fur of animals.
Sir John Franklin in his book TJic Polar Seas describes this plant as being used by the Indians as a vegetable dye. They call it Saivoyan, and after boiling the roots they mix the liquid with the juice of strawberries and cranberries, and thus obtain a beautiful scarlet dye.
!'i \i i: XX
Will 1 1-. lli-.LioiKori-: ( / 'aliriaiia sitchensis)
r.:
I'l \ 1 1. \.\1
Will 11-. Ami 1^
{.Isicr lonimiitatus)
65
MOrXTAIX KIOWi-Rs
— 67
SWEET-SCENTED BEDSTRAW
GaliuDi trijloiuui. Madder Family Stems: ascending, a little roughened, shinin. Leaves: in sixes, nar- ^oul3 oval ; peduncles slender, terminal, and axillarv. Flowers- in tl re or on three-branched pedicels. Fruit: hispid, with hooked hairs '
The flowers of this species of Bcdstraw always c.n,w in threes, or on three-branched stems, as mi^^ht be inferred from the name tuflorum. The leaves are a trifle broader than those of 6. borcalc^ but the flowers of both have a four-lobed white corolla. At all times, but especially when dried, this plant has a sweet odour resembling that of vanilla. Its seeds are two- lobed and are covered with tiny hooked hairs, which haxe earned for it the descriptive name of "Cleaver," for verily its burs cleave fast to anything with which they come in conUict.
WILD HELIOTROPE
Valeriana syhuitha. A'alerian Familv
Stems: erect from creeping rootstocks. Leaves: basal, oblong, entire • stem-leaves petioled, three-to-seven foliolate, the divisions entire Flowers ■ cymose, paniculate, more or less dimorphous ; corolla funnel-form, hve-lol,ecL So sweet is the smell of the Wild Heliotrope that few can mistake it. The flowers are very handsome, white tin-ed with mauve or pink, and grow in big clusters on ihc toi^.f juicy stalks from eight to eighteen inches high, and in two small axillary clusters a few inches below the terminal cyme. The foliage of this plant is handsome, the leaves being strongly veined, glossy, and of a beautiful bright green colour The margins of these leaves are entire, — that is. not cut or toothed, — and herein lies the difference between this plant and r. sitchcnsis, or White Heliotrope, which can onl\- be readilv distinguished from it by the fact that the hitter's Icaxes are coarsely dentate, the flowers of both species being almost identical. A very noticeable featureof the Heliotropes is their extremely long stamens.
68 WHITE TO GREEN
WHITE ASTER
Aster cointnutatus. Composite Family
Stems: bushy, branched. Leaves: rigid, linear, entire, obtuse, sessile, uppermost passing into involucral bracts. Flowers: in densely crowded heads.
These charming little Asters, with their white rays and yellow centres, are quite unmistakable, and though each in- dividual flower is small, yet they grow in such large densely- flowered wands that they present a very handsome appearance. The stiff narrow leaves grow all the way up the stalks among the blossoms. The flower is usually found in very dry sandy places.
A alpinus, or Alpine Aster, is another species very abundant in the mountains. It grows at great altitudes and has fluffy whitish leaves and white or pale pink flowers.
DAISY FLEABANE
En'geron coinpositus. Composite Family
Stems: short, densely leafy. Leaves: fan-shaped in outline, parted into linear spatulate lobes on long petioles : herbage hirsute and rather vis- cidulous. Flowers: rays forty to sixty, white ; disk-flowers yellow.
This Fleabane is very like a large common daisy, for it has many white rays and a big yellow centre. Most of its leaves grow out from the base, and are much cut and quite fern- like. It is found at an altitude of 7000 feet, and especially along the edge of glacial streams, though it grows also on the lower alpine meadows.
The most conspicuous difference between Asters and Flea- banes is that the latter have very numerous narrow rays, while the rays of the former are shghtly broader and much fewer in number.
I 'i.Ai;i.\ l-,\ i.Ki.A- 1 ;\i, {^A nap kalis niargaritacca)
69
I'lAii: will
Vakkow
{Achillea laiiitlosa)
71
MOUNTAIN FL0\\1:RS ^^
WHITE EVERLASTING
.1)1 ten nana i-accniosa. L'oniposite Faniilv
Freely surculose by lout;, slender, sparsely-leafy stolons, li,Lchtly woollv. Stems: bearing numerous racemosely-disposed heads. Leaves: broadlv oval, acute at each end, densely tomentose beneath, green and glabrous above; involucre campanulate ; bracts green. Flowers: staminate and pistillate heads white-tipped.
Every traveller will recognize the Everlastings at a glance, with their dry, crackling little flowers and partially, if not entirely, silky whitish leaves ; the only difficiilty lies in decid- ing to what species any particular plant belongs.
The easiest way to distinguish the White Everlasting is by the loose separate fashion in which its flower-heads grow, just a few on each little stalk and none of them bunched together ; whereas the A. Howcllii, or Mouse-ear Everlasting, has very closely clustered flower-heads and much more silky leaves. The leaves of both these plants are woollv and white underneath and smooth and green on the top. The fertile plants are taller than the sterile plants, and the little heads of fertile florets are set in green cups, their snow-white silkv tufts gleaming in the sunshine, while the staminate florets have rounder, whiter scales.
A. parvifolia, or Mountain Everlasting, has leaxes that are white and woolly on both sides, and its florets are perfectl\- round in shape.
Eor A. parvifolia var. rosea see the Fink to Red Section.
A. lajiata, or Alpine Everlasting, is a dwarf sj)ccies growing close to perpetual snow, and is found at the great altitude of 8000 feet. It has very white and wooll\- stalks and main tin\- leaves that are white and woollv also.
This ])lant somewhat resembles the luiilicciss of the Alj)s, and is the nearest approach to that famous flower to be found on this continent. The name Aiitouiariti refers to the long brown anthers, which resemble the amenna- of some insect.
74 WHITE TO GREEN
PEARLY EVERLASTING
AnapliaUs Jitargaritacea. Composite Family
Stems: floccose, woolly, cor3-mbosely branched at the summit, leafy. Leaves : linear, lanceolate, green pubescent above, woolly below. Flowers : in numerous heads : involucre campanulate, its bracts ovate, obtuse, finely stricate.
This is the finest of all the Everlastings, and if picked and carefully kept in a vase, will remain fresh looking for months. Its flowers are large, slightly sweet scented, and pearly white, and are often used for funeral wreaths ; as if to say :
" They are love's best gift. Bring flowers — pale flowers."
YARROW
Achillea lauulosa. Composite Family
Stems: simple, or corymbosely branched above. Leaves: narrowly oblong, bipinnately dissected into numerous small linear divisions. Flowers: in numerous heads crowded in a fastigiate cyme.
A plant, or rather weed, so common that every child knows its large white and pinkish flower-heads and recognizes the disagreeable pungent odour of its lace-like leaves. It is often called " Milfoil " from the abundance of its fringed foUage.
The Yarrow must unquestionably be of ancient origin, for it derives its name Achillea from Achilles, who is supposed to have made an ointment from it wherewith to heal his wounded warriors after the siege of Troy.
OX-EYE DAISY
Cluysajitheniuin LciiLcDithofniin. Composite Family
Stems: glabrous, simple, the branches nearly erect. Leaves: obovate, oblong, coarsely dentate ; stem-leaves sessile, partly clasping, linear, pin- nately incised, the uppemiost very small, nearly entire. Flowers: solitary, or few, on long peduncles ; rays twenty to thirty. Not indigenous.
v\.\vv: xxi\
Ox-Kvi. Daisy
I'l.ATi: \xv
W'lmi-: Hi.ATn ( Cijssiope Mcrtciisiaihi)
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS yq
How many poets have sun<; the jjraise ot the Daisy, from Robert Bums, who described the little English blossom that grows close to the turf as a
•' Wee, modest, crims()n-tii)pe(l flower,"
to Bliss Carman, the clever Canadian writer, who tells how
"Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune
I saw the white daisies go down to tlie sea — A host in the sunshine, a snow-drift in June,
The people God sends us to set our hearts free,"
and in doing so describes the big wild Ox-eve Daisies that mantle the alpine meadows with their showy while petals and golden hearts !
PASTURE WORMWOOD
Arionisia frigida. Composite Family
Steins: simple or branching, silky-canescent and silvery all over, lierba- ceous from a suffrutescent base. Leaves: twice ternately or cpiinately divided into linear crowded lobes. Flowers: numerous racemo.sely di.s- po.sed heads in an open panicle, globular.
All the Wormwoods possess a very strong odour, b\' means of which they may be easily recognized. This species has tiny greenish-yellow flowers growing profusel\- on its leafy, silky stems, while the whole plant is silvery white and covered with softest down.
A. discolor, or Green Wormwood, has green foliage and brownish-green florets, having the same pungent aromatic smell as the silvery species.
A. biennis, or Biennial Wormwood, has also green foliage, and its numerous greenish florets grow in clusters in the a.xils, where the leaves join the main flower-stalk.
8o WHITE TO GREEN
PALM-LEAF COLTSFOOT
Pi'/as/Us pahfiaia. Composite Family
Stems: scaly, stout. Leaves: orbicular in outline, deeply seven-to-eleven cleft, green and glabrous above, densely white tomentose beneath. Flowers: in a fastigiate panicle.
The chief distinction between the different species of Colts- foot lies in the shape of their respective leaves. Those of the Palm-leaf Coltsfoot are exactly like a large palm leaf, while its blossoms are white and very fragrant. The flower-stalks are thick and juicy and covered with small narrow leaves. It has silky -haired seeds like a dandelion.
P. sagittata, or Arrow-leaf Coltsfoot, has huge leaves with two very marked pointed lobes at the base. Its flower-heads grow compactly at the top of very stout stalks, and are white and fragrant.
P. frigida, or Arctic Coltsfoot, has few blossoms, a scaly stem, and very irregularly lobed leaves. The foliage of all the Coltsfoots is green and smooth on the top, and white and woolly underneath. They are coarse uninteresting plants.
WHITE THISTLE
Ciiicus erioccphalus. Composite Family
Stems: loosely arachnoid-woolly, very leafy. Leaves: pinnatitid into numerous crowded, prickly, short lobes. Flowers: sessile and crowded into a leaf-subtended nodding glomerule.
The flowers of these white or cream-coloured Thistles are surrounded by a mass of narrow prickly leaves and are large and handsome.
WHITE HEATH Cassiope Mertensiana. Heath Family
Stems: rather stout, rigid, ascending with fastigiate branches, low- growing. Leaves: glabrous, carinate, and not furrowed on the back, imbricated in four ranks ; corolla five-lobed.
I'l A'I'K XWI
- ^
Si
I'l.Aii; x.w II
Green-Flowkrkd Winjkk.kkkn ^/V,..,. .yuonnr/M) Red W'interc.reen {Pyyo/a asarifolia)
S3
MOUNTAIN Fi.O\\l<:RS g
The beautiful white mountain Ilealh -rows abundantly at hi<;h altitudes and is much i)rized by tra\ellcrs. 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 tij)s 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-hreathin<^ lips, Whence are ye? Did some white-winiccd 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
BiyautJuts glauduliflorus. Pieath Family
Stems: rigid, fastigiately branched. Leaves: numerous, crowded, but .somewhat .spreading, linear-oblong, obtuse, narrowed at the ba.se to a .short petiole. Flowers : corolla short-lobed, glal)n)us.
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, ncLu- which it usually grows.
GREEN-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN
Pyfo/d cJilorantJia. Heath Familv
Stems: three-to-ten flowered. Leaves: small, orbicular, coriaceous, not shining. Flowers: nodding; cal)x-lobes short, o\ate, acute: petals very obtu.se ; stamens declined ; anthers distinctly contracted below the open- ings, with beaked tips; style declined, and curyed u])war(ls towards the apex, longer than the petals.
This Lily-of-the-\ ^alley-like ])lant is found in the dr\- woods amone: the moss, and alwa\s 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 CAREEN
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, w^hich 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\^II, this Green- flowered Wintergreen is shown, together with P. asarifolia, or Red Wintergreen, a description of which is given in the Pink to Red Section.
ONE-SIDED WINTERGREEN
Fyrola sccuiida. 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 jnimv. 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
FLATl'. X.WIII
( ) X i:-S 1 1) i: 1 ) W 1 x r i-: k( . i< i-: i-: x {Pyroia sc'iinii/a)
87
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS S9
either of the two preceding forms. It ma\- always be dis- tinguished from other Pyrolas, even in bud, by the fact that it has a short style, which does not protrude l:)eyond the petals of the gobular blossoms. A slight fragrant scent emanates from its waxen bells.
ONE-FLOWERED WINTERGREEN
Moneses unijiora. 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 live, 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 Cha/ncpjas/nc. 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 Uttle clustered blossoms, that crrow from one to three inches above the soil and fill the
o
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 septoitrionalis. 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
Trie II talis 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
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93
MOUNTAIN FL()\VI:RS
segments are seven, and the stamens seven, while the leaves of the whorl also are usually seven in number, some bein<^ 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
Ro)nanzoffia sitchensis. 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 rovnuled.
One of the most exquisite fragrant alpine i)lants. 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, )-ou will ti nd the creamy
^VH1TE 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.
Romanzoi^a 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 discover)^
WHITE LOUSEWORT
Pediciilaris raccjiiosa. 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 fiowers 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 pcdicnbis.
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 Pediciilaris contorta, or Con- torted Lousewort, a plant very like P. mcernosa^ but having its cream-coloured flowers set singly all the way up on the
I'l.Ai I-: xxxi
CoNTORTKi) Lorsi-.woRr
{Pedicular IS coiitorta)
97
MOUX'IWIX FI.OWKRS gg
slender stalks. Its foliage is tcrn-likc and often tinned with reddish-brown ; long leaves grow out from the base, and small ones are interspersed w^th the numennis blossoms on the stems. The Contorted Louse wort grows at very high altitudes, being usually found at 7000 feet.
COMMON PLANTAIN
riiuitiiii^o major. IManlain Family
Rootstock short, thick, erect. Leaves: spreading, ovate, entire; spike dense, obtuse at apex. Flowers: perfect, proterogynous: sepals broadlv ovate, scarious on the margins. Fruit : py.xis .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. Rugclii, 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
Chcnopodiiiin album. Goosefoot Family
Stems: slender, erect, commonly much branched. Leaves: rhombic- ovate, the upper ones lanceolate, obtu.se 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 beaut}-, since its foliage is of an imusualh- delicate tender green. The white flowers, which grow in dense spikes, are inconspicuous.
lOO WHITE TO GREEN
TALL ERIOGONUM
Eriogoimm u^ibellatum. 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. androsacemn, 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
PolygO)iu)}i 7'iviparu»i. Buckwheat Family
Stems: slender, simple. Leaves: ovate, subcordate, attenuate at base: cauline leaves lanceolate. Flowers: raceme narrowly cylindric, densely flow^ered, 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 XXX II
AlI'IM-: ])IST()KT {/'ohi^u'imiN rn'ipanini) Asphodel {Tofieldia glutinosa)
MOUNTAIN FL0\VE1<
stems, which are sheathed by the stalks of the lon-'-shaj^ed leaves. The flowers are very numerous in the mountains, arc white to rose colour, and grow in dense narrow spikes, which have several little bulbs below the full-blown blossoms. The seeds are red. See Plate XXXII.
A description of Polygonum amphibimn, or Water Persi- caria, will be found in the Miscellaneous Section.
WHITE COMANDRA
Coniandra 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 berrw 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
CoraUorhiza ijuiata. Orchid Family
Root coralloid, branching. Stems: glabrous, clothed with clo.sel\ sheathing scales. Flowers: in long racemes on short minutely hracted pedicels: sepals and petals narrow, lip .short: spur a sac adnate to the summit of the ovary. Fruit : capsule oblong.
I04 WHITE TO CxREEX
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 sapropJiytc ; 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 cJilo- ropJiyll, 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 cJiloropJiyll and only left it sufficient branching- extensions at the base to secure it in the soil.
HEART-LEAFED TWAYBLADE
Lisiera 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
I'l Ai i: xxxiii
Lai)1i:s" IKiissKs
{Spirii nt/it-s A'( >ina h : <'///</ lui )
los
MOUNTAIN F1.()\\1:RS ,q-
yellowish-green, fairly ]arL;c, and po.^^c^s a hn.ad lip with two lobes at the delicate ai)ex.
The Twayblades present a strong contrast t(j the Coral- root. They are conspicuously green and healthy of leaf.
LADIES' TRESSES
Spirauthes Ro)naiizoJ)]aiui. Orcliid Famih-
Root tuberous. Stems: <!:labrous, leafy below, bracted above. Leaves: oblong-lanceolate. Flowers: spike dense, in three rows, conspicu(ni.slv bracted ; perianth white, the petals and sepals all connivent, lip recurved, ovate-oblong, contracted below the narrower wavv-crenulate summit.
This is the last orchid of the season, found chicHv 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 Moiziesii. 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 \eins and treciucnil\ also have white blotches on them. The flowers grow in a bracted spike, are greenish-white, and have a very hairy stalk.
Goodyera rcpcns, or Small Rattlesnake Plantain, has also peculiar white-veined leaves, but in this sjK'cies they grow tip the stalk as well as at its base. The whole plant is smaller than G. Meiiziesii, and its insignificant flt)wers grow only on
io8 wHiiK TO grkp:n
one side of the stem, which is much bracted and hairy. The name " Rattlesnake " appHes to the resemblance between the curiously veined leaves and the body of a snake. This plant frequently grows in decaying wood.
LONG-BRACTED ORCHIS
Habenaria hractcaia. 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 twnce 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
Hahenaria ohtiisata. 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
Habeiiaria 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.
I'I.ah-: xxxiv
Leafy Orchis \^Hahctujrui hyrcrhorca)
Small Orchis {Habemina obtusata)
109
I'l All-: WW
W'lHii. lii)(, Okciiis {IlabcHiUiii i/llatiitii)
MOUNTAIN FT.OWI.RS , , ,
This green Orchis somcwhal resembles //. obfiisntu, l)ul may easily be distinguished by the fad 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 ()i)en woods, ])referring a moist spot. It has many flowers on each stalk, and they grow closely set together.
WHITE BOG ORCHIS
Habenaria dilatata. Orchid Kainilv
Stems: thick, fleshy, one to two feet high. Leaves: lanceolate, obtuse. Flowers: spike long, white, very fragrant, bracted : .sepals ovate, obtu.se: 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 traxellers 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 \ain. tor few^ of the orchids will flourish so far from their natixe soil.
Words fail to truly describe these j^lants of almost unearthly beauty. From their dainty petals
" Odours ascend, Spreadin*^ themselves through the serener air Where gentle breezes strive to lile.ss. And all God"s world knows hai)piness.**
Those who find them will alwa\s lo\e and treasure them.
114 WHITE TO GREEN
There is another very large species of the same genus, much resembUng H. dilatata, but taller, and sometimes growing to the immense height of five feet. It is called H. leitcostacJiys, or Giant Orchis, and, like the Bog Orchis, has snow-white fragrant flowers.
MOUNTAIN LADY'S SLIPPER
CypripediiDii passerini/vi. 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, w^here exotic flowers are set like jewels in the lavish luxuriance of the clement zone.
WHITE TWISTED-STALK
Streptopus ajnplexifolius. 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.
I'l \'i !•: xxwi
WHITK TwiSri-.D-S TAl K {Streptopus atitplcxifoliiis)
I'LAIK XXWII
Sl'lKllNAKI) {S»ii/(j(hi(i s/eV/,i/,i)
MOUNTAIN FL0WP:RS i^,^
This Twisted-stalk is a lar<;c i)lant with many clasping, pointed leaves growin.i;- all the way u}) 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 ycni 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 abrui)tl\' bent flower stems.
For 5. rosens, S. brcvipes, and S. curvipcs 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 ordinar)- eyes looks like a wild Lily-of-the-Valle)', grow near the banks of mountain streams and in the moist meadcnvs. 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 haxing a white six-parted perianth. The leaves are of a whitish-green hue.
I20 WHITE TO GREEN
FALSE SOLOMON'S SEAL
Siuilaciua auiplcxicaulis. 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
Clintotiia ujiiflora. 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
I'l.Al I. WW 11
QUEKN-CUP {Ciiiitoiiia untjiora)
iM.A'rr: xxxix
False Hkllehork
[J'eratrion 7'iridc)
123
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
the forest should be called after so i)n)saiL an indix idual as ilic Governor of New York, and soundly iterates (iray tor the fault; but may not Clinton, the man of affairs, statecraft, and finance, have had an artistic side to his character? Mav 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 u]:)on me in that I have been permitted to name this lovely j^lant — Oueen- 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 ClintLmia uniflora, with its great shining leaves, amongst which are set the pure white chalices of its blossoms, than Oueen-cup, — the queen of all the snowy flower-cups of the alpine forests.
ASPHODEL
Tojieldia glutinosa. Lily Family
Stems: viscid-pubescent with black glands, l)earini^^ two to tour leaves near the base. Leaves: basal ones tufted. Flowers: tenninal racemes oblong, the upper flowers opening first, becomiiiLj Ioniser 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 tin\- white blos- soms which belong to this plant without at once recognizing its name by the exceedingly stick)- and hair\ natine of the stems. The Latin designation glutinosa exactly describes it. The Asphodel grows along the banks of streams and in wet places. See Plate XXXIL
126 WHITE TO GREEN
FALSE HELLEBORE
Veratruui 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 Anatomic of MelancJioIy 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
Stenauthim?! 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.
StKN ANTIIir.M {^Stena)ithiiini lUiiiit'iitaic)
[27
I'l Al I. XI I
'1 AI.l. Z\ (.ADKM'. {Zyx<uh-niis (•/cX(iiis)
\2C)
MOUxNTAIN FLOWKRS
This plant grows only in shady i)laccs and is lall. 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
Zyi^adonis clci^aiis. Lilv l-"anii]\-
Bulb ovoid, membranous, coated. Stems; .slc-iider. Leaves: very ;.,'lau- cous, narrow: bract.s long-keeled, lanceolate, rather lari^a-. Flowers: in a single raceme, or a large panicle, its branches slender, ascending', the perianth adnate to the ba.se of the ovary, its segments broadlv 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 nimiber of brown-lii)pe(l 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 verv large. The leaves of the Tall Zygadene are long and narrow and are coxered with a whitish bloom.
Z. I'cnowsus, or Poisonous Zygadene, is a slighiK' shorter, smaller species of this genus, also frec)uentl\- found in the mountain regions. Its yellowish-green dowers grow iloseU 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 CANADA
SliCTION I I
PINK TO RED FLOWERS
Skctiox II
PINK TO RI£I) I'LOWI-RS
Flo-i'crs that a/r pink to red, or ocidsioiially so, hitt not di'scrihi'd in this .Section
Wind-flower ■incmoiic viiiltijida (White to (Ireen Section)
Stony Rock-cress Irabis Holballi'i (White to Green Section) . .
Alpine Kock-cress . . . Aralns conjiiiis (White to (ireen Section) . . Drummond's Rock-cress . Arains Drummondii (White to Green Section) Spring Beauty .... Claytonia scssitifolia (White to CJreen Section) , White Geranium .... Geranium RicJiardsoni (White to Green Section) Alsatian Clover .... Trifoliiim Jiybridum (White to (Jreen Section) .
Tellima 7V///w<7£^;-a«<///7()rrt (White to Green Section) .
Alpine Aster Aster alpiniis (White to Cireen Section) . . .
Yarrow ^t///7/trt /^w/^/oj^r (White to (ireen Section) . .
Sweet Androsace Indrosace Cliatnajasvie (White to (ireen Section)
Star-flower I'rieuialis Afnericana (White to Green Section)
Buckbean l/(«;77«///e\f /r/^Z/Vr/rz (White to (ireen Section)
Tall Eriogonum .... /:>/('<.'<>;///';« //w/v/A?///;// (White to (ireen Section)
Alpine Bistort /^olyo;oinnn vlviparum (White to Green Section)
Mountain Larkspur . . . Dclpliinium lirounii (Blue to Purple Section) . Wavy-leaved Thistle . . Cnicus iindidatns (Blue to Purple Section) . . Large Purple Beard-tongue Fenstemon Meuziesii (Blue to Purple Section) . Wild Canada Mint . . . Ment/ia Ciiiiadeiisis (HIul- to Purple .*^ection) .
Page
4
I ;
'5
\(^ 2S
74 (^
IOC IOC
if)i
220
-43
24 S
WESTERN COLUMBINE
A (/ui/i-i^id Jorntosa . C i( )\\ I ( x )t V w\w i 1 y
Stems: branchins^ from a .simple, Hcshy, fu.siform root. Leaves: lower ones triternate on lonij petioles, upi)er ones .sessile or reduced to simple bracts: leaflets broadly cvineate, three-cleft. Flowers: red. i)endul()u> in anthesis : sepals spreading' <>r retlexed. abruptly narrowed to a short claw : spurs same length as sepals.
135
136 I'IN'K TO RED
A large gaudy flower of which it has been said :
" The graceful columbine, all blushing red, Bends to the earth her crown Of honey-laden bells."'
The Western Columbine does not seek the light dry soil amongst the rocks, as do its sisters, the Yellow and the Blue Columbines, but prefers a moist habitat, where its brilliant pendulous blossoms make the valleys gay.
It has five bright red and gold petals, growing alternately with its five red sepals. These petals, shaped like inverted cornucopias, are usually edged as well as lined with yellow, their upper ends being narrowed to terminal tubular spurs. Linnaeus gave this plant its generic name, derived from the Latin aquila, owing to the fancied resemblance of its spurs to the claws of an eagle ; while Columbine is taken from coluniba, "a dove," and refers to the resemblance of its nectaries to a circle of doves in a ring around a dish, which was a favourite device amongst sculptors and painters in ancient times. The numerous stamens and long slender styles of the pistils protrude like pretty golden tassels from each flower. The foliage of this tall plant, which usually grows from two to three feet high, is very abundant and fern-like ; dark green on the top, and pale and whitish underneath. The larger leaves grow on long foot-stalks and are divided into three leaflets, which in their turn are three-to-five lobed and have unequally toothed edges.
There are not very many really red mountain wild flowers, and therefore the traveller takes an especial delight in finding the Western Columbine, since, like Eugene Field, he loves a blossom of "any colour at all so long as it's red." It is a plant extremely attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds, which come to sip its sweets.
I'l.vii-: xi II
Wi.si i;kn Coi.r.Mi'.iM;
MOUNTAIN FLOWKRS , ,,^
WILD BLEEDING-HEART
Dicciitra Jor/j/oui. V uni i i( »i y I'aniil v
Stems: from the apex of thick, ahiiost naked, Lieepin- Mxjisiocks. Leaves: twice or thrice ternately compound, the ultimate divisions narrow and incisely pinnatifid. Flowers: pale ma^jenta, in compound racemes at summit of scapes: corolla ovate-C(.rdate, with connivent spurs: petals united up to and above the middle.
This plant resembles, in miniature, the lovelv i)ink and white Bleeding-heart so popular in old-fashioned gardens; but its dull magenta-pink flowers are not nearl\- so allraclive in appearance as those of its beautiful cultivated cousin. The only charm of the wild species lies in the grace of its slender stems, which bear numerous pendent heart-shaped blossoms along their drooping lengths, and its finely dissected foliage.
CAROLINA CRANE'S-BILL
Geranium Caroliniamtiii. (leranium F;imil\"
Stems: erect, much branched from the base. Leaves: j^etioled, reniform- orbicular in outline, deeply cleft into five to nine oblonij, cuneate, lobed segments. Flowers: in compact clusters: |)etals pink, obcordate, eipial- Hng the awned sepals.
This wild Geranium is \-er\- like the Herb Robert, and has the same dull pink flowers \-eined with deej) rose. The Greek name of the plant means "a crane," and the common name Crane's-bill denotes the long grooved beak composed of five styles that coliere at tlie top. The cal\\ is formed of five pointed sepals, and the corolla of fi\e indented ])elals. The whole plant is cox'ered with tine gra\- haiis and has an extremelv strong smell, caused b\- a resinous secretion. Its leaves are roundish in form and deepK' cleft ; the long stalks are brittle and cpiite red where exposed to the simlighl. Sometimes the flowers are white.
40 V\NK TO RED
RED CLOVER
Trifoliuiii pratcnse. Pea Family
Stems : ascending, somewhat hairy ; pistules broadly lanceolate, mem- branaceous, nerved, setaceously acuminate. Leaves: leaflets obcordate, nearly entire. Flowers : heads ovate, dense, nearly sessile, bracteate : teeth of the calvx setaceous, hairy, the lower one much longer than the other four : petals purple-red, all united into a tube at the base. Not indigenous.
Thoreau speaks of the fields blushing with Red Clover "as the western sky at evening." Every one knows the Clover. Every one has walked ankle-deep in meadows rich with its red flowers. Some of us are even fortunate enough to " live in clover," — but not all ! It is a quaint conceit of the Red Clover to fold its leaves in sleep each night, the two side leaflets drooping downwards together and the terminal one bowed over them.
The name Clover probably comes from the Latin clava, meaning ''club," and refers to the possible resemblance between the trefoil leaf and the three-headed club of Her- cules. The "clubs" on playing cards are, no doubt, also an imitation of the clover leaf.
MACKENZIE'S HEDYSARUM
Hcdysanun Mackoizii. Pea Family
Stems: suberect, simple or branched, minutely pubescent. Leaves: five to eight pairs, oblong. Flowers: .seven to thirty, loosely fiowered: bracts subulate : teeth of the calyx as long as the tube.
A bright rose-magenta wild Pea that grows to a height of
two feet in the mountain meadows. It is a large, spreading,
handsome plant.
i'iAlK XI 111
L(.)N(;-l*i.rMi I) A\i;n
{Gcttni trij!oru)it) 141
MOUN'IAIN Fl.OWKRS , ,,
ARCTIC RASPBERRY
Riihus (i/i/ic i/s. Ko.sc l"aiiiily
Stems: erect, l)ranched at base. Leaves: triloliolatc ; IcaHcts sessile, rhombic-ovate, unequally serrate. Flowers: solitary; sepals acute, eciuai- ling the obovate entire petals. Fruit : lii^Mit red, of several drupelets, edible.
A dwarf alpine Raspberry, about six inches hi.i^h, that grows at an altitiido of cSooo feet. It has a few lar-e three- parted leaves and one or two rose-pink llowers composed of six long, widely separated petals. The long thin roots strike straight down into the earth, and therefore when you attem|)t to pick one of these little plants it usually comes up altogether out of the ground in your hand. The Arctic Raspberry has no prickles.
LONG-PLUMED AVENS
Gciijji trifloiiini. Kose Faniilv
Stems: scape simple, three-flowered at the summit. Leaves: basal ones tufted, petioled, interruptedly pinnate, with many small leaHets inter- spersed among the numerous obovate larger ones: leaves of the scape two opposite, small, sessile pairs. Flowers : of five pale purplish-pink petals sur- rounded by a persistent red calyx, tive-bracteolate and five-lol)ed: bract- lets linear, .slightly longer than the lanceolate, acute, erect lobes. Fru:t: head sessile; style tiliform and strongly plumose.
A very curious plant. Its general appearance is tliat ^A bearing three large didl red buds on a three-branched red stem, with a number of little red bracts clustered at the fork; for the pale pink or yellowish i)etLds ai'e so snugl\- hid- den away within the cal\x that nou do not obserxe them at a casual glance. The closed cahx forms these tat buds, which have five slender reflexed ])racts set between their IoIk's, and from their pointed tips protrude a mmiber of \ellow stamens.
When the petals and sepals fall off the long plumose tails that adorn the ripened he-ads of the Axens .are exceedingly attractive.
Manv long finelv cut leaves grow at the base .)f this i)lant.
j^^^^ PINK TO RKD
ROSEWORT
Sediini frii^^idiii/i. Orpine Family
Stems : erect, simple, glabrous. Leaves : oval, obtuse at the apex, den- tate. Flowers: cyme terminal, dense; petals longer than the oblong narrow sepals; staminate flowers with eight stamens, the pistillate ones with four carpels.
The small purplish-red flowers of this short thick plant are set in a cluster at the top of the stems, which are covered with many small leaves. It grows in the crannies between the rocks and on stony slopes.
GREAT WILLOW-HERB
EpilobiiDfi angustifoliuui. Evening Primrose Family
Stems: erect, simple or branched, glabrous. Leaves: alternate, lanceo- late, entire, pale beneath, acute at the apex, narrowed at the base, thin. Flowers: magenta, in terminal spike-like racemes; petals four, entire, spreading.
The tall strong stems of this striking plant rise to an average height of three feet, though frequently taller, and terminate in long racemes of bright purplish flowers, in which the number four is conspicuous, each one having a very long cahx-tube divided into four segments and four large, rounded, wide-open petals. The four-cleft stigma at the apex of the long style is extremely prominent. The mid-ribs of the leaves, the stems, the buds, and the calyx-tubes are all a dull red ; and when the seed ripens the long narrow vessels burst open lengthwise and send afloat in the air clouds of white silky tufts, to each of which is attached a seed that ultimately falls to earth seeking some new spot favourable to its development.
The name Epilobiinn signifies " upon a pod," and probably refers to the fact that the flowers grow on the ends of the long pods. Willow-herb refers to the fact that the leaves resemble those of the Willow.
I'l ATI. XI l\
\\'aii;k \\ii.i.(>\\-Hi;ic
( Kpiiol'iitni liitijolinni )
'45
MOUNTAIN FIX)\\ i:kS
— M7
Wild Jmiv, (.1- I-uv \\\-c(l, is an..ihcr (uninxMi name lur this plant, and a very appn.prialc one, to.., t,.r il is marvellous how quickly these stately, handsome flowers will ever over and beautify those tracts of country that have been charred and desolated by forest hres.
"Strange fiower, tliy inirplc niakini; haslL- To glorify each blackened waste
Of tire-swept land Is with a blessed meaning fraught,
And we — when pain hath fully wrought
Shall understand."'
E. ajignstifoliuni var. camsccns, or ?iid< Willowdierb, is another species resembling the foregoing one, btit having lovely pale pink flowers marked by rose-coloured veins.
WATER WILLOW-HERB
Epilobiuni lati/oliKui. Kvening I'riinrose Family
Stems: erect, branching. Leaves: .sessile, entire, lanceolate, acutish at both ends, thick. Flowers: magenta, in leat^ydjracted racemes; petals
entire; stigma fourdobed.
A very handsome species of Willowdierb, which grows in wet places and marshes, or near water. It mav alwaNs be recognized by its large bright magenta flowers and the'glau- cous appearance of the stems and leaves, — that is to .say, by the whitish bloom which covers them. Hie leaves are also thick and very soft.
ALPINE WILLOW-HERB
KpilohiuDi anaoiillitiifoliio)!. i;\ening Primrose Family
Stems: low, tufted, nodding at the apex. Leaves: oblong, entire, obtuse at the ape.x. Flowers: tew, axillary, clustered at the a|)ex, nodding: stigmia entire. Fruit: .seeds .smooth, short-beaked, coma dingv white.
A tiny dwarf plant, from two to six inches high, growing on lofty summits. It has small magenta or sometimes while
148 PINK TO RED
flowers, which nod at the top of the slender single stems, up which a few pairs of little oblong leaves grow. It has been found at the immense altitude of 10,000 feet.
HORNEMANN'S WILLOW-HERB
EpilobiiDn Hornc»iaiini. Evening Primrose Family
Stems : erect, simple or nearly so. Leaves : short-petioled, ovate, broadly obtuse at the apex, narrowed at the base, entire or remotely denticulate, thin. Flowers: few in the upper axils; stigma entire. Fruit: capsules long : seeds papillose, nearly beakless.
A common species of Willow-herb that grows about eight inches high, bears small purplish-pink or white flowers that are strongly veined, and has very long slender capsules, or seed vessels, on its reddish stalks. The pretty little blossoms are surrounded by a green calyx and surmount the narrow capsules, which are usually from an inch to two inches long.
NORTHERN TWIN-FLOWER
Linncea borcalis. Honeysuckle Family
Branches slender, trailing. Leaves : obscurely crenate, thick, sometimes wider than long. Flowers : two-flowered, nodding ; peduncles slender, erect, two-bracted at the summit ; calyx-tube tive-lobed ; corolla tubular- campanulate, five-lobed.
This lovely fragrant plant, called after the great Linnaeus, the Father of Botany, is a
" Monument of the Man of Flowers,"
who loved its exquisite pink bells above all else in Nature, and who sealed his preference by adopting it as his crest.
There is no more charming spot in the mountains than some sequestered nook or shady bank carpeted and adorned by the delicate trailing branches of the Northern Twin-flower, its glossy green leaves mingling with the moss, and its pale pink pairs of bells, veined and lined with rose colour, growing
PLATK XI,V
149
iMOL'XrAlN ILOWIkS ,-,
in kixish profusion and " _i;cnll\ lo ihc jjassin^ breeze tlit'fusin<; fragTancc." The slender stalks of this \-ine stand up erect, and, forking- near the suniniil. hear on either siile twin-born pendent blossoms of rare loxeliness.
Seeking;- the shade and moisture, this ])lant axoids exposed or sunny })laces, for
-' Beneath dim aisles, in odorous heds, 'I'he slight l.inn.ia hans^s its twin-horn heads."
and reminds us as we <^^ather its <^n-ateful perfumed bells that "sweetest of all thin*j^s is wild-Hower air."
It is widel}' distributed throu,i;hout most northern countries, and is found even within the limits of the Arctic Circle.
SMOOTH-LEAVED HONEYSUCKLE
Lo)iicc)\i i^lauct-SLi-iis. Honeysuckle I'aniiK
Twining, the branches glal)rous. Leaves: chartaceous-niargined, not ciliate, only the upper pair ct)nnate-perfoliate. Flowers: verticiUate in a short, terminal, interrupted .spike ; corolla yellow changing to red, the tube strongly gibbous at the ba.se, the two-lipped limb shorter than the tube ; stamens and style exserted.
A climbing vine, with pairs of smooth leaxes coxered with a delicate bloom growing along its branches. onl\- the upper ones joined together rotmd the stem, which bears at its apex a cluster of red and gold flowers. These blossoms are trum- pet-shaped, and the five stamens and style project beyond the corolla, which is vermilion outside and yellow within. The berry is soft and juicv. Sometimes this vine is called Woodbine, and Shakespeare in his exquisite romance of .-/ Mi(isiiinmcr-\ii:;Jit' s Dream refers to this fact when he makes Oueen Titania say to Bottom the W'eaxer, xvith xvhom the h'airx- King Oberon bas caused her by means of a loxe philter to fall in love :
" Sleej) thou, and 1 will wind thee in niy amis. So doth the woodhine the sweet honeysuckle Cienth- entwist."
152
PINK TO RED
Milton in Lycidas speaks of "the well-attir'd woodbine," and truly, for no "gadding vine" was ever graced with finer or more fragrant flowers.
Spenser calls it by the older name of Caprifolc, or Goat -leaf, because, like the mountain goat, it climbs over almost inac- cessible crags ; the French and Italian names are also similar, being respectively CJicvrc-fcnilk and Caprifoglio.
ROUGH FLEABANE
Erigeron glabcUus. Composite Family
Perennial by a woody root. Stems : simple or branched above, some- times hirsute. Leaves: pubescent, entire, the basal ones spatulate; stem- leaves oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or acute. Flowers: heads several or solitary, involucre hemispheric, hirsute: rays very narrov.^, about one hundred or more.
This charming P'leabane grows in dry soil and bears flow-ers of many hues, — pink, mauve, cream, and w^hite. It has long narrow leaves, which, together wdth the stalks, are hairy.
PINK EVERLASTING
Antoinaria par^'ifoUa 7'ar. rosea. Composite Family
Floccose-woolly, surculose, forming broad patches. Leaves : basal ones spatulate or obovate, white-canescent on both sides ; stem-leaves linear, sessile. Flowers: heads in a terminal capitate or corymbose cluster.
The Pink Everlasting is so conspicuous by reason of its rosy crackling flowers, with their white silky centres and white woolly stems and leaves, that it requires little definite descrip- tion for identification. It has a tuft of procumbent foliage at the base, and all the w^ay up the stem there cling many tiny narrow leaves. Growing from two to twelve inches high, this plant will be found in the same localities as the white species.
IM \i i: \i \i
Ki M (,il I'll AT.. \N 1 (/•;;-/;r;v;/ ;,'/,//r////..)
Morv r.\i\ Fi ()\\ i:k:
DWARF BILBERRY
/ 'acciiiiuni tcrspitosnni . 1 1 ucklcl>Li i \ 1 .uihin
Stems: much branched. Leaves: obovate to cuneatc-ol^Ioii;^, obtuse, thickly scnuhUe, reticulate-veiny. Flowers: corolla ovate. Fruit: larj^e, sweet, blue berry, with a bloom.
The Dwarf Bilhcrn- is really a tiny .shrub, hut is placed in this Section, as it is so sniall that lew j)coi)le would think of looking for it in the Mowerin-- Shrubs Section.
It grows only from three to sc\en inches high, and has many little fine branches thickly co\ered with leaves, which are bright green on both sides. These stem-branches bear numer- ous tmy, bell-shaped, pinkish or white Howers, with the calw five-toothed and about ten stamens. These in time tin-n to sweet blue berries, covered with a rich bloom, and so large as to be out of all proportion to the ])lant.
]^. Myrtillus, or Alpine Bilberry, closely resembles the pre- ceding species, but grows slightly taller and has a verv ])romi- nent mid-rib in its leaves, which latter are extremelv shinv. It also has pale pink or white bells. The berry is black and nodding.
MOUNTAIN CRANBERRY
Vacci)iiu)ii I'itis-Iihca. Hucklcbcrr\- I'amil\-
Branches tufted h-om creeping stems. Leaves: crowded, oval, emari^d- nate, shining above, pale bristly and dark-dotted beneath. Flowers: crowded in a short terminal .secund and no{ldin<.j bracteate raceme.
The most remarkable feature of this low, creejiing, exergreen
shrub is that it has numerous black bristl\- dots beneath the
leaves. The clusters of tiny, wa.xen, jiink bells grow on erect
branches, which sj^-ing from the cree|iing stems and attain to
a height of about eight inches. The i)erries are dark red and
verv acid.
1^5 I'iNK TO RED
Though in reahty a shrub, — which means that it is a woody plant whose stems do not die down to the ground in the winter, — the httle Mountain Cranberry is placed in this Sec- tion, where most readers will look for it.
SMALL CRANBERRY
CvycoLcus -ruli^uin's. Huckleberry Family
Branches ascending. Stems: very slender, creeping, rooting at the nodes. Leaves: thick, evergreen, ovate, entire, the margins revolute. Flowers: umbellate, nodding on erect filiform pedicels; corolla pink. Fruit : berry globose, acid.
A creeping shrub, with alternate leaves that are dark green above and white beneath. It is very delicately formed and resembles a slender trailing vine far more than a shrub, which latter word we are accustomed by common usage to apply only to tall, stout, or bushy plants. The four or five tiny, narrow, pink divisions of the corolla are spread wide open and reveal the anthers converging into a cone, which is extremely prominent when the flower is expanded. The fruit is a round, red, juicy, many-seeded berry. This Cranberry grows chiefly in marshy places and swamps, also along the margins of lakes and pools.
RED BEARBERRY
Arctostaphylos Cva-iirsi. Heath Family
Diffusely much branched, and rooting at the nodes. Leaves: oblong- spatulate, obtuse, tapering into a short petiole. Flowers: few, in short racemes; corolla ovoid, constricted at the throat. Fruit: globose, drupe red, glabrous, containing five coalescent nudets.
Another trailing shrub which is exceedingly handsome ; it grows in depressed patches several feet in diameter, from a single main root. It is usually found creeping over dry gravelly places, and covering the rocks with its bright little evergreen leaves. In the autumn these leaves turn bronze, and lovely scarlet, dry, berrydike fruits gem the spreading branches.
IM.All-: XIA 11
I'lNK l-'.\ i:i<I.As I i\<.
MOUN'l'AlN FLOWKRS i ;;(,
White flushed with rose toloiir ;irc these tiin rounded flowers, constricted at the throat, and ,j;i\in;;- forth a laint sweet odour.
"Oh! to l)e friends with the liehens, the low, ereepin;^ vines and the mosses,
There elose to he ; Gazing aloft at eaeh pine-phmie that airih-, pla\ fuliv t(jsses "Neath the hlue sky."
Doubtless the name Bearlx'rr\ is dei-ixed from the fact that Bruin is very fond of the fruit of the Antostaphylos, though with small game birds, and especialh' _^rouse, it is also a favour- ite article of food. The Indians call it Kiiuiik'iiiic :ind i)ri/.e it for its astringent properties, using it as a metlicine and also in the "curing" of animal skins.
A. alpina, or Alpine Bearberr\-, is a \erv tin\- sjiecies, from two to four inches long, and is foimd gi'owing on mountain summits as high as 7000 feet. It is usually i)rostrate, with thin, conspicuously veined leaves, a few pale pink or white flowers, and bright red juicy berries. This is also a shrub ami in spite of its small size has shredd}' bark.
RED FALSE HEATHER
Bryant]nis c))ipctrifor)iiis. Heath Family
Densely much hranched from thj hase. Leaves: stroni:;ly revolute. thickened and rough margins. Flowers: umhellate, sul)tended hy foha- ceous and rigid hracts : corolla deep rose colour, campanulate, hve-lobed.
The False Heathers — there are no true I leathers indige- nous to this continent — are also low branching shrubs. biU arc placed in this Section for the same reason as arc the small Vacciniums and the Arctostaphylos, namely, because it is here that the traveller will expect to find them, deeming them ordinary flowers and not flowering shrubs.
The BryantJius cuipctrifoniiis grows abundantly in the mountains, and at very high altitudes. It is a wonder! ul sight
i6o PINK TO RED
to see acre upon acre covered with its beautiful bells, until the slopes of the hills and the alpine meadows seem to be literally clothed with a glorious robe of rose-red Heather, whose border is embroidered with the White False Heather and White Heath, the blue Speedwell and the yellow Arnica. Many a traveller knows how true are the lines :
" When summer comes, the heather bell Shall tempt thy feet to rove " ;
and many a man has echoed in his heart :
" Here's to the heath, the hill, and the heather, The bonnet, the plaidie, the kilt, and the feather; Here 's to the heroes that Scotland can boast, May their names never die — that's a Highlandman's toast!"
Truly a love for the Heath and the Heather is common to all nations, and is the especial trait of all mountain climbers.
B. intenncdiiis, or Pink False Heather, is a much rarer plant and is found in comparatively few localities. I first reported it from the Selkirk Mountains in 1901, though it had previ- ously been reported from the Rockies by Macoun, Drummond, and Dawson.
It is easily known to travellers by means of its lovely pale pink bells. The foliage is precisely similar to that of B. enipctri- fonnis, but the flower differs in a few very minor particulars.
SWAMP LAUREL
Kalmia glauca. Heath Family
Branches glabrous, ascending. Leaves: opposite, nearly sessile, linear- oblong, margins strongly revolute. Flowers: in simple terminal umbels; bracts large ; sepals ovate, much imbricated, persistent.
Yet another little shrub placed in this Section. Growing usually about a foot high, though frequently only a few inches tall, it bears at the ends of its slender branches large clusters of bright rose-red or magenta flowers, which have a five-lobed
I'l \ 1 1. \1 \ 111
Ri-.i) Falsi- Hi.aiiikk
[I-!rya>it/iiis cmpctrtformis)
i6i
MOl A r.\I.\ 1'I,()\\I:R;
l<i
corolla and ten slanicns, whose tilanicnts arc sli<;hlly curved, by reason of the red-brown anthers bein«; cau^dit in the ten pouches which are i)hued below the limbs, or expanded lobes of {hcc'(>ro//(r. If you llip the outer ed;;e of the Swamj) Laurel gently with your tini;er, nou will see the little stamens si)ring uprii^ht, sending forth a shower of i)ollen from their anthers in the process. The heart of the flower is usuall)' pale green. Its evergreen foliage is dark green abo\e and covered with a white bloom beneath, which latter characteristic gives it the distinguishing title of g/anca.
The Swamp Laurel, as its common name implies, gnjws in marshy ground.
RED WINTERGREEN
Pyrola asarifolia. Heath Family
Stems : scape six-to-twelve Howered. Leaves : coriaceous, shining ai)Ovc. reniform, wider than long, crenulate. Flowers: racemose, nodding: petals five, obtuse ; calyx five-parted, persistent, the lobes triangular- lanceolate; stamens declined ; style declined and exserted.
The tall red stalk of this Wintergreen, with its numerous nodding rosy blossoms, is exceedingly attractive, especially as it grows in the deep moist woods, where few flowers flourish owing to the absence of all sunlight. \'ery fragrant also is this quaint plant, to which the name of Wintergreen has been given on account of its evergreen foliage. The long out- curved style, which ])rotrudes far bexond the floral lup, is green, and has a dull red stigma, while the ten stamens are tipped b)' dark, slightly beaked anther-sacs. The cal\x is en- tirely of a deep red hue, and the petals are bright coloured at the outer edges, shading into i)alest i)ink in the c-entre. The leaves grow in a cluster at the base and are thick, tough, and glossy. A few narrow little bracts cling to the Hower-stalks.
Sheltered from the wind and the sun, half hidden by mosses and tangled undergrowtli, but always preferring a damj) spot
164 PINK TO RED
to a dry one, the Red Wintergreen grows in close companion- ship with the lovely One-flowered Wintergreen, the Long- bracted Orchis, and the Butterwort ; and if you know the
" Secret paths that thread the forest land,"
you may find them in profusion, mingled at your feet by happy chances, — a gay holiday throng.
BIRD'S-EYE PRIMROSE
Priffiula farinosa. Primrose Family
Leaves: oblong, obtuse at the apex, narrowed at the base, tapering into petioles, the margins crenulate. Flowers: umbellate; bracts of the involucre acute ; calyx-lobes acute, often mealy; corolla salver-form, five- cleft ; stamens five included filaments ; anthers very short, oblong, obtuse.
A tall species of Primrose, with pink, lilac, or very occasionally white flowers, which grow in a cluster at the top of the long stalks and are salver-shaped ; that is to say, the divisions of the corolla spread out flat at the top of the tube and disclose a yellow eye with five stamens forming a dark "pupil " in the centre of it. Hence the name of Bird's-eye. The leaves are long-shaped, being usually mealy white beneath, as denoted in the term farinosa, and all grow in a tuft at the base of the plant, surrounding the long bare flower-stalk, on the top of which a few small bracts will be found just below the blossoms.
P. Mistassinica, or Dwarf Canadian Primrose, is similar to the preceding species, but much smaller, growing only to an average height of four inches, whereas P. farijiosa is usually about ten inches tall. The tiny leaves are all set in a tuft close to the ground, and are rarely mealy underneath ; while the flowers are pale mauvish-pink in colour. Both these Prim- roses grow in very wet places. The generic name. Primula, refers to their early season of blossoming, for, as the poet says :
" Primroses, the spring may love them. Summer knows but little of them."
MOUNTAIN I-I()\\i:ks ,^3^
SHOOTING STAR
Dodccathfon piiUiijlorunt. I'rimrosc Family
Stems; scape glabrous. Leaves: lanceolate, entire. Flowers: segments of the corolla rich purple-pink, the undivided part yellow, with a scalloped ring of deep purple midway between the base of the .segments and the stamen-tube ; stamen-tube yellow ; anthers i)urple.
From two to cii;ht of tbcsc ciuaint i)iir|)lc-])iiik llowcrs, each one on its own individual tiny .stem, <;r()w at the ends of the stout main stalks of the j^lant. Several of these stalks <;row up from every root. With their reflexed i)etals, resembling those of the Cyclamen (which also belongs to the Primro.sc Family), and their queer little j)ointed noses, the Shooting Stars are rather remarkable-looking flowers. They remind one of some bright-winged butterfly ])oised on the apex of a scape. The leaves all grow in a cluster at the foot of the plant and are long-shaped and tai)ering towards the base. Very occasionally the flowers are white. The scientific name is derived from the Greek dodcka, "twelve," and thcos, "g<Kl," thus signifying "twelve gods." Its ai)plication is not very clear, though Linnaeus imagined he .saw in its umbels of bright crowned flowers a little congress of di\inities, and hence named it for an Olympian gathering of the gods.
RED MONKEY-FLOWER
Mi>nulus Lc^.cisii. Figwort Familv
Stems: numerous, pubescent, viscid. Leaves: oblong-ovate to lanceo- late, denticulate, acute. Flowers: peduncles longer than the leaves : calyx long, campanulate, its triangular teeth very acute : corolla with broad throat and bilabiate limb, lobes of the upper lij) obcordate, of the lower lip obovate.
A tall handsome })lant, with ample foliage. The leaves are sharply toothed at the edges and \er\ pointed al the apex; they grow in ])airs, (.-las])ing the stem, and from their axils
1 66 ^^^^ TO RED
spring the slender flower-stalks bearing brilliant magenta blos- soms. Each of these blossoms has a long green calyx, from out of which comes the richly coloured tube, that spreads open into two lips, the upper one being reflexed and two-lobed and the lower one spreading and three-lobed. The throat has two yellow patches inside and is covered with white hairs ; indeed, the whole plant is extremely hairy and sticky, and has a sweet sickly smell.
The favourite haunt of the Red Monkey-flower is some damp hollow, either in marshy ground or on the banks of an alpine stream. Though never actually growing in the water, it may frequently be found flourishing luxuriantly on those little islands so common in the midst of mountain rivers, where, sheltered by other large moisture -loving herbs, it attains a height of from one to two feet.
Mimuhis is the diminutive of the Latin viimiis, meaning " a mimic actor," and alludes to the laughing face of the flower, which appears to shoot out its ripe red lips in mockery at the traveller as he passes by, opening its mouth in a droll grimace that displays its yellow throat. Hence also the common name Monkey-flower, given in allusion to the ape-like pertness of the plant's appearance. Thus man has set a " cap and bells " upon the Mimulus and appointed it buffoon to the Court of Nature.
RED INDIAN PAINT-BRUSH
Castilleia septentrioualis. Figwort Family
Stems: simple. Leaves: alternate sessile, undulate or crenate, the lower ones linear, the upper ones lanceolate, acuminate ; bracts oblong, oval, obtuse, as long as the sessile flowers. Flowers: in dense, terminal, leafly-bracted spikes ; corolla tubular, very irregular, not longer than the calyx, its limb bilabiate ; calyx tubular, cleft on both sides to about the middle, usually again two-cleft.
This flower, though actually of a pale greenish-yellow colour, is almost entirely enfolded in a long, tubular, greenish calyx, so
I'l All: XI. IX
1\.K1> M»)NKI-.\-l- l.<»\\ l.K {Mi /nil /lis /.tuisii)
167
MorxTAiN FLOW i:rs
169
that it i^ ihu-tly c (»nsi)iciinu> In ica^<Mi , ,| us lar;;c ^^or^^couslv coloured bracts of pink, rose, scarlet, crimson, or orange (and sometimes white), and therefore 1 have i)laced it in the Pink to Red Section, for it is here that most j)eoi)le will look for it, as only botanists are e\er likel)- to i;uess that it is not in reality a <^^audy fiower.
The Red Indian Paint-brush is the only ali)ine wild llower that really rivals the scarlet geranium of our cultivated gardens, and no grander sight may be seen by travellers than where from "tree-line," close to the coiy^c of the eternal snows that enfold the towering mountain tops, down into the deep green heart of the valleys, the slopes and steei)s are clothed with a marvellous mantle of vermilion and golden Casfiihids. As the sunlight flames across these royal-robed hills every blossom blooms and burns \\nX.\\ effulgent glor\-, until
'' Earth 's crammed with Heaven, And every common hush afire with (/od."
No words can describe the brilliant beauty of such a scene, far from uncommon at the higher altitudes, where man\- species of Castilleia thrive abundantly, and vou ma\- walk for miles across meadows and banks whereon the Paint-brushes and Painted-cups (or P^lame-flowers, as the\- are sometimes called) run riot in magnificent ]:)rofusion. Ever\- colour, everv shade from coral pink to cardinal, from canarx tint to tangerine, is grow- ing and blowing on either hand, with here and there a single snowy spike to emi)hasize the sj')lendid conflagration of colour.
It is wonderful to note that all this carmine and gold is not lavished on the corolla of the Hower at all, but onl\- on the bracts, which are set below each insignificant blossom, from whose cleft tube the long i^istil protrudes. The ]->lant grows from six inches to two feet high and the lea\es ha\e waxy or scalloped margins.
The Castillcias are jxirasitic on the roots ^A other plants; that is to say, they sometimes fasten their roots ui)on those
I70 PINK TO RED
of their neighbours and thus prey upon juices already partially assimilated. They have not, however, as yet become hardened thieves ; if they had, they would have lost their leaves and green colouring matter (chlorophyll), for every plant that turns pirate is punished by Nature, and branded for all the world to see, by being gradually deprived of its foliage and its honest hue. But the Castilleia is only guilty of petty larceny, being but a partial parasite, and so far it is the botanist, and not Nature, who has denounced its backsliding.
C. pallida^ or White Indian Paint-brush, much resembles the preceding species, but its flowers and bracts are always greenish-white, cream colour, or palest yellow. It is a small short plant, with slender stems and tiny narrow leaves, and it only grows at very high altitudes.
Though this species properly belongs in the White to Green Section, it is placed here for greater convenience.
BRIGHT PAINTED-CUP
Castilleia f/iiniata. Fig wort Family
Stems: numerous and tufted on a short rootstock, mostly simple and strict. Leaves: lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire. Flowers : spikes short and dense ; corolla long ; galea exserted, longer than the tube, the short lower lip protuberant and callous with short, ovate, involute teeth.
The leaves of the Bright Painted-cup are entire; that is to say, their margins form an unbroken line and are not wavy, nor have they uneven rounded teeth like those of C. septen- tj'ioiialis. The corolla is very pale in colour, but the bracts are nearly always red or magenta.
Thoreau speaks thus of the prairie species :
" The Painted-cup is in its prime. It reddens the meadow, — Painted- cup meadow. It is a splendid show of brilliant scarlet, the colour of the Cardinal Flower, and surpassing it in mass and profusion. I do not like the name. It does not remind me of a cup, rather of a flame when it first appears. It might be called Flame-flower, or Scarlet-tip. Here is a large meadow full of it, and yet very few in the town have
I'l.ATi: I
\\ < ton Jil. io.NN {Pedicultiris briutc-osii)
«7>
iMorxTAix i-i r)\vi:ks ,-. ' / J
ever seen it. It is .startling to sec a leaf tlius hrillianlly painted, us if its tip were dipped into some scarlet tincture surpassing most Howers in intensity of colour."
These words are ec|uall\- applicable to the mountain Cas- tillcias. Trill)- the i;i()rious Ho\ver-sj)ikes of the Paint-brushes and Painted-Clips are like toni;iies of tlanie that run burning through the herbage of the hillsides.
" Scarlet tufts Are glowing in the green like flakes of fire."
And when we see them in theii- losal radiance we remem- ber how the ancients once worshipped the (iod of I-'iie — and understand.
C. Bradburii, or Bradbury's Painted-cup, ma\- ])e recog- nized by its leaves, whieh are large and cleft above the middle into three or five unequal lobes, the centre one l)eing «)blong and rounded at the apex, and the lateral ones narrower.
" Flowers that with one scarlet gleam Cover a hundred leagues, and seem To set the hills on hre."
LONG-BEAKED PEDICULARIS
Pedicidaris Gr(r)daudica. Figwort l-"amilv
Stems: simple, erect. Leaves: alternate, lanceolate in outline, aculc, pinnately parted into lanceolate incised segments, the lower petioled. the upper sessile. Flowers: spike very dense, long; calyx five-toothed: corolla the galea produced into a filiform beak.
This Pcdicularis has slender, rather brittle, red stalks, which are clothed with many small, fcrn-likc. reddish leaxes, and a group of tall fringed foliage grows uj) about it from the grouml. It is a tall plant, often attaining a height ol eighteen iiuhes. and its terminal spikes are long and denseh flowered with tiny dull red blossoms, which have a toot lied calyx that is nearly as long as the tooth of the corolla. The corolla is two- lipped, the upi^er lip, or galea, being conca\e and ha\-ing a long thread-like beak, while the lowei- one is three-lobed.
174 I'lNK TO RED
WOOD BETONY
Pediciilaris bracteosa. Figwort Family
Stems: stout, high, erect, simple. Leaves: linear in outline, the radical ones petioled, pinnate, the oblong leaflets pinnately parted, the segments incisely dentate, cauline broader in outline; bracts ovate, shorter than the flowers. Flowers: spike cylindrical, very dense; calyx sparsely pil- lose ; corolla ochroleucous, the tube equalling the calyx ; galea longer and larger than the lower lip, its cucullate summit slightly produced at the entire edentulate orifice, but not beaked.
A tall coarse plant, with handsome, green, fern-like foliage, but clumsy uninteresting flowers. On the top of the stout reddish stems grow large, hairy, bracted spikes, with many small dull red flowers, which resemble a parrot's beak, with their raised hooded upper lips and small lower ones. These flowers are subtended by conspicuous bracts, hence the name bracteosa.
The Romans had a proverb, " Sell your coat and buy Betony," and another old saying was, " May you have more virtues than Betony." Antoninus Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, wrote in high praise of its powers, stat- ing that it would cure forty-seven of the ills to which human flesh is heir.
Franzins, in his History of Brutes^ alludes to its healing virtues for animals. He says of the stag, "■ When he is wounded with a dart, the only cure he hath is to eate some of the herbe called Betony, which helpeth both to draw out the dart and to heale the wound."
Sir William Hooker is our authority for saying that the common name is a corruption of Bcntonic, ben meaning "head," and ton '* good " or *' tonic."
PL.vii: 1.1
Flv-Si'ottki) ()K(mr
{Ore /lis rotiindifoliii)
MOUNTAIN IIOWI
CALYPSO
Ca/ypsfl hortuilis. Orchid Family
Stems; with two or three membranaceous sheaths, and a linear bract at the summit. Leaves: leaf solitary, i)roadly ovate, petioled. Flowers; drooping, pedicelled ; sepals and petals lanceolate, acuminate, long lip inflated, saccate, with two short spurs below the apex.
A solid bulb and coralloid roots, a sin«;ic stem sheathed bv two or three loose bro\vnish-<.^reeii scales and surmounted b\ a single narrow bract, a solitary broad leaf at the base, and a single lovely mauvish-pink orchid bloomini;- at the summit, — such is the Calypso.
The sepals and petals of this daint\- flower are like fairy wings, its large sac, striped and mottled with deep rose C(jlour and variegated with yellow spots, tufted b\' fine white liairs, resembling the body of some gay insect ; tluis the l)lossniii appears to be poised lightly u]X)n its stem like a beautiful butterfly ready to flutter awa)' at our aj^proach. This effect is heightened by the fact that it grows in the deep cool for- ests, where its exquisite fragrant flowers form the only si")ots of vivid colour and where it is sheltered by the vines and mosses that cluster together in th(^se damp shad\- places that are the favourite haunts of this orchid.
When Mrs. Hemans wrote
'' There 's not a flower but shows some touch, In freckle, freck, or stain. Of His unrivalled pencil,"
she must have had in mind the marvellous painted slipper of the Calypso, for its delicate veinings in finely j)encilled |ut- tern are surely the wonderful work of the (ireat Master-hand. The name Calypso denotes that the plant is dedicated t<^ the ancient goddess of that name.
178 PINK TO RED
FLY-SPOTTED ORCHIS
Orchis rotundifolia. Orchid Family
Stems: slender. Leaves: leaf solitary, orbicular to oval, with one or two sheathing scales below it. Flowers: spike two-to-ten flowered, subtended by small bracts ; sepals lateral ones spreading ; petals similar to the sepals ; lip longer than the petals, three-lobed, the middle lobe larger, dilated, notched at the apex ; spur slender, shorter than the lip.
A lovely pale pink orchis, with a single roundish leaf grow- ing at the base and roots composed of fleshy fibres. The clusters of flowers are slightly^ fragrant. Each blossom has a large, protruding, flat lip of palest pink, spotted with rose or purple, and divided into three lobes, the centre one being notched. A wing-like sepal stands out on either side, and the small petals and sepals are all pink, the arched petal that is bent down over the stamens being spotted with rose-purple like the lip. It is found in moist places and grows to full per- fection where very wet ground combined with a full exposure to the sun is possible.
PINK LADY'S SLIPPER
CypripediujH acaiile. Orchid Family
Stems: scape pubescent. Leaves: two large basal ones elliptic, thick, one small leaf on scape. Flowers: solitary; sepals lance-shaped, spread- ing, the two lateral ones united under the lip; lip very large inflated sac, pink with rose veins, the upper interior crested with long white hairs.
A rare treasure, so beautiful in hue, so very fragrant! Only a single drooping flower grows at the top of each scape, hav- ing a large pink sac that is split open in front and merely folded close together, in which particular it differs from the yellow and the white species. A long narrow sepal spreads out on either side of the lip, and both the sepals and petals are greenish or purplish.
" Graceful and tall, the slender drooping stem. With two broad leaves below, Shapely the flower so lightly poised between,
I'LATK MI
Ms ( . \l\l K {Allitttn rciiir-iitinn )
'79
MoiNiAiN ii.ow i;r.^ j^I
This \crsc aplly describes the tra<;raiU I'mk Lacl\ 's Slijjper, or Moccasin Mower, as it is otlen called, — a rare species which is absolutely unmistakable, if only by reason of its sweet odour and rich and lovel)- hue. The stamens are united in a declined column, carryini;- an anther on either side, and there is a long, triangular, dilated, sterile stamen arching over the summit of the broad three-lobed stigma.
The name Cypripciiium comes from the Greek, and means Venus's sock or buskin. Trul\- this lovely i)ink slipper is tit to adorn the foot of the Queen of Ik-autv.
PINK TWISTED-STALK
Strcptopus rost'us. Lil\- i'amily
Stems: from a short stout rootstock covered with fibrous roots, simple or sparingly branched. Leaves: lanceolate to ovate, abruptly acuminate, sessile by a broad, rounded, clasping base, the margins finely ciliate. Flowers: peduncled. segments of the perianth lanceolate, the tips spread- ing. Fruit : a red oval berry.
This plant is a near relatioii of .V. aniplcxifolius described in the White to Green Section. It differs from the forego- ing, however, in se\-eral essential jKu-ticulars. In the first place, it is a smaller plant, has dull i)uri)le-pink pendent bells, and is nearly always one-flowered. Idien, too. the tiny pedun- cles are not shar]d\- twisted as in .S. iU)iphxifolius, but bend downwards in a graceful cur\e. The rosyduied bells are cjuite hidden beneath the leaves and may be seen only when the long stems are turned over. These bells are streaked outside and lined inside with deep rose colour.
There are two other s))ecies of Pink l\visted-stalk in the mountains, — one called S. curvipcs, or Curxed Twisted-stalk, and the other .S". brcvipcs, or Short-stemmed Twistetl-stalk. a very small jdant which commonlx' grows lar west.
1 82 WHITE TO GREEN
PINK GARLIC
Alliitni recuri'Litiiifi. Lily Family
Bulbs clustered on a short rootstock, narrowly ovoid, with a long neck. Stems: scape slender. Leaves: linear, channelled, or nearly flat. Flowers: umbel many-flowered, nodding, subtended by two short decid- uous bracts; perianth segments ovate, acute ; stamens and style exserted.
These clusters of tiny pink flowers, which grow on long slender stalks that bend over abruptly at the top (hence the name recurvatimi), are characteristically odorous, as may be readily understood, since allium is the Latin for "garlic." From ten to forty flowers form the umbel upon each stalk, and both the awl-shaped stamens and the style protrude far beyond the segments of the perianth.
The leaves are long and extremely narrow, in fact grass- like, being channelled or flat and terminating either in a blunt or a fine point.
MOUNTAIN WILD TLOWERS OF CANADA
Section 1 1 1 BLUE TO PUKPLL FLOWIIRS
Section 1 1 1 BLUE TO Pl'RrLI: !• I.()\\i:i<S
Fhnocrs tJiat arc bhw /o purple, or occasioiuilly so, hut no/ described in this Section
pAr.E
Wild Heliotrope . . . . / W<;-/V?;/r7 .fv/-(?/'/V<7 (White to Green Section) ... 67 White Heliotrope . . . /'(?/<;-/V7;/(f .c/ViZ/e^j/y (White to fJreen Section) ... 67
WILD CLEMATIS
Clematis Colunihiana. Crowfoot Family
A trailing and partly climbins; vine. Leaves: trii'oliolate ; leariets thin, ovate, acute, more or less cordate, slightly toothed or entire : petioles slender. Flowers- solitary; sepals thin and translucent, strongly veined, silky along the margins and the veins : petals spatulate : styles per- sistent, plumose throughout.
The large lox'elv flowers of the Wild Clenialis are attract- ive by reason of their four or the bii;" i)uri)le-blue sei)als, for their petals are very small and ineonspicuous. surrounding the numerous yellow stamens. When in fruit this i)lanl is also in- teresting, as the fine feathery styles foini siUery heads, the long plumes of which are delicateh entwined.
Its slender leaf-stalks are the means by which the Clematis climbs and clings to bushes, trees, and rocks, festooning with graceful garlands evervthing that comes in its way and delight- ing the traveller's eye with its wide-sj^read. semi-lransi)arent, prominently veined flowers. The lea\es are formed ot three small, deeply veined leaflets, which grow on slim, rather woody stems.
.85
1 86 BLUE TO PURPLE
This plant is a constant ornament to the alpine woods during the summer months, for when its true flowering season is past the pretty green foliage and large tufts of feathery seeds still render it an object of admiration.
PASQUE FLOWER
Anemone Nitttalliana. Crowfoot Family
Stems : erect, villous with long silky hairs. Leaves : ternately divided, the lateral divisions two-parted, the middle one stalked and three-parted, the segments deeply cleft into linear acute lobes. Flowers: developed before the leaves ; sepals five to seven ; petals none. Fruit : achenes compressed, pointed, ending in long feathery tails.
The most remarkable feature of this large purple Anemone is that it blossoms before its foliage is developed. Frequently you will find lovely specimens of these flowers in full bloom, standing up very straight on their thick downy stalks, while the leaves, which are finely dissected, are still folded up in soft silkiness about the base of the plant. The five to seven sepals are pale purple outside, but almost white inside, and are extremely soft and silky, while below them on the stalk grows a circle of very hairy leaflets. Inside the floral cup are numerous yellow stamens clustered close together round the green carpels.
As time passes the stalks elongate, the purple flowers fall off, and the seeds are formed. Then the heads present a lovely plumose appearance, for to each seed is attached a long silky tail, the whole forming a pretty feathery tuft.
I'l am: I 111
I'l.Aii: I i\
l'.\s( K I. I'l ( 'W I H
{.1 >ic'//ii>fu- .\'ntt(i//i<iiia)
I So
MOUNTAIN FI,()\\i:kS ,^
BLUE COLUMBINE
Aquilt'gia hrcvistyla. Crowfoot Family
Stems: slender, erect, branchi^,i,^ Leaves : basal ones biternatc. lobed and crenate: stem-leaves few, nearly sessile. Flowers: small, nodding', blue and white: sjnn-s short.
The smallest of the mountain Columbines, it may easily be recognized by its mauvish-blue and cream\- blossoms and its very short styles. It is a more compact and therefore less graceful flower than A.fonnosa or A. Jlaviscius.
The Columbine was hrst introduced into England from the Virginia Colony in the reign of Charles I, when a \-oimg botanist sent it as a gift to the great Tradescant, gardener and herbalist to the King.
MOUNTAIN LARKSPUR
Deiphiniu}>i Bro'iciiii. Crowfoot Family
Stems: tall from a fascicle of thick roots. Leaves: numerous, mostly orbicular in outline, five-to-seven parted, the lower into cuneate and the upper into narrower-cleft and laciniate divisions, petioled. Flowers: racemes many-flowered on short erect pedicels.
The tall Mountain Larkspur is a very handsome plant. It is nearly always a rich purple hue, but \er\- occasionally it bears white or pinkish-mauve blossoms. Standing from one to six feet high, these Dclphi}iiums (so called from their fancied resemblance to a dolphin) may be found in immense (.juanti- ties in the high alpine meadows, tlieir long tlower racemes towering up above a mass of deeply cleft dark green foliage. Each flower grows on a tiny upright stalk attached to the main stem, and has four small whitish j^etals, the ui)i)er pair smooth and developed backwards, and enclosed in the spur ot the calyx, and the two lower ones deeply notched and \ery hairy. The sepals are five in number and of a lovely intense blue colour; the top one is prolonged at the l)ack into a hollow spur, and the others are plain.
192 BLUE TO PURPLE
This plant is also called Monkshood, the reason wherefor may readily be seen.
D. Colu7nbianum, or Blue Larkspur, is a smaller species growing only from six to eighteen inches high and having few leaves and fewer flowers on its hairy stems. Though usually
•' Blue as the heaven it gazes at,"
this Larkspur has sometimes white blossoms marked with purple veins.
EARLY BLUE VIOLET
Viola cognata. \^iolet Family
Acaulescent. Rootstocks short and thick. Leaves: long-petioled, cor- date, with a broad sinus, the early ones reniform, the later ones acute or acuminate, crenately toothed. Flowers: large; petals villous at base; spur saccate.
This large Early Violet is really of a true violet colour, though it is commonly called "Blue"; it grows most luxuri- antly in very moist ground, usually on the low banks of streams or in the marshes, for it is there that
" The purple violets lurk, With all the lovely children of the shade."
Poets have ever loved and praised the Violet. The Bard of
Avon sang of how
" Violets blue, And lady-smocks all silver white, And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight";
later causing Oberon to relate :
" I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows."
Milton told of the
" Violet embroidered vale " ;
i'l.AIK 1 \-
.Mol NIAIN I.AKKsl'l !■ ( Dt'lp h ill ill III />'/•< '7. ' // / / )
193
''i-AJI, JAI
•95
MOUNTAIN ILOWI.R
and Scolt (.lainicd thai
"The violet in her ^^reeiuvood howL-r.
Where birchen houglis with ha/.el mingle, May boast herself the fairest flower In forest ij^lade or copsewood dini^le."
Long before Shakcsj)caro's (la\-, bowcvcr, ihc ancient Arabians sani;- its praise. It was the faxoiirite Howcr of Mahomet, just as it was tliat of Nai)ole(»n in modern limes, and has since become the emblem of the Honapartisls, who still wear it as a token of their dexotion to a lost cause, remembering, perhaps, Shakespeare's j)ro\erb that
" \'iolet is for faithfulness."
No legitimist in h^'ance will e\'er wear these tlowers.
The Early Blue Molet has h\e large petals that are hairv at the base, the lower one being marked with a tiny, dark- veined yellowish-white patch on its fate, and i)rotruding at the back into a small rounded spui". The leaxes are broad and conspicuously veined, man\' of them being folded inwards when young.
K adimca, or Dog \^iolet, is a smaller dark piu'|de or while species which grows on dr\' ground and sends out runners that bear many blossoms.
MOSS CAMPION
Sill' III- iiiiiulis. rink family
Closely cespitose. one to two inches hiLjh. Leaves: linear, crowded. Flowers: small, solitary, suhsessile or slit^htly r.iised on naked curved peduncles; calyx narrowly campanulate : petals purple ««r wliit--. <>!>- cordate.
The Moss Cam])ion will onl\- Ik- found by those wlio climl) to great altitudes, for it alwavs grows near the highest sinn- mits of the moimtains and has been iliscoxered at the immense elevation of 10,000 feel. It is a dwarf arctic-al|>ine plant.
198 BLUE TO PURPLE
The tiny leaves, which are very numerous and extremely narrow and pointed, distinguish it from Saxifraga oppositi- folia, or Mountain Saxifrage (see page 213), which has similar flowers but distinctly broader leaves.
Close to the eternal snows, where the last line of vegetation grows prostrate upon the earth, so rare the air, so scarce and poor the soil,
" There, cleaving to the ground, it lies With multitude of purple eyes Spangling a cushion green like moss."
Surely Wordsworth must have found the Moss Campion amongst his beloved Grasmere Hills, otherwise he could not have penned so perfect a description of its starry flowers with their five purple or very occasionall)- white petals wide-blown by the mountain breeze.
The Moss Campion has a very large tap-root, and springing from it are the slender branching stems, which form dense tufts from six to twenty inches in diameter and resemble a coarse moss. Down into these tufts the flowers are closely set.
WILD FLAX
Liniun Lewisii. P^lax Family
Stems: slender, erect. Leaves: crowded, sessile, oval-linear, acute. Flowers: on long pedicels; sepals oval, obtuse; petals five, large, blue, fugacious.
A slender dainty plant, which bends and bows to every
passing breeze, and bears terminal clusters as well as racemes
of lovely cerulean flowers.
'• Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax,"
wrote Longfellow, and if you once see the wonderful blue of these blossoms you will well understand the compliment intended, for they are a marvellous colour, and so frail and translucent that they wither at a single touch, while the deli- cately veined petals fall almost as soon as they develop into
IMAIi: lAII
Wild Flax
{Li>ium Lc-icisii)
199
I All-: lAH!
Asci:Ni)iN<i Viirrii {AsfranroZ/ts tJt/sit/xefis)
201
MOUNTAIN FLOWKRS
the perfect flowers; the stems, on the contrary, thou-h shm, are remarkably touoh. A really blue flower' is a rarity in the mountains. There are mans- mauves, heliotropes, violets, purples, and lilacs, but few true blues.
The word linuni comes from the C\'ltic word ////, mcanin-" '* thread," and from it also is derived the En-iish word " linen," together with all its variations. The seeds oi the Flax con- tain oil.
ASCENDING VETCH
Ast^'agalns adsuroens. Pea Family
Stems: rather stout, a.scending or decumbent. Leaves: odd-pinnate; leaflets oval to linear-oblong, obtuse, fifteen to twenty-five, peduncles exceeding the leaves. Flowers: erect, in short dense spikes : tube of the calyx long-campanulate, twice as long as the setaceous teeth, subvillous with partly black hairs; petals clawed; standard erect, ovate; wings oblong ; keel obtuse. Fruit : pods erect, sessile, coriaceous.
This is a common species of purple Vetch in the mountain regions. It has much foliage, composed of from fifteen to twenty-five tiny oblong leaflets borne on each of the leaf-stalks, which branch from the main stems. The flowers grow in dense roundish heads, and the little leaflets are rounded and entire at the apex.
Each individual flower, like many of those of the Pea lamiK-, is composed of five irregular petals, the large upper one, called the standard, being turned backwards when in full bloom, antl the two side ones forming wings, while the two lower ones are united to form a kind of pouch, called the keel, which encloses the stamens and style.
The traveller will note that an easv wav to distinguish Astragalus adstu-gens from O.vyfropis riscidd (which it much resembles) is by observing two things. In the first place, the flower-stalks of the Astragalus branch out from all parts of the main stems of the plant, together with the leaf-stalks ; whereas the flower-stalks of the Oxytropis are naked and grow directly
204 BLUE TO PURPLE
up from the base of the plant. In the second place, the keel of the Astragalus flower is rounded, whereas that of the Oxy- tropis is very pointed.
A. Jiypoglottis, or Purple Vetch, very closely resembles the preceding species, but may be distinguished from it by the fact that its leaflets are indented or notched at the tips, whereas those of the Ascending Vetch are slightly rounded and per- fectly entire.
A. alpiniis, or Alpine Vetch, is a dainty pale mauve species, with small loosely flowered heads and delicate foliage. It is frequently found at very high altitudes.
A. Macounii, or Macoun's Vetch, is a tall plant with sparse foliage and a few long loosely flowered heads of pale mauve, or white tinged and edged with mauve. The stems grow very erect and are quite slender. It usually is found in rocky places.
A, convallariiis, or Slender Vetch, is a lovely fragile species, quite unmistakable by reason of its very fine gras.s-like stems, tiny, narrow, silky leaflets, and little, scanty, pinkish-mauve blossoms, that grow far apart in long slender racemes, giving the plant a beautiful feathery appearance.
INFLATED OXYTROPE
Oxytropis podoaDpa. Pea Family
Acaulescent, or nearly so, villous-pubescent. Leaves: pinnate; leaflets linear, obtuse. Flowers: peduncles one-to-two flowered, scarcely exceed- ing the leaves ; calyx densely dark-pubescent : petals clawed ; standard erect ; wings oblong ; keel erect, its apex mucronate. Fruit : pods much inflated, ovoid, sessile in the calyx.
An arctic and alpine plant, which grows only from one to four inches high and has violet flowers and tiny very hairy stalks and leaves. The main stems grow partly underground and are imbricated, — that is to say, they are covered with numerous small overlapping leaves ; but the pods are the most noticeable feature, being abnormally large and inflated. This plant is frequently found growing flat upon the ground.
PI All-: I. IX
Al.l'lM. \l. It il
205
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 20"
ALPINE OXYTROPE
Oxytropis viscida. Pea Family
Stems: viscid-pubescent. Leaves: odd-pinnate; leaflets in numerous pairs, oblong-lanceolate, somewhat acute. Flowers: peduncles lon^^'er than the leaves ; spikes subcylindrical ; teeth of the calyx subulate, about the length of the tube ; legumes short, terete, acuminate.
As remarked before, Oxytropis differs from Astragalus in having flowers with very pointed keels and lon<; naked flower-stalks that grow up directly from the base of the plant ; also its flower-spikes are more elongated than those of the Ascending and Purple Vetches, which are roundish. The Alpine Oxytrope is a hairy, rather sticky plant, and bears blossoms of many shades of gray -blue, violet, mauve, puri)le, and creamy white.
SHOWY OXYTROPE
Oxytropis splendens. Pea Family Densely silvery, silky villous, acaulescent, tufted. Leaves: long, erect ; leaflets very numerous. Flowers: in dense spikes; peduncles exceeding the leaves. Fruit: pods ovoid, erect.
This plant is rightly named the Showy Oxytrope, for its handsome bright purple-blue or purple-pink flowers, growing in dense spikes on the top of the long straight stalks, and its quantity of silvery silky foliage render it a remarkablv hand- some member of the Pea Family. The whole ]:»lant, inclutling the stalks, leaves, and calyx, is extremely woolly.
PURPLE HEDYSARUM
Hedysarum boreal e. Pea Family
Stems: erect, glabrous, generally simple. Leaves: odd-pinnate, siunt- petioled ; leaflets oblong, obtuse, and often mucronate at the apex. Flowers: in long loose racemes, deflexed.
A tall purple species of Hedysarum with very narrow loosely flowered racemes and rather large leaflets. The while species,
2o8 BTXTE TO PURPLE
H. boreale var. albijioriivi, referred to in the White to Green Section, bears rather finer blossoms, its racemes being more closely flowered. In Plate LX the tall flower in the centre is the White Hedysarum, the one to the left being a specimen of the Purple Hedysarum.
COW VETCH
Vicia Cracca. Pea Family
Stems: tufted, slender, weak, climbing or trailing. Leaves: pinnate, tendril-bearing, nearly sessile ; leaflets eighteen to twenty-four, linear, obtuse, mucronate ; peduncles axillary. Flowers: in spike-like dense racemes, reflexed. Not indigenous.
A lovely climbing or trailing Vetch, with dense spike-like racemes of deep purple-blue flowers and quantities of delicate foliage ; the leaves, which are pinnately divided into numerous tiny leaflets, having thread-like tendrils at their tips.
V. Americana^ or American Vetch, has the same nearly sessile pinnate leaves and slender weak stems as the preced- ing species. It also climbs and trails over every bush and shrub in its vicinity, clinging to them by means of its tiny tendrils ; but it differs entirely from V. Cracca in its flowers, which are larger, more mauve in hue, and grow in a scant}-, \ery loose fashion, as opposed to the dense spike-like racemes of the Cow Vetch.
To see the mountain woods blued by these two graceful plants recalls Emerson's reference to how
" The milHon-handed Painter pours Opal hues and purple dye "
out upon the flowers of the forest
The Astragalus, Oxytropis, Hedysariini, and Vicia all belong to the Pea Family, and therefore their flowers are all papil- ionaceous ; that is to say, they have irregular butterfly^-shaped blossoms.
I'lAl 1. I X
PURPLK HkDVSAKI M {//cJySiUUhi /v7V.;.c) White HedVSARUM {//eiiysant/n boreale Tar. albijiorum)
209
I'l.vn: i.xi
Cow X'KTCll
MOUNTAIN KI.OWKKS
MOUNTAIN SAXIFRAGE
Saxij'raga oppositifolia. S;i.\ilra<;c Family
Stems: prostrate, densely leafy. Leaves: sessile, ovate, nearlv orbicu- lar, persistent, keeled, tieshy, opposite or imbricated in four rows, the margins ciliate. Flowers: solitary, nearly sessile; calyx-lobes obtuse, much shorter than the obovate purple i)etals.
The simple description of Silcnc acaiilis, or Moss C'ami)ion, given on page 197, is applicable in several i)arl:culars lo this Mountain Saxifrage, which is also a dwarf arctic-alpine fjower and only grows at great altitudes. The chief difference between the two plants lies in the leaves, which in the Cam- pion are extremely hne and narrow and in the Saxifrage are egg-shaped and thickish, with a strongly marked keel and hairy margins. The stems of the Saxifrage are prostrate and very leafy, and the flowers are purple and grow alnKJst flat upon the ground.
It was John Keble who first drew our attention to the fact that they are
" The loveliest flowers that closest clin^; to earth."
It was also evidently to some such })rostrate alpine phmt as the Mountain Saxifrage that he referred when he wrote :
"Bloom on then in your shade, contented l)looni. Sweet flowers, nor deem yourselves to all unknown. Heaven knows you, by whose gales and dews ye thrive ; They know, who one day for their altered doom Shall thank you, taught by you to abase themselves and live."
LARGE PURPLE ASTER
Aster conspiiiius. Composite Family
Stems : stout, rigid. Leaves : ovate, oldong, acute, serrate. \ einy. Flowers: in numerous corymbosely cymose heads; involucre broadly campanulate, its bracts in several series : rays in a single series, not very numerous : disk-flowers tubular, perfect.
2 14 BLUE TO PURPLE
In August or September the mountain meadows and forests teem with many of these flowers, for then
" Everywhere the purple asters nod, And bend, and wave, and flit."
They are the pretty heralds of Autumn, some of them tall, handsome, and stately, like the Large Purple Aster ; some quite small, some big and branching, and others again straight and slender, but all tending to glorify the earth. The Aster conspiciitis is the largest and handsomest of all its tribe, as its name suggests. It is very branching and has large leaves that are sharply toothed ; while the involucre, or green cup which holds the flower, is curiously formed by several series of tiny narrow-pointed bracts, which stand out horizontally and give it a fringed appearance. The rays of this Aster are a lovely bright purple, and the disk-flowers in the centre are golden yellow.
A. F}'e)}ionti, or Fremont's Aster, is a very common species. It also has purple rays, but rather brownish-yellow disk- flowers. All the Asters consist of numerous, tiny, tubular disk-flowers crowded together in a close cluster and sur- rounded by the rays, or ray-flowers, which are strap-shaped, the whole being held together in a green cup, or involucre, of bracts. The leaves of Fremont's Aster are quite smooth at the edges.
The Asters are much-prized flowers, because they come to us at a season when the whole world is walking in russet garb along a penitential pathway that leads to winter's frosty prison. Only the Golden-rods and Asters are left to linger through the soft gray days of late autumn, and what could be more beautiful than these blossoms of purple and gold, which, where the sun strikes light with his ruddy lances, bejewel the burnished lustre of bare branches and brown fallen leaves }
A. foliaceus^ or Leafy-bracted Aster, is a stout-stemmed erect species, with violet, purple, or white rays. It has many
'I, All-: i.xii
Lar(;1': Purplk Astkk
(.-/ ster conspicHiis) 215
IMAII' IXIIl
Large Fuki'lk Fli-ahank
{ErigCJ'Oi saIsugi)iosiis) 217
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 219
flowers growing on short stalks, which spring out at intervals from the axils of the clasping smooth-edged leaves, all the way up the long main stems ; and the bracts of the green involucre are very conspicuous, especially the outer and lower series, which spread forth horizontally and are almost like tiny leaves. This Aster usually grows near w^ater.
A. Engclmannii, or Engelmann's Aster, is a rather tall robust plant, of coarse appearance, with clusters of purple flowers, each one growing on its own individual axillary stalk, or else in a terminal cyme.
A common English name for Asters is Michaelmas Daisies, because they bloom at the feast of Saint Michael, according to
" The calendar, Faithful through a thousand years, Of the painted race of flowers, Exact to days, exact to hours."
BLUE FLEABANE
Erigeron acris. Composite Family
Stems: hirsute-pubescent, slender, simple or branched. Leaves: pubes- cent, entire, the lower ones spatulate, the upper ones oblong, sessile ; involucre hemispheric, its bracts linear, hirsute. Flowers: rays numerous, tubular ; pistillate flowers tiliform ; pappus simple, copious.
A very common species of Fleabane, which has numerous small flowers growing in a cluster at the top of each slender stem, and also a few solitary axillary blossoms low^er down. The whole plant is hairy, the lower leaves being spatulate and the upper ones oblong, all with smooth perfect margins.
The Fleabanes differ from the Asters in one very essential particular, namely, that the rays of the former are much nar- rower and very much more numerous than those of the latter, forming a thick fine fringe round the edge of the flowers. Also the F'leabanes bloom earlier in the season. They are extremely prolific.
2 20 BLUE TO purplp:
E. PliiladclpJiicus^ or Lavender Fleabane, has a thick, finely cut lavender fringe encircling its yellow disk of tiny tubular florets. The leaves are very clasping and toothed, and the rays often number one hundred and twenty.
E. iiniflovHS, or Arctic Fleabane, is a very tiny dwarf plant, growing from one to six inches high, and found only on the loftiest mountain summits. It has a single slender stem, which is clothed at the base by a small cluster of smooth- margined hairy leaves ; a few little narrow leaves also grow higher up. At the top is a solitary purplish flower. The whole plant is very hairy and woolly.
E. lanatus, or Alpine Fleabane, is also a species which grows at great elevations. It has both purple and white flowers, and is covered with a soft, whitish, woolly coating.
E. salsiiginosus, or Large Purple P'leabane, is the king of its tribe. It has very large and lovely purple flowers, with big yellow disks and a few small, thick, smooth leaves cling- ing to its stout downy stems. The rays number from fifty to seventy, and the bracts of the involucre are narrow and spreading. This particular Fleabane is quite unmistakable, for it is much larger and handsomer than any of the other mountain species, and makes the alpine meadows and slopes quite gay during its flowering season, which is in the early autumn.
WAVY-LEAVED THISTLE
Cnicus undiilatiis. Composite Family
Persistently white- tomentose throughout. Stems: stout, leafy. Leaves: lanceolate in outline, acute, sessile, undulate, lobed, the lobes dentate, triangular, very prickly. Flowers: solitary at the ends of the branches.
This reddish-purple Thistle grows from one to three feet high and is a fine handsome plant with large long leaves, whose edges are wavy and triangularly lobed, the lobes being sharply toothed and very prickly. The big flower-heads grow
PLATE LXIV
Brook Louklia (^Lobelia K'almii)
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
at the ends of the branches and are surrounded by large involucres of prickly bracts.
Every traveller knows that the Thistle is the national floral emblem of Scotland, and has been ever since that day when a barefoot Danish soldier, stepping inadvertently upon its spines, gave a cry of pain which aroused the sleeping Scot- tish camp and saved Scotland. The motto w^hich Scotsmen affix to this flower is ''Nemo mc impu7ie lacessit'' (No one touches me with impunity), or in the vernacular, " Ye maun't meddle wi' me." And assuredly we are quite content to leave it alone in its prickly glory, only pausing a moment in passing to admire its fine richly coloured flowers.
BROOK LOBELIA
Lobelia Kahnii. Lobelia Family
Stems: leafy, glabrous, paniculately branched. Leaves: lower ones spatulate, obtuse, almost entire; upper ones sessile, linear, acute. Flowers: in loose racemes ; calyx-tube turbinate, hemispheric, lobes lanceolate ; corolla-tube straight, oblique, divided to the base on one side, two-lipped, irregularly five-lobed.
Those who are familiar with the cultivated garden species of Lobelia will easily recognize the mountain Brook Lobelia, which usually grows at the extreme edge of a stream, or half immersed in some warm wet swamp, where its grass-like stems, bearing their racemes of sky-blue blossoms, spring up in little companies amongst the water-weeds, the Butterworts, and the Fly-spotted Orchis.
HAREBELL
Campanula 7'otundifolia. Campanula Family
Stems: slender, erect, simple or branched. Leaves: basal ones orbic- ular or broadly ovate to cordate; cauline ones sessile, linear. Flowers: buds erect on slender pedicels, flowers drooping or spreading ; corolla campanulate, five-lobed.
224
BT.UE TO PURPLE
These bells of brilliant purple-blue are familiar to every traveller in the temperate zone, for from " Bonnie Scotland " to the Pacific Slope the Harebell graces many a hill and dale.
Poets in every age have sung of this flower, which is the real Bluebell of Scotland, the favourite floral emblem of the *' Land o' cakes and brither Scots," for, as the old song says :
" Let the proud hidian boast of his jessamine bowers, His pastures of perfume, and rose-coloured dells. While humbly I sing of those wild little flowers, The bluebells of Scotland, the Scottish bluebells."
The name rotundifolia refers to the roundish heart-shaped basal leaves of the plant, which wither early, while the stem- leaves, which are numerous, narrow, and pointed, remain. A marked characteristic of these flowers is that, although the buds grow erect on their slender stalks, the full-blown blossoms droop or are horizontal in order to protect their pollen from the rain. The name Harebell refers to the hair-like stems of the plant, and the common term Bluebell is usually reserved for the Wild H)-acinth, which is a very different flower, having thick juicy stalks and resembling the garden species.
The Harebell is extremely hardy and may be found in the crevices of the cliffs, defying the fierce alpine storms or grow- ing on dry wind-swept meadows, or striking its roots into the tiniest patch of soil, so as to gain a foothold on the edge of some terrific precipice, where its delicate bells, so ''darkly, deeply, beautifully blue," bend but never break before the blustering gale. This wonderful vitality of the Campajiula is commemorated by Sir Walter Scott when, describing Ellen in The Lady of tJie Lake, he says :
'• E'en the light harebell raised its head Elastic from her airy tread."
PL.vrr: i.xv
Hakhbell ( Ca mpa n u la rotu ndi folia )
PLATE LXVI
MaC()LN"s (".1:N 1 IAN [Gentiann Mcuomiii )
22-J
MOUNTAIN FJ.OWERS 229
MACOUN'S GENTIAN
Gentiana Macounii. Gentian Family
Stems: slender, simple. Leaves: linear. Flowers: solitary at the ends of elongated erect peduncles; calyx-lobes lanceolate, acuminate, their mid-ribs decurrent on the tube ; corolla narrowly-campanulate, its lobes spatulate-oblong, fringed on both sides, and almost toothed around the apex.
A lovely deep blue Gentian, found in moist places, but not very common. When the days begin to shorten and the earth is flooded with the final glory of those scarlets and yellows that precede and presage decay, then like a beautiful solemn benediction the Gentians, "coloured with Heaven's own blue," are spread abroad, opening their petals for a while to the sun- shine at midday and closing them again suddenly at the first touch of the chill winds that blow off the ice-fields.
In the early fall of the year,
" Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye Look through its fringes to the sky, Blue, blue, as if that sky let fall A flower from its cerulean wall."
There lies at all times a curious silvery tinge upon the exterior of the four large fringed lobes of the corolla, which are delicately and darkly veined. The two outer calyx-lobes are longer and narrower than the two inner ones, and the buds are very long and pointed. Whenever )'ou try to pick one of these Gentians, you will find that the whole plant comes up out of the ground at the slightest pull. They are extremely elusive flowers, seldom reappearing in the same place for two consecutive years, since, being annuals, and therefore perpetuated by seed alone, their reappearance the following season depends altogether upon the direction ot the wind which blows the little hairy scales hither and thither, and by good fortune deposits a few where the moist earth enables them to germinate.
BLUE TO PURPLE
NORTHERN GENTIAN
Gentiana acuta. Gentian Family
Stems: leafy, slightly wing-angled, simple or branched. Leaves: lower ones obovate, obtuse, the upper ones lanceolate, acute at the apex, sub- cordate at the base, sessile or somewhat clasping. Flowers: numerous, racemose-spicate, pedicelled, leafy-bracted at base ; calyx five-parted, the lobes linear ; corolla five-lobed, the lobes lanceolate, acute, each with a fimbriate crown at the base.
A very common Gentian is this little Northern species, and it may readily be distinguished by the fringed crown set within the throat of the corolla-tube. The flowers are quite numerous, growing in clusters on short stiff stalks that spring out of the main stem ; they are usually pinkish-purple, but sometimes white. The traveller should specially note that the corolla is divided into five lobes at the top, and that the tiny roots grow close to the surface of the soil and are very easily pulled up.
G. propinqtia, or Four-parted Gentian, is somewhat like the preceding species, but has larger, brighter blue flowers, which are not nearly so closely clustered together ; and it is a much more graceful plant. The corolla is four-parted, or cut into four lobes, as the name implies, and the calyx is also four- cleft. These Gentians are occasionally white.
G. arctopJiila, or Alpine Gentian, is a tiny dwarf species resembling G. propinqna. It is found at immense altitudes.
G. prostrata, or Dwarf Gentian, has very weak and often procumbent stems. The leaves are covered with a soft w^hite bloom and have white hairy margins, while the flowers are solitary and of a lovely azure-blue colour, also very occasion- ally white. It is an exceedingly tiny plant, and has been found at an elevation of 10,000 feet.
I'l.A'n: i.wii
North i:rn (ii-.MTAN {Geittiatta acuta')
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
- JJ
LARGE GENTIAN
Gentiana affinis. Gentian Family
Stems: clustered from deep roots. Leaves: oblong, obtuse. Flowers: clustered in the axils of the upper leaves ; calyx-lobes linear, unequal ; corolla long, narrowly funnel-form, its lobes ovate, entire, acute or mucro- nate, spreading.
In this tall handsome Gentian there is a very beautiful con- trast between the rich green foUage and the azure-blue flowers. These flowers grow in dense clusters among the leaves on the top of the stems ; each one has a large, gray, greenish-blue corolla, divided into five spreading lobes, which are of a won- derful cerulean hue inside, marked and spotted with white. The tips of these lobes are very pointed, and sometimes the green calyx-lobes equal them in length, showing between their divi- sions, while at other times they are quite minute.
G. Forwoodii, or Blue Gentian, resembles the preceding spe- cies, but has a decidedly smaller corolla, with shorter, rounder lobes, and, most remarkable of all, the green calyx has no vestige of any lobes or teeth whatsoever, but is perfectly bell- shaped. The lobes of the corolla are entirely blue and have no white spots or marks on them. It is a handsome massive plant.
MOUNTAIN PHACELIA
Phacelia sericea. Water-leaf Family
Stems: simple, virgate, canescent, leafy to the top. Leaves: pinnately parted into numerous linear and again pinnatifid divisions, silky-canes- cent. Flowers: in short spikes, crowded in a naked spike-like thyrsus: calyx-lobes linear ; corolla very open-campanulate, cleft to the middle ; stamens long exserted.
A glorious plant, with rich purple-blue flowers clustered in huge long spike-like panicles, and handsome deeply cleft foliage, which is covered with a soft white down. The long protruding stamens give a feathery appearance to the open bell-shaped
234
BLUE TO PURPLE
blossoms, and as it grows at extremely high altitudes, where flowers of any kind are rather rare and large showy ones almost unknown, the Mountain Phacelia is a real treasure-trove to the traveller. It has a very strong disagreeable odour.
FALSE FORGET-ME-NOT
Echi}iospeyfnu}n JJoribundum. Borage Family
Stems: soft-hirsute, rather strict. Leaves: oblong to linear, entire, ses- sile. Flowers: in numerous racemes, nearly erect, densely flowered; corolla funnel-form, five-lobed. Fruit: nutlets keeled, papillose-tubercu- late on the back, the margins armed with a single row of flat subulate prickles.
There have probably been more arguments between travel- lers over these flowers than over any other plant that grows in the mountain regions. Ninety-nine persons out of every hundred will gather the lovely sky-blue blossoms, delighting in their beauty and inhaling with joy the delicate fragrance of their perfume, under the firm conviction that it is the True Forget-me-not they are picking; whereas — alas for the shattering of a pretty romance ! — it is only the sweet- scented blossoms of the False Forget-me-not they are gath- ering, which have as usual practised a successful deception upon the unwary.
The False Forget-me-not may, in reality, be easily dis- tinguished from the True species by a very simple fact, which, once understood and noted, will never again be over- looked. When in fruit the False species bears numerous nutlets covered with prickles, in fact tiny burs, which give it the common name of Stickseed, and certainly these little seeds do stick, and stick very fast indeed, to the clothing of persons and the fur of passing animals. The True Forget- me-not has no burs.
The stems and long narrow leaves of the Eckifiospernmm flonbimdmn are covered with a slight soft down. It grows
I'l.Aii: i.wiii
Mountain !*iia( ki.ia {P/iacelia seruea)
235
I'l-ATK I.XIX
I 1i i-C'
False F()R(;i;t-.mi:-N() i- {Echinospermum jiorihiindunt )
'■V
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 239
very tall under favourable circumstances, such as near water and on the open sunshiny slopes, and its flowers, blue as heaven itself , or very occasionally white, are funnel-form, the tube being very short and having its throat nearly closed by five flat lobes, which form a circular arching crest in the centre. The tiny stamens, and the style wdth its minute capi- tate stigma, are set inside this bright yellow circle, or "eye." It matters little, after all, whether these flowers are False or True ; they are beautiful to look upon, and very fragrant, as they hold their - Festival
Of breaking bud and scented breath "
high up in some alpine meadow, where the air is fresh and wholesome and where the w^hole world seems full of won- derful possibilities.
E. Lappida, or Stickseed, has much smaller leaves and very tiny bright blue flow^ers, each individual blossom being little larger than a pin's head. These flowers grow in close leafy- bracted racemes, which are more or less one-sided, and when in fruit it bears innumerable tiny burs. It is not indigenous.
TALL LUNGWORT
Mertensia paniciilata. IJorage Family
Rough-pubescent. Stems: erect, branched above, the branches slender. Leaves: thin, pinnately veined, those of the stem ovate-lanceolate, acu- minate ; basal leaves ovate, rounded. Flowers, several-flowered in loose terminal panicles; calyx-lobes acute; corolla funnel-form, crested in the throat.
The Tall Lungwort grows from one to three feet high, and is one of the handsomest members of a family of coarse and hairy plants. It has very showy blue flowers, their tubes crested in the throat and the lobes only slightly spreading. These grow in loose terminal clusters.
Probably it is because there are so few really blue mountain wild flowers that we specially prize tliis striking plant. On
240 BLUE TO PURPLE
every hand we see various shades of purple, mauve, violet, and heliotrope, — but very rarely of blue.
" Blue ! 'T is the life of heaven, the domain
Of Cynthia, the wide palace of the sun,
The tent of Hesperus, and all his train.
The bosomer of clouds, gold, gray, and
Blue ! 'T is the life of waters, ocean
And all its basal streams.
Blue ! Gentle cousin of the forest green,
Married to green in all the sweetest flowers."
TRUE FORGET-ME-NOT
Myosotis sylvatica var. alpestris. Borage Family
Stems: erect, tufted. Leaves: oblong, linear. Flowers: in dense racemes ; calyx five-parted, hirsute ; corolla salver-form, the throat with small blunt crests at the base of the rounded lobes.
This is the real True Forget-me-not. It grows from about four to six inches high and is found only at high altitudes. Its tiny turquoise flowers are very fragrant. Unlike the prickly burs of the False species, the nutlets of the True Forget-me-not are quite smooth.
There are innumerable stories told concerning these blue- eyed flowers, which are the emblems of undying love and are identified with our most romantic sentiments. One of the most charming legends about them runs thus :
"When to the flowers so beautiful The Father gave a name. There came a little blue-eyed one (All timidly it came), And, standing at the Father's feet, And gazing in His face. It said, in low and trembling tones, Yet with a gentle grace : ' Dear Lord, the name Thou gavest me, Alas ! I have forgot ' ; Kindly the Father looked Him down And said, ' Forget Me not.' "
IM.A'Ii: I.XX
MOUNTAIN FLOWKRS ^., -43
SMALL-FLOWERED COLLINSIA
Collinsia pari'ijlora. Figwort Famil)-
Stems: very slender and weak. Leaves: ohloni^^ or lanceolate, mostly obtuse at the apex and narrowed at the base, entire or sparingly toothed, the lower ones opposite, the upper ones in whorls. Flowers: on long pedicels; corolla variegated blue and white, the throat longer than the limb, which is two-lipped, the upper lip two-cleft, its lobes recurved, the lower lip larger and three-lobed.
A pretty, fragile, little plant, with numerous variegated blue and white blossoms. It grows thickly in moist places, seldom attaining more than eight inches in height. It is not unlike a very tiny Lobelia.
LARGE PURPLE BEARD-TONGUE
Penstemon Menziesii. Figwort Family
Low, densely matted, prostrate, with lateral leafv branches, which bear erect flowering shoots two to six inches high. Leaves: thick, long, obovate, dentate, the flowering stems bearing several pairs of orbicular leaf-like bracts. Flowers : calyx five-parted ; corolla tubular, moderately bilabiate, the upper lip two-lobed, the lower lip three-lobed and bearded within.
These handsome purple and pinkish flowers are an inch or more in length and form large mats of brilliant colour upon the rocks at very high elevations. The plant grows prostrate upon the ground and has numerous short erect shoots, bear- ing the blossoms, which are tubular in shape and have two lips, the lower one being thickly bearded with soft while hairs. Pcnstetnon comes from the Greek /^v/A-, " five." ant! stcnton, "a stamen," and refers to the large fifth sterile stamen, which is simply a filament without an anther and is densely hairy like the lower lij). It is to this pert little bearded tongue, which projects far bexond the other four fertile stamens, that the flower owes its common name.
244 BLUE TO PURPLE
P . confertus var. ccErnlco-purpurens , or Blue Beard-tongue, is very like P . cofifertns, or Yellow Beard-tongue, described in the Yellow to Orange Section.
Its flowers are bright blue or violet, and are usually set in two dense circles round the stem, though there is also a low- growing form of this species found in the mountains which has blue flowers growing in a simple terminal cluster.
ALPINE SPEEDWELL
Veronica alpina. Figwort Family
Stems: erect, slender, usually simple. Leaves: oblong, ovate, sessile, mostly rounded at both ends, nearly entire. Flowers : in a short narrow raceme ; corolla rotate, its tube very short, deeply four-lobed, the lower lobe the narrowest.
These small azure-blue blossoms win the love of many a traveller by reason of the fact that they are among the last flowers he sees growing in the crevices of the great moraines that fringe the glaciers, and are frequently the first ones to meet his eyes as he comes off the snowy ice-fields after making some arduous ascent.
"The little speedwell's darling blue"
renders it conspicuous, though its flowers are very small indeed, being clustered together at the tops of the stems. One marked peculiarity of the Speedwells is that the blossoms, which are cleft into four lobes, usually have the lower segment narrower than the rest. The Dutch call this plant " Honour and Praise," because it was once upon a time believed to contain valuable medicinal properties. Many claimed it to be an excellent remedy for scrofula, and it was the great Lin- naeus himself who grouped it, together with all its relatives, under the family name of Scrophuiariaccce, or Figwort.
The term Veronica suggests far more beautiful associations. Here the plant is named after Saint Veronica, who in her
I'l All-: i.xxi
Ali'IM-: Si'i:i:i)U i:i.l
( / 'eroiiica alp In a)
-45
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
turn was thus canonized because, accordin*; to an ancient tradition, she wiped the drops of a^i^ony fnjm our Savicnir's face when on His way to Calvary, and ever afterwards her kerchief bore the vera iconica, "the true Hkeness," of lii^ sacred features.
V. st-rpyllifolia, or Thyme-lea\-ed Si)eedwell, may be reco<;- nized by its decumbent branching stems ; that is to sa\-, the stems are curved near the base and he partly on the ground, rooting where the joints touch the earth. Usually these stems grow in pairs and bear at their upper ends spikes of pale gray-blue blossoms striped with dark blue, the tiny flowers also growing at close intervals lower down on the stalks. The small oblong leaves grow in opposite pairs. Occasionally the flowers are white.
BUTTERWORT
Puiguicnla vulgaris. Bladderwort Family
Stems: scape glabrous, tall. Leaves: from three to seven in a rosette at the base of the scape, entire, ovate, obtuse. Flowers: one-tlowered ; calyx five-parted ; corolla bilabiate, the upper lip two-cleft, the lower one three-cleft, base of the corolla saccate and contracted into a nectar- iferous, acute, nearly straight spur.
At first sight the Hutterwort looks like a loxeh', large, jnir- ple violet, but a second glance reveals its rosette of very pale green leaves, w^ith their involute margins, and the traveller at once recognizes the Pitii^uicitla, its name being derived from the Latin //;/<,'■///>, "fat," and referring !•) the horrible slimy greasy secretion with which its leaves are coaled, antl which renders them most rej)ulsive to the touch.
The flowers are of a rich inu-jile colour, and are two-lijiiK'd. the upper lip being cleft into two and the lower lij) into three lobes. These lobes are delicately \eined and the lower ones are covered with white hairs. The corolla terminates behind in a long straight spur. Hie l^utterworl alwLiys grows near water, and usuall\' in swamps or other \ery moist places.
248 BLUE TO PURPJ.E
WILD CANADA MINT
Mentha Canadensis. Mint Family
Stems: erect, simple or branclied. Leaves: oblong, acute, sharply ser- rate. Flowers: all in short and dense, sessile, axillary glomerules; calyx oblong-campanulate, pubescent, five-toothed ; corolla irregularly four-cleft.
The traveller has only to pick a spray of this plant to know its name, Mint, from Minthe, a lovely nymph whom the jeal- ous Proserpine changed into a flower so that she might not win the admiration of Pluto, her lord and master. At least the memory of the ill-fated beauty is kept forever green and fragrant, for the leaves of the Mint contain numerous tiny glands in which is secreted a volatile oil that has an exces- sively strong odour and flavour.
The fiowers, which are either pinkish-purple or purplish-pink, and very occasionally white, grow in dense little clusters in the axils of the leaves.
BRUNELLA
Brunella 7'ulgaris. Mint Family
Stems : numerous, slender, erect or procumbent, usually simple. Leaves : thin, ovate or oblong, obtuse, entire or crenate. Flowers: in dense, bracted, terminal and axillary spikes ; calyx cylindraceous. with hirsute teeth: corolla-tube inflated, bilabiate, the upper lip entire, arched, the lower lip spreading, three-lobed.
The dense purple spikes of the Brunella, or Self-heal, are very common beside alpine streams and in the grassy meadows. This plant, which was called Prunella by Linnaeus, is more significantly named Brunella, because it is supposed to con- tain a remedy for die Brdujie, or the quinsy, and hence some ancient German botanist originally called it Brmicllen.
It is not an attractive flower, for its elongated spikes, cov- ered with dark reddish bracts, have usually only a few scat- tered blossoms on them, and even these are insignificant. The leaves grow in pairs up the stems, and are frequentl}r marked with reddish patches.
ri.Aii: ixxii
BIAK-KVIID (iKASS {Sisyrinch lu m a ngustifoliu m )
MOUNTAIN FL0WP:RS
HEDGE NETTLE
Stachys palHstris. Mint Family
Stems: erect, strict, simple, retrorse-hispid on the ani^Mcs. Leaves: firm, lanceolate, oblong, almost sessile, acute at the apex, subcordate at the base, dentate. Flowers : in clusters, forming an elongated interrupted spike.
The Hedge Nettle has from six to ten recKHsh-purple flowers in each of the whorls that encircle its stem at inter- vals, and also bears a terminal cluster at the top. Stachys means *'a spike," and refers to its elon.i^ated flower-spikes, while palustris signifies ''growing in swamps," and is there- fore peculiarly approj^-iate to this i)lant, which frecjuents very moist places. Probably it was called Hedge Nettle because the leaves resemble those of the true Nettle, but without the stinging properties of the latter. The Hedge Nettle is a very hairy plant, its leaves and stems being all covered with quantities of fine hairs.
BLUE-EYED GRASS
Sisyrinchiiiin angKsti folium. Iris Family
Stems: two-edged, slender, erect, rigid. Leaves: commonly all basal, linear, rigid, almost setaceous ; bracts two, very unequal, erect, the lower one twice as long as the upper one. Flowers: six segments of the peri- anth spreading, aristulate.
" For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, But it withereth the grass, And the flower thereof falleth, And the grace of the fashion of it perisheth."
Was it of this tiny yet brilliant inirple-blue fiower that the Apostle Saint James wrote the aliove verse } Did he esp\- it, as he walked abroad, nestling amongst the sedges thai fringed the streams.'* It is a \erv fragile little blossom, and as it resents being i)icked to the extent of immediat^'K' sbii\el- ling up and dying, traxellers had bettei- be content to adnuie it where it flourishes in the moist low-King meadows, and
25
BLUE TO PURPLE
refrain from all attempts to gather it. This ''little sister of the stately blue Flag " only blooms for a single day, and each morning new buds open to replace the fallen petals of yes- terday. Its flowers consist of six translucent purplish-blue segments, veined with a darker hue and tipped by a bristle from a notch. These grow on thread-like stalks between two very long narrow bracts, the lower one of which is usually twice as long as the upper one. In the centre of each blos- som is a small patch of yellow, and the style, which is long and protruding, is tipped by a conspicuous three-cleft stigma. The name Blue-eyed Grass is most appropriate to this plant, for its leaves are certainly quite grass-like, being long and slender, and nearly all spring up from the densely tufted base, together with the stems, which latter are flattened on both sides. The flowers are very like soft purplish-blue eyes with their dilated yellow "pupils," as they
" Gently gaze toward the sky, Answering the azure blue on high."
Another poet sings thus of the Blue-eyed Grass :
" Blue-eyed grass in the meadow. And yarrow blooms on the hill, Cat-tails that rustle and whisper. And winds that are never still;
" Blue-eyed grass in the meadow, A linnet's nest near by. Blackbirds carolling clearly
Somewhere between earth and sky.
" Blue-eyed grass in the meadow. And the laden bee's low hum, Milkweeds all by the roadside, To tell us summer is come."
ri.Ai 1- i.wiii
I'riU'I.I-. (iAKl.U {Allium Si/iaiio/^nisKin)
2 5;>
MOUNTAIN FLOWERS
PURPLE GARLIC
Alliiun Schivnoprasion. Lily Family
Bulbs narrowly ovoid, clustered. Stems: scape rather stout, hearin^j below the middle one or two elongated, linear, terete, hollow leaves ; other leaves basal ; bracts of the umbel two, broadly ovate. Flowers: in umbels, capitate ; perianth of six equal, distinct, lanceolate, one-nerved segments.
This handsome Purple Garlic with its lar_L,^c dense flower- heads and long hollow leaves is not at all common in the mountains, but is frequently cultivated in cottage-gardens for the sake of its beautifully coloured blossoms. Like all the Garlics, it has a verv punirent odour
MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS OF CANADA
Section IV YELLOW TO ORANGE ELOWIiRS
Section IV YELLOW TO ORAN(;ii TLOW LkS
MEADOW BUTTERCUP
Ranunculus acris. Crowfoot Familv
Stems : erect, hairy, branched above, roots fibrous. Leaves : l)asal ones tufted, petioled, three-to-seven parted, the divisions sessile and cleft into numerous narrow acute lobes; upper leaves three-parted. Flowers: numerous; petals five, yellow, conspicuous. Not indii^enous.
Every child knows and loves the ])ri,<;ht yellow flowers of the common Buttercup. Ever)- child has suni;- of
" Buttercups and daisies.
And all the pretty flowers. Growing in the sunshine To tell of happy hours.''
Yet the Rajuoiculus acris is the enem\- of the farmer. Cattle will not eat of its acrid leaves, and e\en the hanils of man are frequently scarred and blistered b\- the caustic juices contained in the stalks and leaves of this plant. Hii^h up in the mountains, however, where the
" Buds of yellow hue Do paint the meadows with delight,"
we welcome these brilliant l^uttercups ; tbere the\ can harm no one, but onl\- i)]ease the e\e with their tinel\- dissected foliage and tall-stemmed golden flowers.
If you cut vertically through the middle of tbi> Kafununliis, you will find that its receptacle is a long cone, from which the five green sepals, the fi\e \ellow petals, the numerous stamens,
-5'>
26o YELLOW TO ORANGE
and the carpels all spread out successively. Care must be taken not to confuse the Ranimculi with the Pottnitillas, which latter belong to the Rose Family and are also described in this Section, for the blossoms of the two plants somewhat resemble each other, though a close inspection and comparison of them, together with their stems and leaves, will always serve to plainly demonstrate at once the differences which exist between them. One point of variance which may be specially noted is that the Raiiiniculiis usually has simple lobed, or divided or dissected leaves, whereas the Potentilla usually has compound leaves ; that is to say, the Ranuncjilus has, in most cases, leaves that are much cut up and lobed, but the Potentilla^ as a rule, has leaves formed of several entirely separate leaflets. This distinction is, however, not arbitrary, though it exists in the majority of cases. Also each petal of the Ranunculus has a tiny pit, or spot, covered by a scale, on the inside of the claw, near the base. This spot is absent in all the Potentillas. The Meadow Buttercup has fibrous roots. R. Macounii, or Macoun's Buttercup, is an erect, very hairy plant, growing from one to two feet high, and has yellow flowers.
SNOW BUTTERCUP
Ranunculus Eschscholtsii. Crowfoot Family
Stems: ascending, one-to-three flowered. Leaves: roundish in outline, three-to-five parted, or deeply cleft, the obovate divisions lobed or incised. Flowers: yellow, the calyx covered with brownish hairs.
This alpine Buttercup grows at very high altitudes, close to the snow and always near water. A cluster of much-divided leaves grows up from the base of the plant on long slender stems, and half-way up the flower-stalk there is a circle of narrowly lobed leaves, and also, frequently, a single bud. The large yellowish calyx, which is covered with brown hairs on the outside, gives the flower almost a double appearance. The head of the fruit is oblong.
MorxiAix fi()\vi:rs ,^^,
CREEPING CROWFOOT
RaniDuuIus Cyi'ibala) in. Crowfoot Familv
Stems : one-to-seven flowered. Leaves : broadly (nate, coarsely cre- nate, clustered at the base and joints of the long, filiform, rooting runners. Flowers : petals yellow, longer than the sepals. Fruit : the mature achenes striate-veined on the sides, apex blunt with a short oblique beak, heads oblong.
As its name denotes, this is a small ereepin-- ])lant, ha\in,i,^ numerous runners which root at the joints, whence sprin- up little clusters of leaves. The flowers are yellow and very tniv.
R. aquatilis var. stagnatilis, or Water C'rowfoot, has tiny white and yellow flowers. The fine thread-like leaves are entirely submerged under the surface of the alpine kikes and pools, where the plant grows abundantly, while the broader three-lobed leaves float upon the face of the waters. These thread-like leaves are common to several kinds of aquatic plants, and such minute division enables them without a large expenditure of material to expose a large surface to the car- bonic acid gas dissolved in the water.
R. rcptans, or Creeping Spearwort, has small vellow flowers with from four to seven petals, trailing stems that root at the joints, and extremely narrow grass-like lea\es. The flowers are borne in the axils of the prostrate cree])ing stems.
R. rcpois, or Yellow Crowfoot, is a hair\- i)lant. which spreads by means of its runners and forms large ])atches upon the ground ; it has leaves which are divided into three parts, each one of which is lobed and toothed. The flower- stalk is grooved, the sepals are widely spread, and the petals are half -erect.
262 YELLOW TO ORANGE
MARSH-MARIGOLD
CaltJia pahistris. Crowfoot Family
Stems: erect, one-to-two flowered, the lower flower subtended by a petaloid lanceolate bract. Leaves: roundish to oblong-cordate, longer than wide, irregularly crenate-toothed. Flowers: yellow; sepals petal- oid, lanceolate, acute ; petals none : stamens and pistils numerous.
This is a splendid-looking marsh plant, with large, round- ish, glossy leaves of a deep bright green, and fine yellow blossoms that are tinged with purple on the outside. It resem- bles a large Buttercup. The name Marigold is a corruption of ''Mary's gold," for this flower was dedicated to the Holy Virgin in the Middle Ages, a fact to which Shakespeare refers in Cymbelijie, when he causes the musicians to sing :
<' Hark, hark ! the lark at heaven's gate sings,
And Phoebus 'gins arise, His steeds to water at those springs
On chalic'd flowers that lies ; And wnnking Mary-buds begin
To ope their golden eyes."
The Marsh-marigold has no petals, but its five or more petal- oid sepals do duty instead. The leaves of this extremely succulent plant are mostly heart-shaped at the base, and just below the flower is borne a petal-like long-shaped bract.
Ofttimes amid the mountains you will see flat moist meadows literally ablaze with these showy shining blossoms, which turn the huge marshes into a veritable Field of the Cloth of Gold.
YELLOW COLUMBINE
Aquiiegia Jfavescens. Crowfoot Family
Stems: smooth. Leaves: ternate ; leaflets round-cordate, three-parted, the segments coarsely toothed. Flowers: yellow, pendulous; petals five, with short spreading lips, and produced backwards into long tubular spurs ; sepals reflexed, longer than the spurs.
I'l All-: i.xxn
\ I.I.I. ()\\ Coi-l'MIUNK
MOrXTAlN fi.()\\i:rs ^5-
This Columbine grows at greut allitiulc^, and mas he tound amongst the rocks at a height of Sooo feel, where the soil is so light and sparse that there seems to be no foothold for anv vegetation at all, much less for such tall and graceful plants as these Aquilcgias, which stand from one to three feet high and bear abundant blossoms of palest purest yellow, pendent on their brittle stalks.
The foliage of the Yellow Columbine is much smaller and more delicate than that of A.formosa ; but it is equally dark green above and pale green beneath. No prettier sight can be seen than clusters of these wild elfin flowers growing at the edge of some great barren cliff, their fragile loxeliness shining against a sombre background of stonv walls, from the height of whose overhanging ledges the drooping blossoms nod down at the traveller, as they sway and swing at the bidding of the breeze.
YELLOW POND LILY
Nttphar polysepalion. Water-lily Family
Leaves: all floating, eight to fourteen inches in diameter, broad-ovate, thick, deeply cordate, on stout half-cylindrical petioles. Flowers: two to live inches in diameter ; sepals eight to twelve, une(|ual. concave and roundish ; petals eleven to eighteen, dilated, truncate, shorter tlian the stamens. Fruit: globose, indehiscent.
This Pond Lily has numerous rounded concaxe sejxils, which are of a deep orange-vellow colour inside and usualh streaked and blotched with purple-red on the outside, and assume the functions of petals; for the real petals of this i-)lant. though very numerous, are inconspicuous and resemble the stamens. being thick, short, and fleshy.
The Yellow Pond Lily is not so beautiful as its cousin, the White Water-lily, yet the golden-hued mountain s]iecies is \ cry fragrant ; it has handsome floating foliage, antl (lowers which poets have not disdained to praise.
260 YELI.OW TO ORANGE
Longfellow described Hiawatha's canoe as floating
'' Upon the river Like a yellow leaf in autumn, Like a yellow water-lily."
This Niiphar, whose name comes from the Greek word noiipJiar, signif}dng " Pond Lily," grows in still waters and slow streams, where, springing from thick, horizontal, deeply sub- merged rootstocks, the long stalks, which are flattened on the inner side and rounded on the outer side, uphold the gleam- ing floral cups. \\\ many an alpine lake " The bright Aymphcra loves to lave. And spreads her golden orbs along the dimpling wave."
Nymphcea signifies " a water-nymph," and the botanical family to which this Yellow Pond Lily belongs is called in the Latin NympJiceacecs, or Water-lily Family.
ARCTIC POPPY
Papaver mtdicaule. Poppy Family
Stems: scape erect, hirsute. Leaves: all basal, pinnately lobed or cleft, the lobes linear, acute. Flowers: solitary. Fruit: capsule obovoid, densely beset with erect bristly hairs.
This is quite an alpine-arctic plant and grows only on the highest summits. It has a flower varying in colour from yellow to reddish-orange, which growls on the top of a slender, very erect stalk, and is formed like a common Poppy, but has only four petals. All the leaves grow at the base of the plant and are long-shaped and lobed.
GOLDEN CORYDALIS
Corydalis aiirea var. occideiitalis. Fumitory Family
Commonly low and spreading. Leaves: finely dissected into oblong- obovate segments. Flowers: in short spicate racemes; corolla tubular, irregular ; petals four, one of the outer pair spurred at the base, the interior ones narrow, keeled on the back ; spur half the length of the body of the corolla. Fruit : pods spreading.
MOi'X'iwix fi,o\\i:r^ ,f^
This plant i;cncrally .<;r()\vs low ii|)()ii ihc -round, the vcrv finely dissected foliage si)i-eadin-- out into large patches that are gemmed by the clusters of golden-yellow flowers, whose form at once suggests that of the Wild P)lee(ling-heart. When the ripe pods split open they disclose and scatter numerous bright shining seeds.
TREACLE MUSTARD
Erysi))ii(>}i par^'ijloruiii . Mustard Familv
Stems: erect, simple. Leaves: ohlanceolate or linear, obtuse, entire, or dentate, the upper sessile, the lower slender-petioled. Flowers : pale yellow. Fruit: the siliques elongated, linear, four-angled, valves stronj;lv keeled by a prominent mid-vein.
This common l^reacle Mustard has \cr\- small pale \ellow flowers and rather whitish leaxes, which latter grow in a tuft at the base of the plant and also alternately all the wav uj) the stiff erect stems. The flowers have four tin\ green sepals and four yellow petals, which latter are cruciate, or set in the form of a cross. The Treacle Mustard belongs to the Cnici- fercB, or Mustard l^^amil}-, all of whose members ha\e four cruciform petals.
HEDGE MUSTARD
Sisyiiibrinni J/arf'nu'i^ia/iin/!. Must.ird Faniil\-
Stems: slender. Leaves: pinnate : leaflets lanceolate, obtuse and acutely toothed. Flowers: small, yellow. Fruit: the sili(|ues erect on a.scendin^ pedicels, linear, elongated.
A coarse uninteresting plant, with pinnateh' cut leaxes. the tiny leaflets being sharpl\- toothed. The tlowers are small and yellow and the pods long and narrow.
268 YKLLOW TO ORANGE
WILD MUSTARD
Brassica Sinapistnun. Mustard Family
Stems: erect, hispid, with scattered stiff hairs. Leaves: oval, coarsely dentate, the basal ones pinnatifid. Flowers: showy, yellow, in elongated racemes. Fruit: the siliques elongated, sessile, tipped with a flattened conic beak. Not indigenous.
A handsome species bearing showy yellow flowers in ter- minal racemes, and having large oval leaves that are very coarsely toothed, rough to the touch, and conspicuously veined. The basal leaves are lobed. Like all the Mustards, it has four cruciform petals.
GOLDEN WHITLOW-GRASS Draba aurea. Mustard Family
Stems: branching, pubescent, leafy to the inflorescence. Leaves: basal ones in tufts, spatulate, obtuse, slightly dentate ; stem-leaves oblong, acute. Flowers: yellow, petals twice the length of the calyx, entire. Fruit: pods acute, at length slightly twisted.
A plant that resembles a Treacle Mustard, but is much smaller and has a rosulate tuft of leaves at the base. Tiny single leaves also grow up on the branching stems, and the little deep yellow flowers grow in close clusters.
D. alpifta, or Alpine Whitlow-grass, is a tiny species found at extremely high altitudes. The leaves are all basal and grow in a dense tuft, while the tiny clusters of little yellow flowers are set on the top of short naked stalks. The whole plant is hairy and seldom exceeds four inches in height.
BLADDER-POD
Physaria didyjiiocarpa. Mustard Family
Stems: decumbent or ascending, slender, simple. Leaves: spatulate, the basal ones obtuse, entire, narrowed into margined petioles ; stem- leaves nearly sessile, acute, much smaller. Flowers: yellow, in terminal racemes. Fruit : pods didymous, variable, with large, strongly inflated cavities, emarginate at base and summit.
I'l.All. 1 .\\\
»6o
MorxTAiN now i:rs
A most curious and interesting- plant, which <;r()\vs on hi;;h rocky slopes and furnis patches upon the ground bv means of its rosettes of pale screen leaves and decumbent stems. The little yellow flowers are cruciform and inconspicuous, and grow in clusters at the ends of the long slender stalks which spring out from below the central rosettes of leaves, while an irregular circle of outer leaves grows be)()nd them again. It is the large inflated pods, of a delicate gray-green hue, whic h give this plant its common name and constitute its greatest attraction. They are really exquisitely quaint, and so unusual as to always attract the notice of the i)assing traveller. The leaves are spatulate and small. The name PJiysaria is derived from the Greek, signifying ** bellows," and refers to the inflated fruit.
YELLOW VIOLET Vio/a glabella. \'iolet Familv
Stems: glabrous, slender, from a short, fleshy, horizontal rhizome. Leaves: radical ones on long petioles, the upper short-petioled, reniform- cordate, crenately toothed. Flowers: brii^dit yellow.
This is a small plant which blooms close to the ground, ami is found chiefly at high altitudes.
'' When beechen buds be,t;in to swt^ll.
And woods the bluebird's warble know. The yellow violet's modest bell
Peeps from the last year's leaves l>clow."
Its bright golden flowers are finclv jK'ncilled in the centre :h black lines, and gro\ of small roundish leaves.
with black lines, and grow on short slender stalks amid a ma
YELLOW MELILOT
Me I Hot lis ojl'icinalis. Tea Family
Stems: ascending, one to four feet hi<;h, branrhioLi;. Leaves: trifolio- late, petioled, rather distant : leaflets oblonj.::. serrate, narrowed at the base, rounded at the apex. Flowers: in slender racemes ; standard equal- lino^ the win<;s and keel. Xot indiijenous.
YELLOW TO ORANGE
The Yellow Melilot, or Sweet Clover, closely resembles the White Sweet Clover. It has spike-like racemes of tiny clus- tered flowers, which are very fragrant and extremely delicate both in shape and hue, and are borne on tall branching stems, which frequently attain a height of three or even four feet. The leaves are trifoliolate and smell very sweet when dried. They droop in a peculiar fashion at night-time, the upper leaflet and one side leaflet closing together, until the vertical surface of each comes in contact with that of the other, while the third leaflet is left alone, exposed to the chills and rains of the hours of darkness. The Yellow Melilot was introduced into this country from Europe.
LOCO- WEED
Oxytropis Laiiiberti. Pea Family
Silky-pubescent with appressed hairs, acaulescent, tufted. Leaves: odd-pinnate ; leaflets linear, oblong, acute ; peduncles longer than the leaves. Flowers: in large dense heads, or spikes. Fruit: pods incompletely two-celled, coriaceous, sessile, erect, ovoid-cylindric, long-acuminate.
A handsome, rich, cream-coloured or yellowish species of
Oxytropis, with soft, whitish, silky foliage and very fine large
flower-spikes. It usually grows on the dry alpine meadows.
DRUMMOND'S DRYAS
Dryas Drn)>i))io}idii. Rose Family
Low, tufted, herbaceous shrubs. Stems: woody at the base. Leaves: oval, crenate-dentate, green and glabrous above, white-canescent beneath. Flowers: yellow, solitary; calyx persistent, its tube concave, hirsute lobed : petals numerous ; style elongated and plumose in fruit.
This insignificant little yellow flower, which meekly droops its head as if conscious of its lack of good looks, has the most lovely plumose seed-heads imaginable ; and there are few prettier sights in the mountains than that of some low-lying
I'l.Aii: i.xwi
DiUM.MOND's Dm As
273
MOUNTAIN FI.()\VI:RS -/ 0
alpine meadow literall\- covered with these frail teallK-rv liifls, rising up on their long, slender, woody stems several inches above the prostrate foliage, half of which is curled over to show its silvery lining; for all the leaves of Drummond's Dryas are green and shining on the top and white and silk\- underneath. The flower consists of mimerous small yellow petals enclosed in a sh(^rt, hairy, green calyx ; but as soon as these die and fall off, the stalk elongates and the seed-head quickly develo})s. Tliis ])lant will grow in the jxxirest soil, and is most frequentl}' found on arid gra\el beds and in the gravelly battures of the alpine streams.
YELLOW AVENS
Geutn strictuDi. Ko.se Faniilv
Stems: ascending, pubescent, branched ahove. Leaves: basal ones lyrate-pinnate : leaflets five to seven, obovate. cuneate, dentate, with a few smaller ones interspersed, the terminal one largest : stem-leaves ses- sile, with three to five ovate acute segments. Flowers: several, terminal, of five petals.
This is a comnion plant, with l:)right \ellow the-i)etalled flowers and large foliage. Each leaf is pinnateh dixided and has one big terminal segment and from four to six smaller leaflets, interspersed with some \"er\' tin\- ones. The most noticeable feature is the fruit, which consists k^ a ball (A seeds, each one terminating in an elongated barbed st\le.
G. macropJiylluvi^ or Large-lea\ed Axens, is \ery like the preceding species, but it has nnich larger, coarser foliage. It also has bright yellow flowers and a bur-like head of seeds, each one of which terminates in the same slender, jointed, hooked style which is a distinguishing characteristic of this genus of plants.
Both the Yellow Avens and the Large-lea\ed A\ens ha\e lobed and toothed leaves and small clove-scented llower.s. They are rough hair\' plants lukI resemble weeds.
276 Vl-:i.I.()W TO ORAXGK
Unattractive as is the coarse foliage of the Geunis, yet their primrose-tinted blossoms gleam like jewels of pale gold amidst the dark green leaves, and these redeem the plants from utter ugliness.
COMMON CINQUEFOIL PotetitiUa dissecta. Rose Family
Stems: decumbent or ascending. Leaves: pinnate: leaflets live to seven, the upper one incisely pinnatirid. dentate. Flowers: few, in an open cyme.
This is a low alpine plant, more or less silky and hairy, and has a vellow flower with a five-lobed cal)'x and five roundish petals. It resembles a miniature rose. The foliage consists of from five to seven toothed leaflets on each stem, the terminal leaflet being three-lobed at the apex.
There are several varieties of this species : P. dissecta var. glaucopJiylla has smooth gi'een leaves ; P. dissecta var. miilti- secta has whitish silky foliage, each leaflet being long and narrow ; and P. dissecta Tar. piiinatisecta has more numerous leaflets and a one-flowered stem, which grows only about three inches high, the whole plant being smooth, with the exception of the hairv calvx and tufted apices of the leaves.
]\Ian\' of the Cinquefoils [cinque, "fi\'e"" ; feiiilles, ''leaves") have five-parted leaves, hence their common name.
P . Anserina, or Silver-weed, is a tufted plant, with elongated pinnate leaves composed of from seven to seventeen leaflets, which are sharply toothed, green, and smooth on the top, and very silky and whitish underneath. A characteristic feature of the Silver-weed is the minute pairs of leaflets which grow between the real leaflets, but are merelv tinv pointed growths. The yellow flowers, which are typical of the whole genus and have five bracts, five sepals, five petals, and numerous stamens, grow on slender naked stalks that spring from the axils of the
I'l Ai i; i.xw 11
Vi:i.I.()\\ \\'ll.l.(i\\-l I I Ki; {I-'.pilohiinii lull II lit)
MOUNTAIN FI,()\VI:Ks ^J^)
leaves. The Howers are \er) pretl}- :ukI \el\el\ , and coiimionly grow in the moist iiieaclows, lor there
" The silver-weed with yellow flowers, Half hidden hy the leaf of gray, Blooms on the bank of that clear brook Whose music cheers my lonely way."
The Silver-weed creeps along the ground by means of slender many-jointed runners, and its stems are usually curved and wdnding. When the fruit ripens it consists of a head formed of several little achenes, or nutlets. The Potcti- tillas are very numerous in the mountain regions.
P. argnta, or Tall Cinquefoil, is a handsome pkuit. with coarse pinnate leaves, the terminal one being wedge-shai)ed and three-cleft at the top, and has small white Howers growing abundantly in loose clusters.
P. Norvcgica, or Rough Cinc[uefoil, is a coarse weed-like plant, with leaves that are divided into three leaflets, and yellow flowers that grow in rather close leafy clusters.
P. Hippiana, or Woolly Cinciuefoil, is a stout i)]ant, with quantities of densely floccose and silky foliage. The leaflets are whitish and w^oolly on both sides, and deeply dentated. The flowers are bright yellow, and grow in graceful terminal clusters.
P . gracilis, or Small Cinquefoil, has ver\- small leaves, heart-shaped in outline and conij^osed of from three to seven leaflets, which are white and woolly beneath and green and silky on the top. The little flowers are yellow.
P. jm'ca, or Alpine Cinquefoil. grows at great altitudes and is found at 8500 feet. It is a tiny plant, with small trifoliate white and woolly leaves and wee terminal \cllow flowers.
In studying the Potcutillas it is wise to refer to the Ranunculi, also recorded in this Section, and note the close resemblance yet distinct variations which exist between the two genera. The differences between the toliage ol the
2 So YELLOW TO ORANGE
Potoitillas and that of the RanH7iculi have already been referred to in the description of the latter plants, but it may be further noted here that the stamens of the Raniincjtli are hypogynous, or borne at the base or below the ovar)', while those of the Pottiitillas are perigynous, or borne on the peri- anth around the ovary.
YELLOW SAXIFRAGE
Saxifraga aizoides. Saxifrage Family
Stems: leafy. Leaves: alternate, linear, thick, fleshy, mucronate- tipped, narrowed at the base, sessile, the margins sparingly ciliate. Flowers: sev^eral, corymbose; petals five, oblong, yellow, usually spotted with orange : calyx five-lobed, base of the capsule adnate to the calyx : stamens ten, inserted with the petals. Fruit: ovary two-celled, two- lobed at the summit ; styles short ; stigmas capitate.
This Yellow Saxifrage grows among the wet rocks at very high altitudes. It has slender stems, adorned with alternate leaves, which are long and narrow and edged with a few fine hairs. The flowers grow erect and open out very wide, their petals being usually spotted with orange. The ten stamens are conspicuous, and so is the large two-celled ovary, while the styles are short and tipped with roundish stigmas. This plant grows in dense tufted clusters from two to six inches high, and may be found in the most sun-forsaken crannies, w^here the icy breezes blow across the snow-fields.
STONECROP
Seduju steuopeialuDi. Orpine Family
Flowering branches erect. Leaves: alternate, crowded, but scarcely imbricated except on the sterile shoots, sessile, linear, entire. Flowers: in a three-to-seven forked cyme, compact ; petals narrowly lanceolate^ very acute, much exceeding the calyx-lobes.
This plant is well named Scdiij^i, from scdcrc "to sit," for it sits very happily, and in lowly fashion, upon the bleak
MOUNTAIN FL()\\I:KS ,^j
bald hills at his;h alliuidcs. It is a most uiuannv plant. 'Ihc tiny, pale i;Tccn, juicy leaves, crowded on the thick short stems, are, like human tiesh. easily bruisetl ; and each of the brii;ht \ ellow Howers, which -row in dense clusters, has four or five narrow pointed petals. There are ten stamens, the alternate ones bein-- attached to the ])etals. The five erect carpels are tipped with Ion- conspicuous and diveri^^ent stvles. crowned by fat sti-mas.
The smooth clammy folia-e of the Stonecrop reminds the traveller forcibly of the narrow -ap which lies between the Animal and the W^g-etable Kin-xloms, for the touch of its fleshy leaves is most repulsixe, resemblin-- that of some cold moist body. Fortunately, however, it is redeemed from bein;.; entirely objectionable by the twinklini;- little -olden blossoms, which are as health)- and natural in their appearance as the foliage is the very reverse.
'• Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies. I hold you here, root and all. in niv hand. Little flower — but //' I could understand What you are, root and all, and all in all. I .should know what Cod and man i.s."
*'N() decider thou-ht was e\er uttered b\ poet," sa\s b^.m Fiske, in his beautiful work, TJiroiigh Xatior to (iod ; "tor in this world of j^lants, which, with its ma-ici;ui, chloroph\ll, conjurin-- with sunbeams, is ceaselessh- at woik bi-in-in-- life out of death — in this cjuiet \e-etal)le woiid we ma\- hnd the elemtnitarv principles of wW life in almost \isible oj)eration."
Care must be taken not to confuse the \'ellow Sa.xifra-'e with the Stonecrop. The former has tiin, ihin, ordinar\ Icaxes, while the latter hiis Icaxes that are thick, flesln, and \ei\- juicy. This peculiar tolia-e of the Stonecroj) enables it to retain a quantitx of moisture durin,-- the drx season, an attri- bute which proxes e.xtremeh useful, since it -rows in crexices
282 VKLLOW TO ORANGE
and crannies between the rocks, where the sparse dry soil affords Httle or no sustenance to the roots ; hence its abiUty to imbibe and retain moisture through its leaves renders it fit to flourish on these sandy and stony slopes.
YELLOW WILLOW-HERB
Epilobium lufeiun. Evening Primrose Family
Stems: slender, nearly simple. Leaves: ovate, acute, sinuate-toothed, sessile. Flowers: from the axils of the upper somewhat crowded leaves ; corolla funnel-form, rarely expanding, the lobes deeply notched; calyx short and deeply cleft.
The pale lemon-coloured flowers of the Yellow Willow-herb grow in quantities near running water, or in the deep moist valleys where the rushes whisper in their husky throats and the moss weaves lace-like patterns to cover the ground. The plant stands from six inches to two feet high, and has large, conspicuousl}' veined leaves, with wavy margins, which are very sharply toothed. The flowers are extremely pretty and delicate in hue ; their four petals, folded in funnel-form, rarely expand, and are held up in green calyx-cups, which in their turn are cleft into four narrow slender divisions.
EVENING PRIMROSE
CEnothera biennis. Evening Primrose Family
Stems: erect, stout, wand-like. Leaves: lanceolate, acute, narrowed and sessile at the base, repand-denticulate. Flowers: spicate, terminal, leafy-bracted : calyx-tube slender, the lobes linear, reflexed.
The Evening Primrose, whose bright yellow blossoms open in the twilight, somewhat resembles the Yellow Willow-herb, whose paler flowers bloom at the bidding of the sunshine. Seen in the daytime, the Evening Primrose api^ears faded and uninteresting ; but viewed at night, its fragrant flowers are exceedingly attractive. The plant grows to an average height
I'l Ai i: i.x.w III
FlKl.l) (i()l.l)l-.N-Kt»l
(Soiidiiifo decumbens)
2S:
Aroix'iAix I'l.ow i:In
ot three tcct, and has alternate lanec-shaped leaves and erec t buds. No sooner has the sun set than the buds l)e<;in to expand, the closely closed calyx suddenly burst in;^^ oi)en with a loud [)()p, and then one l)y one the i)etals slowly unfold, until the whole su]i)hur-coloured Hower is wide-blown and sends forth its sweet fra^i^rance to scent the e\enin<;- air.
'■A tuft of evening primroses O'er which the mind might hover till it dozes, But that it's ever startled by the leap Of buds into ripe flowers.'"
A sini;le summer night suffices to consimie the vitality and beauty of this flower, which at evenini;- is fresh and fair and newly blown, and by noon looks faded and most dejected. It is strange how very fragrant and lovel\' are many of these *' flowers that blow when the heat of the dav is o'er." sue h, for instance, as the Night-blooming Jessamine, tlu- Night- blooming Cereus, and the Night-blooming Cactus. The \ellow petals of the Evening Primrose shine so ItiminousK- in the dusk that they easily attract the crepuscular moths, which fertilize the plants b}- carr\ing the abundant stick\- {)ollen from one flower to another. The number four is conspicu- ous in this flower, which has four j)etals, a four-parted caly.x, eight stamens, a four-celled o\ar\-, and a four-cleft stigma. When the corolla fades, after its single night of revelr\. it soon shrivels and drops off, and then the oblong capsule containing the seeds quickly matures.
MEADOW PARSNIP
Thaspiii))! coniatu}/!. I'arskv Family
Stems: erect, branched. Leaves: ui)pcr stcm-kavis C()mi)()und. short- petioled, ternate. the segments ovate, crenatc-dentate : hasal leaves long- petioled, sometimes undivided. Flowers: in umbels, eightto-twelve rayed. Fruit: globose-ovoid.
286 YELLOW TO ORANGE
The bright shining green leaves of this Parsnip and its brilHant golden umbels of minute flowers combine to render it one of the many handsome plants that deck the damp alpine meadows. It has stout hollow stalks and very glossy foliage, the leaves being ternate, or arranged in threes, with broad, wavy -margined, sharply toothed leaflets. It has a most disagreeable odour.
HAIRY GOLDEN ASTER
CJirysopsis 7'illosa. Composite P^amily
Stems: villous. Leaves: alternate, oblong, obtuse, the upper ones sessile, the lower ones narrowed into a petiole, pale, canescent with appressed hairs. Flowers: heads few, terminating the short branches; rays oblong-linear ; involucre hemispheric. Fruit: achenes obovate.
The yellow Aster is a very hairy plant, as denoted by its common name ; it affects dry or sandy soil, and grows from six to eighteen inches high. The stems are simple, and near the summit short branches spread out, terminating in the solitary heads, which are composed of both tubular and radiate flowers. These bright golden flowers are enclosed in an invo- lucre, which is formed of several series of tiny green bracts. The name Chrysopsis, from chrysos, "gold," and opsis, *' aspect," is peculiarly applicable to these gay yellow blossoms, which glorify the dry waste places with their shining splendour.
APLOPAPPUS
Aplopappus Brandegei. Composite Family
Stems: from a tufted caudex, cinereous-pubescent, the involucre lanu- ginose-tomentose. Leaves: radical ones obovate or spatulate, contracted into a slender petiole ; caulineones few, sparse, small. Flowers: in heads of radiate and disk-flovirers ; rays eight to twelve, ligulate, pistillate, oblong ; disk corollas perfect, dilated towards the summit, deeply five- toothed. Fruit : achenes oblong-turbinate, densely silky villous.
This is a dwarf herbaceous plant, with a tuft of tiny green leaves at the base and one or two minute ones clinging to its
I'l All: i.xxix
(".IAN I Sim low i.K ( Ilclii I nth II s ;•/;■< in (t- lis)
;87
MOrXTAlX I'lOWI.Ks ^^^^
Stems. It grows only ivom three to six inches high, and is found on lofty summits at 8000 and 9000 feet. The Howcrs resemble bright yellow daisies, and are rather ragged looking. At times, as the tra\eller stands upon the crest of .some mountain top, where the earth seems \cry close to the sky of perfect blue, the gamboge blossoms of the Aplopappus, cover- ing the ground with a torrent of bloom, .seem to surge acro.ss the alpine plateaus in a succession of golden waves.
CANADA GOLDEN-ROD
So/idiii^o Canadensis. Composite Family
Stems: stout, little branched, puherulent. Leaves: alternate, lanceolate, triple-nerved, acute at each end, the lower ones sharply .serrate and jjeti- oled, the upper ones smaller, entire, sessile. Flowers: heads numerous, of both tubular and radiate flowers, on the spreading or recurvinj; branches of the large and dense panicles ; involucre campanulate. the bracts linear, imbricated in several series : rays in one series, pistillate ; disk-flowers nearly all perfect ; corolla tubular, hve-cleft.
The Golden-rods, many species of which grow abundanth' in the mountain districts, are, together with the Asters, the handsomest of the late autumn flowers. Retaining the rieh glow of the summer sun in their rii)e yellow blossoms, they brighten the slopes and border the trails with a reflected glory. For the Golden-rod is at home in all kinds of jdaces : by the dusty wayside and in the dee}) green forests; close t«» the borders of the ice-born streams, and out in the open meadows, where the ra}'s of light at noontide shine strongest. In each of these localities the tall wands, bearing their wealth of golden florets, wave gently to and fro, and never lan we mistake the feathery plumes of the larger si)ecies. nr the straisfht woodv stems of the smaller ones, which are so thickl\- crowned by the tinv radiant dowers of this cjueen ot Nature's garden.
It is a more difficult matter, however, to differentiate between the many species of Golden-rod that grow at high
290
YELLOW TO ORANGE
altitudes. The Canada Golden-rod is perhaps the easiest one to recognize, since it is the largest as well as the handsomest of its tribe, and has big branching panicles of close-clustered blossoms, very long, narrow, pointed leaves of a dull grayish- green hue, and stout woody stems, which have a cottony appearance and attain an average height of three feet.
So numerous are the Golden-rods on this continent that it is possible to note only a few of the more conspicuous species which the traveller is likely to find and gather in the course of his wanderings amid the great hills, where
" Along the roadside, like the flowers of gold That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought. Heavy with sunshine droops the golden-rod."
5. decnmbens, or Field Golden-rod, has tall, stiff, wand-like stems, which terminate in dense compact panicles of flowers, and sparse, long, narrow leaves, with even margins. It is very beautiful to walk across the alpine fields, where
" The golden-rod lights slowly Its torch for the Autumn blaze,"
and where the other fall flowers unite to celebrate the pass- ing of summer in a riotous splendour of scarlet, purple, and gold, and there revel in the sun-like smiles of these gay blos- soms that illumine the landscape.
^. vmltiradiata var. scopuloruni, or Northern Golden-rod, is a coarser species with small loose clusters of rather large deep yellow flowers, which terminate the leafy downy stems.
"How deepening bright, like mounting flame, doth burn The golden-rod upon a thousand liills. This is the Autumn's flower, and to my soul A token fresh of beauty and of life, And life's supreme delight."
5. Missouricnsis, or Mountain Golden-rod, has a perfectly smooth slender stem and short, broad, branching panicles of vellow flowers. The leaves are thick and lance-shaped.
I'l.Ai i: 1 xw
Gki:a r-l'i.(>\\ i.Ki I) ( 1 aim akki \ ( LJail/iUi/iii iirisdifi! )
MOUNTAIN FI.OWlJxS ,<.^
with entire nnvj^h niari;iiis. It <;r()\vs in dry soil and rears its clusters of golden hloom where the sunlight and shade interlace at the edge of the forests.
S. fujiiom/is, or Gray Golden-nxl, is so called on ac < ount of its gray-green cotton)- stems and leaves. The latter are lance-shaped and sharpl\- toothed.
Thus we see that the Golden-rods grow e\er\ where, from the high hill-crests to the deej) sweet \alle\s ; that some species attain to a height of six feet under certain very favour- able conditions, w^hile others grow in dwarf aljjine forms, well- nigh prostrate u])on the ground ; some are slender-stemmed, some have stout woodv support ; some bear big branc hing panicles of abundant bloom, while others again have but few- blossoms closely clustered about their erect stalks, ^'et in spite of all these many differences between the \ arious species, the Golden-rods are quite unmistakable as a genus.
GIANT SUNFLOWER
Ilcliantlius i^ii^^anieus. Coinixisite Family
Perennial by fleshy roots and creepinij rootstocks. Stems: erect, his- pid, branched near the summit. Leaves: lanceolate, very roui;h above, pubescent beneath, serrate, acuminate at the ape.x, narrowed at the bast. Flowers: rays spreading, entire: disk-flowers perfect, fertile: corolla tu- bular, the tube short, the limb five-lohed : involucre hemispheric, hirsute.
What the cultivated Sunflower is to the olher dwellers in old-fashioned gardens the wild Giant Sunflower is to the other dwellers in the woodlands, ll is the gorgeous ornament and lord of the localit\-, one of the most conspicuous of all the many flowers that might fairly be designated b\- the term lulios, "the sun," and antJios, "a flower"; for the \ellow Asters. Aplopappi, Gaillardias, Arnicas, and Ragworts are really all equally amenable to this title.
The Giant Sunflower has fi\e large blossoms, coniposi-d »>! numerous bright vellow rays and a disk of perfeit fertile florets. The leaves are lance-shaped and \er\ rough to the touch.
2 94 YKLLOW TO ORANGE
The Irish poet. ]\h»Mrc. referring to this flower as an emblem of constancy, has sung that
•• The sunflower turns on her god when he sets The same look which she turn'd when he rose.*"
But fact, unfortunately, refuses to corroborate his romantic fancv. for alas I the Htliajitlius does not turn its big golden flower-face from east to west to follow the course of the sun god, but, on the contrary, remains in the same position all day long.
In olden days, in Peru and Mexico, this flower occupied an important place both in the mythology and in the sculpture of the countrw and also was employed as a m\"stic and sacred emblem b\" the inhabitants. The maidens who waited upon the sun god in the temple wore on their breasts representa- tions of it executed in beaten gold, and it also was extensively cultivated in the gardens of the priests.
The ancient Greeks believed that the HtliantJius was the incarnation of the nymph Clytie, who by reason of her great love for Apollo sat for nine days upon the ground intentlv gazing at the orb of day, until at length she became rooted to the earth and her face was transformed into the shinin^: disk of the Sunflower.
All these legends tend, perhaps, to increase our interest in this handsome plant, whose brilliant-hued blossoms burn with a golden light in the mountain thickets and whose leaves make a waving of slight shadows across the land.
GREAT-FLOWERED GAILLARDIA
Gaillardia aristata. Composite Familv
Stems : simple, or little branched, hirsute with jointed hairs. Leaves : firm, densely pubescent, the lower and basal ones petioled. oblong, lacin- iate, pinnatifid or entire : upper leaves sessile, lanceolate, entire or den- tate. Flowers: large-peduncled, heads of tubular and radiate riowers ; rays cuneate, three-toothed : bracts of the involucre hirsute.
IM \I I. I XW
MOUNTAIN FL()\\I:RS 2<^7
A gorgeous radiant blossom, with luimcrous bright goltlcn rays, which are three-lobecl at the ai)e.\. and having also a big, fringed, globose, reddish-brown centre, composed of many minute disk-tiowers. The leaves are coarse, the larger ones being toothed half-wa}- in the middle.
There are meadows in the mountains rendered more l)eau- tiful than any others by reason of these great showy (iail- lardias.
Gaillardia Land ! It lies far from the busy marts of men. Blue heavens above, and golden flowers about your feet, and all the world full of a very abandon of colour. Here
"A thou.sand odours rise. Breathed up from blossoms of a thousand dyes."
Ways of peace lead over the fields of rest, and whosoever wanders therein finds sweet food for dreams, and gladness
all the way.
" Blue of a burning, boundless sky. Gold of a boundless, splendid sod ; Prodigal noontide, far and nii^li.
Blue and gold on the plains of God."
HEART-LEAF ARNICA
Arnica LordifoUd. Composite Family
Stems: simple, or sparingly branched. Leaves: basal and lower ones ovate, obtuse and deeply cordate at the base, dentate; stem-leaves in pairs, ovate, sessile, small. Flowers : large long-peduncled heads of both tubular and radiate flowers; receptacle flat; rays sli-luly tooilu-d at the apex.
This is the most common sixvies of Arnica in the moun- tains, and is a handsome plant, standing from .)ne to two teet high. It has ])ale green hairv leaves, which are markedly hetrt-shaped at the base, and many attractive blossoms com- posed of light golden rays, their deep yellow centres consist- ing of numerous disk-fiowers. These blossoms, which are
29S YKLI.OW TO ORANGE
enclosed in a hairy involucre, formed by a series of narrow green bracts, grow singly or in pairs at the ends of the long slender stalks.
A. Chamisso7iis, or Chamisso's Arnica, is an extremely hairy species, usually found near water. The leaves are very long and narrow, and slightly toothed ; the flowers are smaller than those of the Heart -leaf Arnica, and grow in clusters.
A. alpina, or Alpine Arnica, is a graceful delicately formed plant, with long, narrow, toothed leaves, and a single flower terminating each stem. It also frequently has two additional flowers springing from the axils of the upper leaves. Several pairs of leaves grow on the stems, and altogether the plant presents a more slender, refined appearance than do either of the two preceding species.
A. Parry i, or Parry's Arnica, bears a curious flower with no rays at all, but only a receptacle of disk-flowers enclosed in a green involucre. These flower-heads usually grow in threes at the summit of the three short-branched stems. They appear to have simply lost their rays in the early stage of decompo- sition, but such is not the case ; they never had any.
GOLDEN RAGWORT
Senecio BahamitcE. Composite Family
Perennial, often tufted. Stems : slender, woolly at the base and in the axils of the lower leaves. Leaves : basal ones slender-petioled, oblong, very obtuse, crenate : stem-leaves pinnatifid, sessile, small. Flowers : in corymbose many-flowered heads of both tubular and ray-flowers.
This is a very common plant in the mountains. It has bright yellow flowers, which when in seed resemble small thistles. The rich loose clusters of the Golden Ragwort grow to an average height of eighteen inches. The basal leaves have long stalks and are rounded or oblong, with scal- loped edges, while the stem-leaves are long, narrow, and slen- der, and very deep]}' cut. The name Senecio is from sencx,
I'l VIK I.XXXII
MOrX IAIN Kl()\\i;i<^ , ,,
''an old man," and refers to the hoar\ -headed appearance of the plant when in seed, whieh is supposed to resenil)le the silky white hair of the patriarch.
Different species of Rai;\vorts are (|uite numerous at Wv^h altitudes. They all have yellow flowers of various hue.s, shad- ing from i^rimrose to amber and oran,i;e ; hut the (iolden Ragwort is the most abundant of them all. It is j)rincii)ally by their widely dixerse foliage that the StPiu-ios must be distinguished.
So bright and gay are these flowers, and all their fellows of golden mean, that we are compelled to wonder what caused Wordsworth, gentlest of poets and truest of Nature lovers, to write :
" III befall the yellow tiowers. Children of the tlarinij liour.s."
What would the meadows be without the Dandelions, the Sunflowers, the Golden-rods, and the Arnicas .' The land would lose much of its charm in Autumn did not these bril- liant blossoms blazon back the beams of the declining sun.
S. triangularis, or (liant Ragwort, is a large coarse si)ecies with closely set flower-heads and numerous long triangular leaves, strongly veined, and sharply toothed at the edges.
S. caniis, or Silvery Groundsel, is e.xactlv described b\ its name, for it has white silk\' stems and leaxes lukI pale \ellow flowers. It is a small plant and grows on the dr\ ojK-n meadows. The basal leaxes luc oblong and liLive e\en mar- gins, while the tin\' stem-lea\es aie slighth' toothed.
6". lugcns, or Black-tipjX'd (iroundsel, is so called on account of the conspicuous little black tij^s distinguishing the bracts of its involucres, or green cu])s, which hold uj^ the deej) amber-coloured flowers. The basal leaves are \ery long and toothed ; the upper leaves cling closelv to the stem, and are small, bract-like, and smooth.
YELLOW TO ORANGE
MANY-FLOWERED HAWKS BEARD
Crepis elegans. Composite Family
Stems : many from a tap-root, diffusely branched. Leaves : entire, or nearly so, radical ones spatulate, cauline ones lanceolate to linear. Flowers : in small numerous-clustered heads. Fruit : achenes linear-fusi- form, minutely scabrous on equal narrow ribs, attenuate into a short slender beak; pappus copious of very slender white bristles.
The Havvksbeards are all yellow, and their rays are squared and finely toothed at the tips, a characteristic which enables the traveller to at once distinguish them from the Arnicas, to which they bear a strong resemblance.
The Hawksbeards are not very pretty or very interesting flowers, yet they contribute their share of golden strands to Nature's summer carpet.
C. 7iana, or Alpine Hawksbeard, is a small alpine species that grows at an altitude of 8000 feet, on barren rocky ground. It is a tiny plant, forming tufts and bearing many clusters of small flowers.
C. riincinata, or Naked-stemmed Hawksbeard, has a cluster of long-shaped leaves at the base, and slim, almost leafless, stems, terminating in single yellow flowers. It grows in moist soil.
HAIRY HAWKWEED
HieraciuDi Sconleri. Composite Family
Pubescent with long crisp hairs, pale green. Stems: one to two feet high, very leafy. Leaves : lanceolate, sessile. Flowers : in a loose irregular panicle ; involucral bracts imbricated in two or three series ; rays truncate,, five-toothed at the apex.
A lovely plant ! The pale green stems, leaves, and buds,, thickly clothed with fine silvery hairs, and the brilliant golden flowers form an exquisite contrast, delighting the eye of the traveller. This Hawkweed is comparatively rare in the mountains.
IM.Al i: 1 XXXIU
Ci()i.i)i:N Kac.wdim" {St'/itr/i> /uiLuintitu)
MOUXTAIX l'l,()\\i:i^
H. gracilc, or Small liawkwecd, has liny yellow or white flowers borne at the end of the Ion-;, slender, branehin*; stems. They resemble miniature Dandelions and are very abundant. Like the Hawksbeards, the rays ol the liawkweeds are trun- cate, or cut off squarely at the ends, and tinelv toothed.
LARGE-FLOWERED FALSE DANDELION
Tyoxi}nfln glanLiiiii. Conipo.sitL' l";iiiiil\
Stems: scape naked, slender, pubescent. Leaves: all basal, linear, lanceolate, crenulate, acuminate at the apex. Flowers : heads solitary, yellow ; rays truncate, five-toothed.
A flower very like a real Dandelion, but with totalK' dif- ferent foliage. The l^\alse Dandelion ma\- alwa\s be distin- guished by its long ribbon-like leaves, which grow up Irom the base of the plant and have slightly wav\ margins.
T. aiirajitiacum, or Copper False Diuidelion, has deej) orange or copper-coloured flowers, or ver\' occasionally pur- plish flowers.
COMMON DANDELION
Taraxacum officinale 7'ar. lii-iiUini. Composite Family
Scapes and leaves from the crown of a thick vertical root. Leaves: lanceolate in outline, and from irregularly dentate to runcinate-pinnatitid. Flowers: in solitary heads at the summit of the hollow scapes: rays numerous ; involucre a single series of nearly e(|ual narrow bracts, and several calyculate ones, the outer refle.xed, all acute.
"Common" as this Dandelion is named, and common as it is in all the mountain regions, \et it is far from being an ugly or even an uninteresting j)lant. ( )n the contrary, its gorgeous golden blossoms render it extremely attractive. These blossoms consist of from one to two hundred siiap- shaped rays, their blunt tips notched into tiw teeth, which remind us that each rav-Hower was once composed ot five petals. The leaves are boldl\- cut into jagged lobes (suji- posed to resend)le the teeth of a lion, hence the common
3o6
YELLOW TO ORANGE
name Dandelion, derived from the French Dent-de-lion), and these lobes are again cut into secondary points.
As the Dandelion grows old the rays fall off, and it bends downwards until the seed matures ; then, elevating its head once more, it expands into a beautiful, snow-white, airy seed- ball, whose plumes blow away at the slightest puff and float off to find a new resting-place.
T. rupestre, or Alpine Dandelion, is a tiny slender plant with finely cut leaves and small flowers, which seldom grows more than four or five inches high. From the lowlands to the highest levels this.
" Dear common flower that grows beside the way, Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold,"
is to be found.
SOW THISTLE
Sonchiis arvensis. Composite Family
Perennial by deep roots and creeping rootstocks. Stems: leafy below, paniculately branched and nearly naked above. Leaves : lower and basal runcinate-pinnatifid, spinulose-dentate. Flowers : heads several, corym- bose-paniculate, bright yellow, very showy. Fruit : achenes oblong, com- pressed, with about ten rugose longitudinal ribs. Not indigenous.
Every traveller will easily recognize this common Sow Thistle, with its yellow or yellowish flowers and its very prickly leaves. Sometimes it is called Milk Thistle, on account of the milky juices contained in the stems. Like many of the members of the great family of Composites, the Sow Thistle has an involucre of green bracts, a flat naked receptacle, and numerous strap-shaped rays, which are trun- cate and finely toothed. It is a coarse showy weed, and opens its flowers early in the day, closing them again soon after noon.
I'f Al 1. I .\.\\lV
llAiK\ 1 1 A \Wn\\ i:i.i) ( ///t'riit nan A, < 'iiuii )
MOUXTAIN FlOWI.kS .,,,.
NARROW-LEAVED PUCCOON
Lithospt-niiuiii aiioustijoliuin. l;or;i<;(.* l-;iiiiilv
Stems: branched, erect or ascen(liii<^. Leaves: linear, sessile, arutc. Flowers: of two kinds, in terminal leaty racemes; corolla of the earlier ones salver-form, bright yellow, five-lobed, the lobes erose-<lenti( ulate, the throat crested ; later Howers much smaller and pale yellow, t leislo;^- amous, ai)undantly fertile, their pedicels recurved in fruit. Fruit: nullel.s white, smooth, shining, ovoid, more or less pitted, keeled on the inner side.
The French call this Puccoon Plautc aux l\rlis, because of the hard stony seeds that mature in the cal\ x, and whicli, though at first soft and .i;recn, .L;"raduall\ becDinc liard, while, and shining. It is on account of these nutlets tliat the plant is named from the Greek lithos, " a stone," and spcnn, "a seed." The flowers arc a pretty lemon coloiu-, the earlier ones being of a much deeper shade and largei- in size than tli<»se which appear later in the summer. The\' grow in close leaf\- clusters, and have a long, sahcr-form, five -cleft corolla. The steins and leaves are quite downs . This Puccoon grows in small tufts or mats, from six to ten inches high, and is usualK' found on the dry open lands, where its
"Leaves and brandies, crossed and linked. Cling like children and embrace."
YELLOW BEARD-TONGUE
Pcnstt'iiion LOiii'i-)t!(s. I'igwort family
Stems: slender. Leaves: lower ones lanceolate, attenuate below to narrow petioles, mostly entire, the cauline se.ssile by a broad base. Flowers: thyrsus spiciform, interrupted, dense, manyHowcred clusters; corolla very narrow, lower lip consi)icuously bearded within.
The Yellow Heard-tongue grows high up on the mountains. The flowers, which \ar\ in hue from \ellow to cream colour, are set in sevei"al dense clusters round about the stem, encir- cling it at intervals. lM)r fmther information regarding tiie Penstoiious see page 243 in the Blue to Purple Sei-tion.
3IO
YELLOW TO ORANGE
YELLOW MONKEY-FLOWER
Mitnulus Langsdorjii. Figwort Family
Stems: erect Leaves: ovate, sessile, denticulate. Flowers: terminal; calyx ventricose-campanulate; corolla-tube cylinclric, its limb bilabiate, the upper lip erect, two-lobed, the lower lip spreading, three-lobed.
A small plant bearing abnormally' large quaint flowers, bright yellow in colour and usually spotted with brownish- red inside the corolla. The lower three-cleft lip is heavily bearded within by soft fine hairs, and so tiny are the little roundish leaves, and so slim the short stems, that the big bright blossoms appear rather top-heavy for so small a plant. Not actually growing in the water,' but rather on those low marshy islands so frequently set in the middle of the alpine streams, you will find myriads of these Yellow Monkey-flowers nestling amid the mosses and reeds which spring up so luxu- riantlv between the stones by the river's brink.
YELLOW ORTHOCARPUS
Orthocarpiis luteiis. Figwort Family
Stems : strict, erect, branched above, densely leafy. Leaves : ascending, linear, entire or sometimes three-cleft, sessile, long-acuminate; bracts of the dense spike lanceolate. Flowers : in dense spikes, yellow ; calyx tubular, with acute teeth; corolla-tube slender, the limb two-lipped, the upper lip ovate, obtuse, the lower lip saccate, three-toothed.
An uninteresting member of the numerous Figwort Family. It has very dense, slender, erect spikes, covered with tiny leaves and bracts and numerous bright yellow flowers. These flowers have a single upper lip and a three-toothed lower lip. The Yellow Orthocarpus usually grows in dry soil.
IM.AIi: I WW
Sm \i I II AW K\\i:i'.i) ( //u> <!< in/n i^rtuili')
MOUNTAIN KI,()\\1:KS
YELLOW RATTLE
RJii)ia)itlii(s Crista-ii^alli. l-'i^uo.i i .1:1; ii\
Stems : slender. Leaves : lanceolate, sessile, coarsclv serrate-denlalc, arule ; bracts ovate, incised-dentate, the teeth acuminate. Flowers: in terminal, one-sided, leafy-bracted spikes, and solitary in the upper axils; calyx much inflated, conspicuously veiny in fruit ; corolla very irre^^u- lar, two-lipped ; the galea compressed, arched, minutely t\vo-tf)ollicd below the entire apex, the lower lip three-lobed, sijreadini;.
The name Yellow Rattle lias been ;;i\en to this ])lant nn account of the way in which the ripened seeds, which lie loose in the capsules, rattle whenever tlie wind shakes them tc and fro. It is a firm erect i)lant, usuall) .i^rowiii- from si.\ to ten inches high, and chief! \- consi)icuous b\- reason of its inflated green flower-cups and i^right \ellow l)lossoms, the lii)s of which frequently are spotted with puri)]e.
LARGE YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER
Cypripediuui puhcscciis. On hid Family
Stems: leafy. Leaves: oval or elli])tic. acute. Flowers: sepals ovate- lanceolate, longer than the lip. yellowish-green striped with purple; petals very narrow and twisted, lij) much inriatetl. bright yellow with greenish-purple lines, a tuft of white jointed hairs at the top of the interior: stamen sterile, triangular: stigma thick, incurved.
In the dry sun-warmed forests, where the birds trill their sweet antiphons and the smooth surface of the i)ools reflects with steadfast truth the cone-laden branches of tir and pine and the fleecy clouds that float across the a/ure sky. there. unafraid, rejoicing in its weird, idmost unearthly l^eauty. llie Large Yellow Lady's Slipi)er flaunts its gaudy flowers.
At the first sight of these e.\c|uisite orchids, which also grow on the ojx'n arid moraines close to the inunense gla- ciers, vou catch vour breath, and a thrill rinis through all your veins; there they stand, golden-bright, surmnnd.-d In a halo of romance and mxsterv.
314 YELLOW TO ORANGE
There is little need to describe this Cypripcdium, for its showy inflated sac, flanked by long spiral petals and purplish- green sepals, distinguishes it at once, even to the unpractised eye. The leaves of the Large Yellow Lady's Slipper grow alternately on the slender hairy stems, and are large, long- shaped, pointed, many-nerved, and plaited. The name Cypri- pedimn is derived from the Greek, and means Venus 's sock or buskin.
C. parviflonnn, or Small Yellow Lady's Slipper, much resembles the preceding species, but may be easily distin- guished by means of its smaller flowers, the inflated sacs of which are of a much deeper, richer shade of yellow^, and are often marked with reddish-purple spots and lines, and also by its wider oval-shaped leaves and thicker stems.
In July, that exquisite month which lies within the very heart of summer, should )'0u wander amid the mountains when dawn trumpets forth the glittering rise of day, then pause beside some sluggish alpine stream, which lonely lies coiled in sleepy curves, for there, far removed from the haunts of men, you may be fortunate enough to find the fragrant little Cypripedium parvijioriim .
Unlike the Large species, this Small Yellow Lady's Slipper always seeks the seclusion of the hazy hollows and the moist misty woods. Rightly have these lovely sweet-scented flowers been proclaimed
" Golden slippers meet for fairies' feet."
PHILADELPHIA LILY
Liliiivi Philadeiphicum. Lily Family
Bulb composed of narrow, jointed, fleshy scales. Stems : tall, leafy. Leaves : lanceolate, acute at both ends, all verticillate, the margins finely roughened. Flowers : erect ; perianth reddish-orange, of six spread- ing segments, each one gradually narrowed into a claw, purple-spotted below.
I'l.Ai i; i.xxwi
Lar(;1'. Vi:i.L()\v Lady's Siii-I'IK
3'5
MOUN'IAIX FI,()\\i;i<S
Lilies ^Tow in man) c limes and arc of divers hues. Wliitc and yellow, orange and red, tall and stately, they flourish con- spicuously in the valleys and on the mountain tops, beneath blazing tropical suns and close beside the eternal snows.
The Philadelphia Lily is one of the handsomest of the alpine flowers, and early in July its red-tinted tawny bells render the woods attractively gay. As if conscious of their glorv, the large bright blossoms grow erect on tall stems, round which circling clusters of dark green narrow-i)ointe(l leaves are set at intervals ; the outer surface of the segments is ])ale orange, while the open bells are of a vivid reddish hue within, and spotted with purplish-brown. Large anthers crown the si.\ long stamens, and the stigma is three-lobed.
This Lily does not fear the drought of long summer (la\s, but grows in stately splendour in the driest thickets. It has assumed a gorgeous garb of flaming orange in order to attract those insects that pollenize its flowers; for while the brilliant colour quickly attracts the bees, the purplish sj:)ots and lines unerringly point out to them the most direct route to their desired goal, namely, those nectar grooxes which lie at the base of each segment.
Truly was it said that "even Solomon in all his glor\- was not arrayed like one of these"; for the wild orange-red Thila- delphia Lilies shine with a beauty uneciuidled in the alj^iiie forests.
WESTERN LILY
Liliion Colinnhianutfi. Lily Faniilv
Bulb, with lanceolate, acute, closely appres.sed scales. Stems : slender. Leaves : in whorls, scattered above and below, narrowly lane eolatc. sharply acuminate, thin, glabrous. Flowers : racemose, or in whorls on stout pedicels, six segments of the perianth revohite.
This Western Lily somewhat resembles the Turk's-caj^ Lily, for its head is drooped and its Moral leaxes are revolule. or
3l8 YELLOW TO ORANGE
rolled backwards, being bright orange in colour and thickly spotted with purple on the inside. It has six very long sta- mens, which terminate in large, oblong, yellow anthers ; the segments of the perianth are not clawed, as in the Phila- delphia Lily, but are joined together at the base, forming a perfect bell.
As in all the species of Lilium, the bulb consists of a large number of overlapping scales, which are merely thickened, undeveloped leaves, serving as storehouses for the starchy wealth of the plant. Any one of these scales, if separated from the mass, will develop into a tiny bulb.
Very radiant are these clustered Western Lilies, which burn like torches in the green alpine meadows at
" The time when lilies blow, And clouds are highest in the air."
YELLOW ADDER'S TONGUE
Erythronium giganteinn. Lily Family
Stems : scape stout. Leaves : broadly lanceolate, acute, pale green. Flowers : one to several in a terminal raceme ; perianth broadly funnel - form, of six distinct segments : outer ones lanceolate, obtuse ; inner ones narrower, acuminate, with four stout hyaline teeth at base, all strongly revolute.
A lovely yellow flower, frequently called " Snow Lily," from the fact that it grows in such close proximity to the great alpine neves. "Dog-tooth Violet" is yet another name for this plant, and refers more particularly to the white bulb, which is supposed to resemble the canine teeth of a dog.
Adder's Tongue probably refers to the pointed anthers, which are six in number and extremely conspicuous ; but "Snow Lily" is by far the more appropriate designation for a blossom which appears at the edge of the avalanches and follows the retreating line of the snow when the warm spring sunshine melts the great white masses in the valleys and
MOUNTAIN KI.OWKkS .,g
sets the flowers free. At hi<;h altilucles you will often sec numbers of pale green pointed leaves forein<; their way up through the soft covering, and myriads of l)right yellow bhxs- soms rising but a few inches above the thin carpet of frozen crystals. From between two or three of these large leaves (somewhat like those of the Lily-of-the-Vallev) springs the slender stalk, which terminates in a single bud. or occasion- ally in a small raceme of droo])ing golden bells. Soon the six pointed segments of the perianth unfold and expand, gradually rolling backwards until llie\ become comj^letely recurved, leaving the whole length of the stamens e.\j)osed. These segments, or floral leaves, are an e.xcjuisite shade of yellow, softening to cream colour at the base in the centre. The style bears at its summit a deeply three-cleft stigma, each division thereof being also recurved.
Great colonies of Yellow Adder's Tongues grow in the mountains, where their faint fragrance scents the air with a delicious perfume. Late at evening, when beneath the star- sown purple of the sky you return from making some alpine ascent, the pure flames of these wild Lilies gleam in their leafy setting with a pale golden light, and illuminate the green brink of your path ; and when the noonday is glorified, and the flag of the sun floats top-masted in the skies, then
" You see genis in yellow Nodding, each one. to his fellnw, Strewing all the country lanes With divinely huilded fanes. Where the benisons are breathed but never spoken."
MOUNTAIN WILD rLOWl.RS OF CANADA
Section \^ FLOWERING SIIRLI'.S
S TXT TON \^
FLowERixc; siikins
RED BANEBERRY
Actcra spicata 7'ar. ar^^uta. Crowfoot Familv
Stems: one to six feet high from a fascicle of short hranchini^^ roots. Leaves: ternate, the divisions pinnate, with the lower ultimate leariets sometimes again compound, ovate, sometimes obscurely three-lobed, toothed. Flowers : in oblong terminal racemes, sometimes divided towards the base, loose: petals oblong, obtuse. Fruit: berries red, oval, manv- seeded.
The Red Bancbern- is a i)crcnnial licrb, not a shrub; but since it grows to the height of si.\ feet, antl is a very large bushy plant, it has been placed in this Section for greater convenience. The foliage is abundant and c-oluscU \eined, and the tiny flowers, which grow in oblong, close-set, terminal racemes, are feather\' and delicate in ai)|K'arance. This plant usually flourishes in the dense forest glades, where tbe daintv white blossoms and clusters of brigbt red beriies adorning its slender stalks render it both attriictixe and conspicuous.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN GRAPE
Berber is repois. barberry Family
A low glabrous shrub. Leaves: petioled, pinnate, the leatiels three to .seven, ovate, obtuse, truncate at the base, sessile, thick, finely reticulated, dentate with spine-bearing teeth. Flowers: in short racemes, the clusters terminal and axillary, many-tlowered. yellow. Fruit: a globose dark blue berrv.
FLOWERING SHRUBS
This shrub, which is exceedingly ornamental, has yellow wood and bright green foliage, which turns to a lovely reddish colour in the autumn. The tiny vivid yellow flowers grow in short thick clusters ; they have six bracted sepals, with six petals opposite them, also six stamens.
CHOKE CHERRY
Pmnus Mrginiana. Rose Family
A shrub two to ten feet high, or very rarely a small tree, with gray bark. Leaves: thin, obovate, abruptly acute, rounded at the base, sharply serrulate with slender teeth. Flowers- white, in erect or spread- ing, mainly loosely-flowered racemes terminating the leafy branches of the season; calyx five-cleft; corolla of five suborbicular spreading petals. Fruit : a dark red drupe, globose, very astringent, stone globular.
This tall shrub, or tree, bears abundant white blossoms, which grow in long graceful racemes amid the dark green leaves. These leaves are broadly oval in outline and finely edged with numerous tiny sharp teeth. It is in this latter characteristic that the Prunus differs materially from Ame- lancJiier ahiifolia, or Service-berry, with which it is some- times confused. The Service-berry has smaller roundish leaves, edged above the middle with marked teeth, and its blossoms are larger and fewer in number.
The Choke Cherry grows from looo to 3000 feet above sea level, and the profusion of its snowy sweet-scented flower- clusters, which are followed in due course by the dark red semi-transparent fruit, renders it a great ornament to the alpine mountain sides. This fruit is edible, but very astrin- gent, and contains a tiny round stone.
!'! \ I !. ! ^
Kid 1. \n i.I'.i i<k\
I'l \l I 1 WW III
MOIW'IAIX l'l()\\l.k.< .^^^
GOAT'S BEARD
Spin/ui .Inouus. Rose Familv
Stems: erect, bracled. Leaves: loniipetiolL-d, ijinnatc, ihrce-to-sevcii foliolate ; leaHets ovate, lanceolate, thin, acute at the apex, rounded al the base, sharply doubly serrate. Flowers: in Ion;;, slender, panicled spikes, erect or spreading.
This is another tail, shrub-like, ])erennial herb, placed in this Section for greater convenience. It is quite unmistakable, as it grows from three to ten feet high in the rich soil of the wet valleys, and bears numerous long show\- ])lumes of closelv clustered, minute, creamy flowers rising above its masses of luxuriant strongly veined foliage. Thus the (}«)at's Ik'ard is both decorative and conspicuous. The tinv flowers are formed of a five-lobed calwx and fi\c i)etals, and the seeds are \erv small and shining.
SALMON-BERRY
Rubus Nuikanus. Rose I'amily
Erect, branched, verv slightly biistl\ . Leaves : jtctioled, sinii)le, cordate at the base, three-to-tive lobed, the lobes acute, the middle one ."^liiiluly longer than the others, all coarsely and unequally serrate. Flowers : white, few, corymbose, terminal : caly.x-lobes tipped with a long slender appen- dage. Fruit : depressed-hemispheric, edible, red when ripe.
The five snow-white crinkled petals of the Salmon-berry look verv frail and i)rett\- when seen amid the dense coarse foliage of this large bushv shrub. The flower is formed like a miniature white rose, and has numerous liny stamens .set around the convex receinacle in which are inserleil the carjxds that ultimatel\- ripen into drupelets and form an aggregate red fruit.
The Salmon-berry grows abundantly in the
'* High-wooded hollows, where serenely rest The lazy clouds, like giants in repose."'
flow?:rixg shrubs
SHRUBBY CINQUEFOIL
Potentilla fniticosa. Rose Family
Stems : erect or ascending, much branched, very leafy, the bark shreddy. Leaves: pinnate ; leaflets fiye to seven, oblong, acute at each end, silky-pubescent, the margins revolute. Flowers : terminal, densely cymose or solitary, bright yellow ; petals five, nearly orbicular in out- line, exceeding the five ovate calyx-lobes and five bractlets.
In July and August the dry sunny alpine meadows are rendered gay by these lovely bright yellow Cinquefoils, which resemble large buttercups and grow on low bushy shrubs, amid much silvery foliage, composed of tiny compound leaves covered with a soft silky down. The bark on the slender stems is extremely shreddy.
PRICKLY ROSE
Rosa acicularis. Rose Family
Steins: densely prickly. Leaves: pinnate; leaflets large, five to seven, oval-lanceolate, coarsely toothed. Flowers: solitary; petals pink, broadly obovate; sepals entire, acuminate, persistent and erect upon the fruit. Fruit : globose, glabrous.
The bush on which this Rose grows is about three feet high and bears lovely, fragrant, pale pink flowers. The leaves are large and very dark green, and the stems are covered with many tiny, fine, straight prickles. All the wild Roses display a preference for the number five, having five petals and five sepals.
No flower in the world has been so famous in poetry and song as the Rose. Its beauty and fragrance have won for it an honoured place in the annals of history, in classic lore, and in the glowing pages of romance.
" Was ever blossom lovelier than the rose .^^ " Surely not. Nor can we agree with Juliet when she says :
'' That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet,"
I'l Ai i: i.xxxix
S.\I.M()^-HI.KK^
I'l All XC
I'KK Kl.\ Ko-^l. {A'osti iuiiiiiitns)
3 VI
MOIXTAIX MOW i:k>
For to us the Rose symbolizes those thin<;s which are leiuler and exquisite in hfe, and the sweet wild dweller in the forest is the fairest tiower of them all.
" If June were mine. 1 \\ weave for you — Of roses red and skies of jjlue,
Of golden sun and orchard sheen,
Of blossom-fretted damascene — A veil of every petal-hue.
*' And from the morning mists of dew Distil a fairy stream, that through
The woods should wend a wav serene, If June were mine.
" And, ere the purple dusk anew The curtains of the sunset drew, Adown the river's dream demesne, I'd paint a path incarnadine. And drift into the dawn with you, If June were mine."
R. Macounii, or Macoun's Rose, is another sjiecies which grows among the mountains. Note that it has small leaves, and that on its stems grow a few large, wideK' separated, hooked thorns. Otherwise it resembles A', acicularis, antl the flowers of the two bu.shes are ahnosl identicalU' alike. When
'' The last rose of summer. Left blooming alone."
hangs on the bush siu'rounded b\- the fallen petals of her companions, then
" Scarlet berries tell wliere bloomed thr sweet wilil rose."
and Nature spreads a feast of ripe red fruit for the binls of the air.
336 FLOWERING SHRUBS
I cannot refrain from closing this brief mention of the Rose with a quotation from a poem by Isabella Valancy Crawford, the sweetest singer of songs Canada ever knew :
'•' The rose was given to Man for this : He, sudden seeing it in later years, Should swift remember Love's first lingering kiss. And Grief's last lingering tears.
■< Or, being blind, should feel its yearning soul Knit all its piercing perfume round his own, Till he should see on Memory's ample scroll All roses he had known."
WESTERN MOUNTAIN ASH
Pyrus sa?nbucifolia. Rose Family
Leaves : alternate, pinnate ; leaflets seven to fifteen, lanceolate, short- pointed at the apex, sharply serrate, glabrous and dark green above, pale and more or less pubescent beneath. Flowers : white, in terminal com- pound cymes ; calyx-tube urn-shaped, five-lobed, not bracteolate : petals five, spreading, short-clawed. Fruit : a small, red, berry-like pome, bitter.
This is the Rowan Tree of the mountain regions, and a handsome shrub or tree it is, sometimes attaining a height of twenty feet, but usually growing only from six to fifteen feet high.
The leaves are dark green on the top and a much paler hue beneath. The flower-buds are a delicate shade of creamy pink, and turn white when they expand in the sunshine, the wide- open blossoms having a darkened appearance in their centres, caused by the numerous stamens. This shrub is found at great altitudes, growing close to the ^(\g^ of perpetual snow and bearing quantities of splendid foliage and huge clustered cymes of soft-tinted flowers, which diffuse an extremely pungent odour.
MOUNTAIN M.()\\i:k^
The Rowan Tree is famed in \crse and Ic-cnd. but .surely no tenderer poem was ever i)enned in its honour than the old immortal song :
" O Rowan tree ! O Rowan tree ! thou 'It aye be dear to me : Entwined thou art wi' niony ties o* hame and infancv. Thy leaves were aye the first o' sprin<,^ thy fiowers the simmer's pride; There was nae sic a bonnie tree in a' the countrie side.
O Rowan tree !
" How fair wert thou in simmer time, wi' a' thy clusters white I How rich and gay thy autumn dress, wi' berries red and \)x'v^\\\. \ We sat aneath thy spreading shade ; the bairnies round thee ran : They pu'd thy bonnie berries red, and necklaces they Strang,
O Rowan tree I "
SERVICE-BERRY
A7nela)iLJiit')al III folia. Rose P'amilv
A shrub three to six feet high, more or less tomentose-pubescent when young, at length glabrate throughout and somewhat glaucous. Leaves : thick, broadly elliptic or orbicular, very obtuse, and often truncate at the apex, rounded or subcordate at the base, coarsely dentate above llie mid- dle. Flowers : white, in short racemes, rather dense ; petals five, oblan- ceolate, cuneate. Fruit: a globose pome, purple with a bloom, sweet.
This is the low pearly-flowered shrub which grows on the sandy banks and fiats, and which the Indians call Siiskuitooii, for its sweet purple berries form a staple article of food with them during the months of July and August. Ii somewhat resembles the Choke Cherry, but its greenish-while blossoms are laro:er and have long narrow iK'tals ; also its leaves arc oval, with flattened ends, and are \ery coarsely toothed above the middle, whereas those of the Choke Cherry are oblong, pointed, and finely toothed all roimd the edges. The l)ark of the little branches of the Service-berry is reddish, and the young leaves are quite j-jale and downy underneath.
338 FLOWERING SHRUBS
BRISTLY GOOSEBERRY
Ribes setosiun. Saxifrage Family
Stems : with infra-axillary spines, slender, spreading, sometimes none ; bristles usually numerous, scattered. Leaves : slender-petioled, broadly ovate in outline, five-lobed, the lobes incised-dentate. Flowers : greenish- white : calyx-tube cylindric, longer than the oblong lobes : stamens not exserted. Fruit : a globose purple berry, pulpy, the calyx persistent on its summit, sparingly bristly or often glabrous.
The bush on which this Bristly Gooseberry grows is found in the shady woods, and attains an average height of three feet. The flowers are greenish-white and very insignificant, and the fruit consists of a small purple pulpy berry, which is sweet to the taste.
RED CURRANT
Ribes riibrufn. Saxifrage Family
Unarmed. Leaves : pubescent beneath, orbicular, three-to-five lobed, cordate at the base, the lobes obtuse, sharply dentate. Flowers : in greenish to purplish racemes, pendulous, loosely flowered ; calyx flat, campanulate ; stamens short. Fruit : red, glabrous.
This is the wild counterpart of our cultivated Garden Cur- rant. In the shadowy depths of the mountain forests the pendent tassels of tiny greenish or purplish flowers are seldom noticed, and the small red fruit is not at all palatable, being extremely acid and possessing a woody flavour.
DEVIL'S CLUB
Fatsia horrida. Ginseng Family
Stems: stout, two to twelve feet high, decumbent at the base, leafy at the summit, very prickly throughout. Leaves: palmately lobed. Flowers: the greenish-white capitate umbels in a long dense raceme ; calyx-teeth obsolete ; petals five, valvata in the bud ; stamens five, alternate with the petals ; filaments filiform. Fruit: drupaceous.
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MOUNTAIN Flow I:KS , , ,
A tall shrub consist in-- of a sini;lc stout stem tovci' long sharp spines, whic h arc extremely poisonous. It usually grows about six or eight teet high, and has huge palm-like leaves, which are also ])rickl\ . The ilowers grow in a dense cluster at the top of the stem; and in time turn into bright red berries.
This })lant should be carefullv avoided in the forests. It has been rightly named "Devil's Club," since no human being may touch it with impunitw
RED-STEMMED DOGWOOD
Con/us stoloiiifcra. Dogwood P'amily
Stems: red. Leaves: slcnder-petioled. ovate, acuminale at the apex, rounded at the base, entire. Flowers: in cvmes. tlat-topped; petals white. Fruit : globose, blue.
A handsome shrub, with bright red stems and numerous
flat-topped clusters of prett\' little greenish-white tlowers.
which have a very fragrant odour. The Western Indians call
it Kiiinikijuiic, and dr\- and use the inner bark in place of
tobacco; while the half-breeds of the plains call it lIarougi\
signifying *'a red switch."
RED-BERRIED ELDER
Sanibiicus raccinosd. I lone^suckle Family
Stems: woody. Leaves: pinnately compound : leaflets lanceolate, acu- minate at the apex, sharply serrate. Flowers: iu thyr.soid cymes, white to yellowish. Fruit: small, scarlet.
This shrub, which grows from ten to thirt\ feet high aiHl has spreading branches and ami)le foliage, is wiilely distributed over the continent. In fields and forests, by the n»ad.sides and in neglected gardens, you will tind it sjM-in.ging up and thriving with undaimted iKudihood amid the most barren sur- roundings. It also grows at many elevations, being >een in
344 FLOWERING SHRUBS
quantities at the sea level and also flourishing abundantly at an altitude of 6000 and 7000 feet. The leaves are divided into from five to seven leaflets, and the creamy fragrant flowers grow in elongated clusters at the ends of the branches. The fruit is a bright scarlet drupe, with a pungent acid flavour. 5. melanocarpa, or Black-berried Elder, does not grow quite so luxuriantly as the preceding species, yet its sweet-scented misty clusters adorn many a patch and thicket. The fruit, as the name denotes, is a rich blue-black colour and very juicy. It is from this shrub that Elderberry wine is made.
ARROW-WOOD
Vibur}iuui pauciJJoruni. Honeysuckle Family
Leaves : broadly oval, obovate, with three rather shallow lobes above the middle, coarsely and unequally dentate, glabrous above, more or less pubescent beneath. Flowers: white, in compound cymes, all perfect and small ; corolla campanulate, five-lobed. Fruit : drupes globose, bright red, acid.
A straggling shrub growing from two to six feet high and bearing many small clusters of tiny white and pinkish flowers, whose bell-shaped corollas are divided into five lobes above the middle and are pointed and coarsely toothed.
SNOW-BERRY
Sy>?iphoriLarpHs raceniosus var. paiicifiorus. Honeysuckle Family
Leaves : opposite, broadly oval, entire, softly pubescent. Flowers : solitary in the upper axils, and two or three in the terminal spike; corolla campanulate, five-lobed, bearded within ; stamens and style included. Fruit : a white berry.
When in flower this low spreading shrub bears its small white or pinkish bells in tiny clusters at the ends of the numerous upright branches, and also singly in the upper axils of the leaves. When in fruit the pretty, white, waxen berries
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render the Symphoncarpus both e()ii>i)ie imus awX all rae live These berries are oval in the early sta,i;es oi devciopmcnt, when with their snowy weight they bend down the flexible branches, and become rounded at maturity. They contain two brown bony seeds, embedded in the -ranular cellular pulj). The dark green leaves are broadlx o\al in sha|)c and have smooth margins.
The Snow-berry is frequentl\- culti\ated in giuxlens as an ornamental shrub.
INVOLUCRED FLY-HONEYSUCKLE
LoJiitcra in^'oluerata . Honeysuckle Kaniilv
Leaves: ovate or oval, acute or acuminate at the apex, narroweii .ii the base; peduncles axillary: bracts foliaceous, ovate: hractlets also large, at length surrounding the fruit. Flowers: in pairs, yellow: corolla pubescent, funnel-form, the limb five-lobed. the lobes short, little si)rea(l- ing ; stamens and style slightly exserted. Fruit: berries nearly black.
This is one of the small-flowered I Ione\ suckles which grow in the form of a bushy shrub. It bears yellow fimnel-tonn twin blossoms, terminating the long slender jK'duncles which spring from the axils of the leaves. These blossoms are conspic- uously involucred (hence the common name) by large broad leaf-like bracts, which are green in the flowering season and turn a warm reddish colour in autunm. when surrounding the fruit. The five stamens j^rotrude slightly beyond the corolla, but the style is much exserted, and is tipjK'd by a large anther.
The Fly-Honeysuckle is a straggling shrub, growing fn.m two to six feet high; the leaves are long-shaped and ha\e hairv margins, and when in fruit the reddish-black berries art- joined together in jxiirs. It is not a plant that i^ like' attract the traveller's interest, for it is noticeable only b\ um- son of its rich luxuriant foliage, since the Howers arc small and the berries cjuite dark in hue.
50
FLOWERING SHRUBS
BUSH FLY-HONEYSUCKLE
Lonicera Utahcnsis. Honeysuckle Family
Leaves : oblong, subcordate at the base, obtuse, glabrous ; peduncles axillary ; bracts short. Flowers : corolla campanulate, obtusely saccate at the base, bilabiate, the lobes short; style included. Fruit: red berries, nearly distinct, globular.
This Fly-Honeysuckle grows from three to five feet high, and is branching and very bushy. The leaves are oblong and l^right green and have wavy smooth margins. The pale yel- low flowers, whose corollas are cleft into two lips, grow in pairs on long slender peduncles from the axils of the leaves, and are subtended by small bracts, in which latter respect they differ materially from the Involucred Fly-Honeysuckle, which has very large broad bracts. The fruit consists of egg- shaped berries, which are more or less joined together and are of a lovely translucent scarlet colour, —
" Like a double cherry, seeming parted."
BLUEBERRY
Vacciniuin ovalifoliitni. Huckleberry Family
Leaves : alternate, oval, short-petioled, glabrous on both sides, rounded at both ends or somewhat narrowed at the base, thin, entire. Flowers: white and pink, commonly solitary in the axils on rather short recurved pedicels ; calyx-limb slightly toothed ; corolla globose-ovoid, toothed ; stamens ten. Fruit : a many-seeded blue berry with a bloom, acid.
There are in the mountain regions many species of Vac- cijiium that bear edible berries, but the Blueberry and the Black Vaccinium (a description of which is given below) are the most conspicuous in fruit, the former having blue berries covered with a rich soft bloom and possessing an acid though not unpalatable flavour, and the latter having purplish-black berries that are quite sweet and pleasant to the taste.
The Blueberry is a branching shrub, growing from three to ten feet high, and has smooth twigs that are sharply angled
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353
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at the joints. The leaves are oval, ^reeii above and tovcreil with a whitish bloom beneath. The small i)ink and white flowers are formed like tiny toothed bells, and ^tow sin^^ly at the ends of the slender recurved stalks, which causes them to droop downwards. The berries also are pendent.
V. iji-j7nbm}iaceui)i, or Black Vaccinium, is not so tall as the preceding species, seldom attaining a height of six feet. The leaves are larger than those of the l^lueberrv, and are green on both sides and finely it([\iKii\ with \cr\- tinv teeth. The flowers are globular, and from their rounded corollas the long style protrudes. The recurved a.xillary stalks, which bear the blossoms, become upright in fruit and thus hold erect the large, sweet, purple-black berries, which ha\e no bloom.
WOOLLY LABRADOR TEA
Ledutu latifoliiiin. Ucalh I-"ainily
Stems: erect or ascending, the bractlets ru.sty-tomento.sc. Leaves: oblong, obtuse, green and slightly rugose above, densely tonu-ntu.se beneath, the wool soon ferruginous, and the margins strongly revolute. Flowers: umbellate or corymbose, numerous, terminal; j)etals live, spreading ; pedicels brown-canescent, recurved in fruit.
This lovely flowering shrub thrives chiefh on l(>wd\ing flats
and in wet marshy places, where its large terminal clusters of
snow-i^vhite blossoms grow abundantU' from stick\ scalv buds
on the low bushes. The foliage of the \\'ooll\- Labrador Tea is
strictly characteristic, for the leaves are long-shajK'd. with re\o-
lute margins, green and slighth- wrinkled on the lop and
densely woolly underneath, the wool in the develojK'd foliage
being the colour of iron rust. Hiis thick woolly growth is
probably designed for the e.\])ress purpose of protecting the
pores of the leaves from becoming clogged bv the moist
vapours that must necessarih rise round about them, owing
to the e.xtremelv wet ground in which the shrubs flourish.
356 FLOWERING SHRUBS
Plants that grow in very clamp localities are specially depend- ent upon the free perspiration of their leaves to throw off the vast quantities of moisture they absorb through their roots and stems ; consequently such marsh shrubs as the Labra- dor Teas are forced to adopt a regular system in order to prevent the pores of their leaves from becoming so congested with moisture from outside that they cannot perform their legitimate function of throwing off the moisture from within. The small branches are also covered with red, rusty, wool-like hairs.
The flower-clusters are very beautiful, each individual blos- som consisting of five pure white petals, with a large green ovary set in the centre ; the style and numerous long stamens are very conspicuous. Both the flowers and leaves have a strong aromatic fragrance.
L. crlcindiilos2im, or Smooth-leaved Labrador Tea, has also long-shaped, thick, leathery leaves of a brownish-green hue, but they are not woolly underneath, being quite smooth on both sides, though slightly white and resinous below. The flower-clusters closely resemble those of L. latifoliit^n.
The name Labrador Tea is derived from the fact that many old settlers, and also campers and lumbermen in the back- woods, formerly used in place of tea a decoction brewed from the aromatic leaves of this shrub.
WHITE MOUNTAIN RHODODENDRON
Rhododendron albiflorum. Heath Family
Leaves : membranaceous, oblong, obscurely undulate. Flowers : from separate one-to-three flowered, lateral, scaly, cone-like buds below the leaves ; calyx five-parted, the divisions more or less foliaceous ; corolla five-lobed ; filaments bearded at the base, open-campanulate ; stamens ten ; style peltate, five-lobed.
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This is one of the most beuutilul tlowerin;; shrubs found growing on the highest mountains.
" Oh, the windin^^^s up and down That the dizzy pathway took .' Now along the craggy bed Of a sun-dried mountain brook ; Now along a ledge that led By a chasm's crumbling brink, Dropping deep and sheer away Through the golden Syrian day To the dreamy blur of pink That the oleanders made, — Here in sun, and there in shade. Up, and up, and up we went. While, a spacious azure tent, Arabesqued with morn, the sky Hung above us radiantly."
Had the poet who penned these lovely lines referred to
. . . the creamy blur of white That the rhododendrons made,
his verses would as fitl\- have described the finding of the exquisite waxen bells of the Mountain Rhododendron as that of
" The dreamy blur of i)ink That the oleanders made,"
for it is on the most inaccessible ledges, and close to the great slopes of eternal snow, that the oblong glossy green leaves of this alpine shrub gleam brightly in the sunshine of the July days, and the slim, stiff, brown stems bear aloft clustering circles of pure white flowers, holding within their chaliceH'ui)s the ten pale yellow stamens and the style. The edges of the foliage are slightlv wavy, the calyx is fne-parted, each division resembling a small leaf, and the corolla is bell-shaped ami cut into five rounded lobes. The buds are scal\- and cone-like.
3 bo
FLOWERING SHRUBS
SMOOTH MENZIESIA
Menziesia glabella. Heath Family
Leaves : alternate, obovate, obtuse and glandular-mucronate at the apex, pale glaucous and glabrous beneath, sparingly pubescent above, the margins entire, crenulate, ciliolate. Flowers : one to five in umbels, cream and pink, spreading, becoming erect ; calyx five-lobed ; corolla urn-shaped, four-toothed; stamens eight, included. Fruit: seeds long- appendaged at each end.
li you wish to be quite certain that the shrub before you is really Menzicsia glabella, just break off a branch and smell it, and you will at once perceive the peculiar pungent odour of the skunk emanating from its stems and foliage. The bush grows erect to the height of six feet and bears abundant foliage. The leaves are small, (jval, and pale green, and have even wavy hairy margins. The flowers are little roundish pink and creamy urn-shaped bells, which terminate the long slender stalks, and are four-lobed, having eight stamens within their cups. They grow in umbels at the ends of the twigs, and also encircle the stems just below the topmost clusters of leaves. When in fruit the seeds are characterized by long appendages at each end.
SILVER-BERRY
ElcFagnus argeutca. Oleaster Family
Stoloniferous, silvery-scaly, much branched. Leaves : alternate, oblong, ovate, densely silvery-scurfy on both sides, acute or obtuse. Flowers : one to three in the axils, pedicelled, fragrant ; perianth silvery without, yellow within, tubular below, the upper part campanulate, four-lobed, the lobes ovate. Fruit : oval, silvery.
A most extraordinary and attractive shrub, growing from two to twelve feet high and entirely covered with a lovely silver coating. The leaves are small and very crinkled and wavy, and the flowers quite tiny, their bell-shaped four-lobed corollas being silvery on the outside and pale yellow within. The stems, branches, leaves, and fruit are completely silvered over and thus may be readily distinguished.
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CANADA BUFFALO-BERRY
Shepherdia Canadensis. Oleaster Family
Leaves : ovate or oval, obtuse at the apex, rounded or narrowed at the base, green and sparingly stellate-scurfy above, densely silverv stellalc- scurfy beneath, some of the scurf brown. Flowers : in short spikes at the nodes of the twigs, yellowish, buds globose ; perianth four-iohed. Fruit: oval, drupe-like, red or yellow.
This shrub somewhat resembles EUcag}ius ar^cutca, but is not nearly so silvery in appearance, the stems bein<; covered with a brown scurf and the leaves bein^^ <,n-een and sli«;hlly brown-scurfy on the top and silver-coated only imderneath. The yellow flowers are small and <;-row in short spikes at the joints of the twigs; the fruit consists of a bright scarlet or yellow berry, the flesh of which is edible, though very insipid, and contains a tiny smooth nut.
The Canada Buffalo-berry grows from four to eight feet high, usually near water, and when in fruit is extremely ornamental.
ROUGH-FRUITED DISPORUM
Dispornni iracJiycarpion. Lib I'amilv
Leaves : alternate, ovate or oval, acute at the ape.x. rounded at the base, five-to-eleven nerved, sessile. Flowers : terminal, one to three on long pedicels, greenish-white or greenish-yellow : perianth narrowly cam- panulate, its six segments narrowly oblong, acute, little, spreading; sta- mens six, hypogynous: style slender, three-lobed. Fruit: berrv rough- ened, depressed-globose.
As its name implies, the Kough-truiied Disj^oriun has a berry with a rough coat ; it is apparenih' leather\- rather tlian pulpy, and contains from foiu- to eighteen seeds. This plant is not a real shrub, but is a shrub-like herb with slender rootstocks, and branching stems that are scal\ below anti leafy above. It usuall\- grows in the dense woods and attains an average height of two feet. The lea\es, whith somewhat
364 FLOWERING SHRUBS
resemble those of Streptopus aniplexifoliiis^ are oval and strongly nerved, very pointed at the apex and rounded at the base. The flowers usually grow in twos or threes at the ends of the slender wand-like branches, where they hang pendent on their thready stalks. They are creamy or green- ish-yellow in hue, and have a floral cup that is cut into six equal narrow segments and holds six long stamens, tipped by large oblong anthers, and a three-lobed style.
MOUNTAIN WILD FLOW I.KS OF CANADA
Section \'I MISCELLANl-orS
Sfxtion VI MISCELLANEOUS
SPIKED WATER MILFOIL
Myriophyllum spicaium. Water Milloil Family
Submerged leaves: in whorls of fours and tives, dissected into capillarv divisions. Floral leaves : ovate, entire or serrate, usually shorter than the flowers, or sometimes none. Flowers : white, in spikes : petals four : stamens eight. Fruit: splitting at maturity into four bony, one-seeded, indehiscent carpels, which are rounded on the back, with a deep wide groove between them, smooth, or very rarely slightly rugose.
This is an aquatic herb, with subnicri;ccl, spreading;, thready leaves set in whorls of four or five round the thick stems. Sometimes it has floral leaves that are verv small and usually shorter than the blossoms. The name Myriopliyl- hi7U is from the Greek and means " myriad-leavetl." The flowers are minute and white-])eta]]ed and ^i^row in tiny in- terrupted spikes.
MARE'S TAIL
Hippnris -riilj^nn's. Water Milloil F.imily
Stems : slender, glabrous. Leaves : linear or lanceolate, acute, sessile, in crowded verticels of six to twelve, more or less sphacelate at the apex. Flowers: small, axillary; caly.x-limb minute, entire: petals none: stamen one, with a short thick filament and comparatively large two-celled anther dehiscent by lateral slits. Fruit : a small, one-celled, onc-secdcd drupe.
This is also an ac|uatie herb, with slender erect stems, bearinf,^ circles of from si.\ to twelve narrow leaves in the
368 MISCELLANEOUS
axils and curious tiny flowers that have no petals and only one stamen inserted on the margin of the calyx. The plant grows from eight to twenty inches high.
STRAWBERRY ELITE
Chenopodium capitatiun. Goosefoot Family
Stems : ascending, erect, or prostrate, commonly much branched. Leaves: sinuate-dentate, cordate or reniform, the apex and basal lobes acute. Flowers: sessile in the axils and on the sides of the upper part of the stem, small, greenish, becoming bright red in fruit. Fruit: some- what resembling a strawberry.
Strawberry Elite, or Indian Strawberry, as it is sometimes called, is a very appropriate name for this plant, which flour- ishes best in newly up-turned or half-cultivated soil, where its pale green foliage and bright red fruit render it conspicuous. The leaves are halbert-shaped, thin, and pointed both at the apex and at the ends of the basal lobes, the margins being more or less indented. The flowers are small and greenish, but the developed fruit is extremely attractive in appearance, consisting of a brilliant red pulpy berry, which has numerous seeds embedded in its wrinkled surface, similar to those which cover the exterior of the Garden Strawberry.
WATER PERSICARIA
Polygonum afuphibium. Buckwheat Family
Aquatic, perennial, glabrous when mature. Stems : floating or sub- merged, simple or sparingly branched. Leaves : oblong, elliptic, petioled, obtuse, sometimes ciliate ; ocreae cylindric, those of the branches often longer than the internodes, their limbs sometimes spreading. Flowers: small, in a terminal raceme, dense, erect ; calyx rose colour, five-parted ; stamens five, exserted ; style two-cleft, exserted. Fruit : achenes orbicular- oblong, lenticular, biconvex, black, smooth, shining.
The dense rose-coloured spikes of the Water Persicaria may frequently be seen rising above the surface of some
MOUNTAIN FLOWKRS ,^^
forest pool, or frin*;-ini;- its borders. As Knierson has so ajjllv described it,
'' Rosy polygonum, hikc-mari^in's i)ri<ic."
is one of the prettiest aquatic i)lants amonj^sl the niouniains. The stems often grow twenty feet in length; sometimes they float, and sometimes they are immersed beneath the waters. The leaves are oblong-elliptic and smooth, and from two to four inches long.
WESTERN DOCK
Rtimex occidentalis. lUickwhcat Family
Stems : stout, strict, erect, leafy, strongly grooved, simple or sparingly branched. Leaves: lanceolate, papillose, obtuse at the apex, cordate at the base, long-petioled. Flowers : green panicle rather dense, erect, flowers loosely whorled ; calyx six-parted, pale green : wings trianguiate- ovate, undulate.
A large coarse plant growing several feet high, with a strongly grooved stem, huge, long-shaped, bluish-green leaves that are crisped and wavy -margined, and i)anicles of green flowers set in loose whorls near the ape.x of the stalks. These flowers have no petals, but only a green si.\-i)arted caly.x, the three outer divisions of which remain unchanged in fruit, while the three inner sepals dexelop into wings.
R. acetosa, or Sorrel, is a much smaller plant and has arrowhead-shaped leaves.
BLACK CROW-BERRY
Empt'truiii nigrum. Ciow-herry Famil\-
Much branched, the branches spreading, densely leaty. Leaves: linear-oblong, crowded, thick, obtuse, the strongly revolute margins roughish. Flowers: very small, purplish, solitary in the ui)per axils: sepals and petals mostly three. Fruit: a black drui)e. containing six lo nine nutlets.
This black-berried herbaceous shrub resembles a Heath, and grows in large dense mats on the mountai?i si.l.-s .u In-h
370
MISCELLANEOUS
altitudes. The numerous short branches are thickly covered with tiny narrow leaves ; the purplish flowers are inconspicu- ous, and the berries, which are large, round, and of a dull black colour, are a favourite fruit with the alpine birds.
JUNIPER
Juniperus nana. Pine Family
A depressed rigid shrub. Leaves: all subulate, rigid, spreading, channelled and whitened on the upper surface, densely clothing the twigs, verticillate in threes. Flowers : in aments, axillary. Fruit : cones globose, berry-like, blue.
A very depressed, almost prostrate species of Juniper, which forms on the ground large circular patches that some- times extend to ten feet in diameter. It grows at extremely high altitudes, and is one of the last signs of vegetation en- countered near the treedine. The leaves, which densely cover the branches, are channelled, and sometimes whitened on the surface ; they are set in verticels of three on the twigs. The cones are berrydike, being rounded, smooth, and dark blue.
LYALL'S LARCH
Larix Lyallii. Pine Family
A small tree ; branches horizontal and ascending, the branchlets and bud-scales densely pubescent with whitish hairs. Leaves : narrowly linear, without sheaths, in fascicles on short, lateral, scaly, bud-like branch- lets, deciduous. Flowers : in aments, short, lateral, monoecious, staminate from leafless buds, the fertile buds commonly leafy at the base, red. Fruit : cones oblong, promptly deciduous.
Lyall's Larch is a very lovely tree. It is not an evergreen. In September, if you look up to where the conifers greet the edge of the great white neves, you will see a zone of glorious flaming yellow foliage adorning the crags and cliffs, and separating the rich green Hemlock, Spruce, Pine, and Fir from the purity of the perpetual snows. This yellow sheen
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is the autumn dress of the LyalTs Larches; lor when the l)ricf alpine summer is past the leaves of these beautiful trees, which grow in clusters out of woody cups, and in JnK .u.- r, tender pale green, turn gnldcn-hued before the)- tall.
The cones are small and daint)- and soon tlro|) oft. it is very pleasant to i)ause awhile amongst a grove of these exquisite feathery apple-green Larches, and recall the words of one who said :
"Behind me lay the forests hushed w ith sleej) :
Above me in its <;ranite majestx', Sphinx-like, the peak thro' silent centuries
Met the eternal question of the skv. \'ictor at last — throned on the cra^jged hei^^dit —
I scan the green steeps of the mountain side
Where late I toiled. The forest lands stretch wide. And in deep valleys farms gleam far and white, Vistas of distance break upon my si^^ht.
The peopled plain creeps to tiie sky's blue rim.
Where new peaks gather substanceless and dim. As half-remembered dreams at noontime light.
"Between two silences my soul tloats still
As any white cloud in this sunny air.
No sound of living breaks upon my ear. No strain of thought — no restless human will —
Only the virgin (luiet, every wiiere —
Earth never seemed so far. or Heaven so near. In the awed silence of this dim hitjh place
One keepinj^ vii]^il miijht not fear, indeed,
If it befell him as that man of old. Who in the mountain met Cod face to lace."
COTTON-GRASS
EriopJionnn iiifiitiituiii. .Sed;;e 1- .imily
Perennial l)y rootstocks. Stems: culm obtusely irianijul.i;. ^;.... smooth, slender. Leaves: liliform. channelled: sjjikclet terminal, solilar)'. erect ; involucre none : scales si)irally imbricated, ovate lanceolaie. long-acuminate, purplish-brown, membranous : bristles numerous, white
or slitrhtlv vellowish. weak.
374 MISCELLANEOUS
Close beside the margins of the alpine lakes and streams may this soft fluffy-headed sedge be found. It has a tall culm, two or three slender channelled leaves, and a single terminal white or cream-coloured head composed of fine silky bristles.
SQUIRREL-TAIL GRASS
Hordeuni jiibatu)>i. Grass Family
Stems: culm erect, smooth, glabrous ; sheaths shorter than the inter- nodes. Leaves : flat, erect, rough ; spike terminal, cylindrical ; spikelets usually in threes, the central one containing a palet and perfect flower, the lateral ones imperfect.
The spikes of the Squirrel-tail Grass, with their warm, rich, reddish hue, when seen in large quantities, present a beauti- ful appearance as they swing and sway in the wind.
"In the summer of the summer, when the hazy air is sweet With the breath of crimson clover, and the day's a-shine with heat, When the sky is blue and burning and the clouds a downy mass. When the breeze is idly dawdling, there is music in the grass — -
"Just a thistly, whistly sound
In the tangles near the ground ; And the flitting fairies often stop to listen as they pass ;
Just a lisping, whisp'ring tune,
Like a bumblebee's bassoon. In a far-away fantasia, is the music in the grass.
"Wouldyou know what makes the music? On each slender, quivering blade There are notes and chords and phrases by the bees and crickets played; And the grasshoppers and locusts strive each other to surpass In their brave interpretation of the music in the grass.
" By the roguish breezes tost
You might think it would get lost. But the careful fairies guard it, watching closely as they pass.
So on every summer day.
Sounding faint and far away. Is the mystic, murmuring marvel of the music in the grass."
MOIWTAIN ILOW I::i<S .--
FIELD HORSETAIL
Equiseiuin ariwust-. Horsetail 1- amily
Stems: annual, hollow, jointed, i)roviclecl with scattered stomata. the fertile appearing: in early spring before the sterile. Leaves : reduced to sheaths at the joints.
This is a rush-like plant of a very rank coarse iialtirc, which grows in ditches and along the sand)' waysides. The fertile stems, which appear in the early sprini;', .l^mow from fcnir to ten inches high and are lii;ht brown in. colotir. They arc not branched, but terminate in a solitar)- cone-like spike. The sterile stems, which ajDpear later on in the season, are green and rather slender, averaging eighteen inches in height. They have numerous verticillate branches, the sheaths of which are four-toothed.
STIFF CLUB-MOSS
LycopodiiDii aiuiotinin)i. Club-moss Family
Stems: much branched, slender, prostrate and creei)inn;, rather stiff, the branches ascending, sparingly forked. Leaves uniform, spreading. five-ranked, rigid, linear-lanceolate, minutely serrulate, nerved l)elo\v: spikes solitary at the ends of the branches, oblong-cylindric, composed of ovate bracts, each with a sporange in its axil ; spores smooth on the basal surface.
A moss-like herb, with numerous liny lea\es comi^lelely covering the short brandies, which ternnnale in dense oblong spikes composed of small bracts, each one with a - >■ '"M- taining spores in its a.xil.
/.. clavatum, or Creei)ing Club-moss, has extensively creep- ing stems and short, irregular, densely leaty branches. The leaves are much crowded, inctnved, and tij)i>ed with tiny bristles, and the spikes grow in clusters of from one to four on long peduncles.
INDEX TO scikxtifk; \.\.mi:s
Achillea lanulosa, 74 Actrea spicata var. arguta, 323 Allium recurvatum, 182 Allium SchcL'noprasum, 255 Amelanchier alnifolia, 337 Anaphalis margaritacea, 74 Androsace Chama-jasme, 90 Androsace septentrionalis, 90 Anemone Drummondii, 9 Anemone multifida, 4 Anemone Nuttalliana, 186 Anemone occidentalis, 4 Anemone parviflora, 9 Antennaria Ilowellii, j;^ Antennaria lanata, 73 Antennaria parvifolia, 73 Antennaria parvifolia var. rosea, 152 Antennaria racemosa, 73 Aplopappus Brandegei, 286 Aquilegia brevistyla, 191 Aquilegia flavescens, 262 Aquilegia formosa, 135 Arabis confinis, 15 Arabis Drummondii, 16 Arabis hirsuta, 16 Arabis Ilolboullii, 15 Arctostaphylos alpina, i 59 Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, 156 Arenaria biflora, 27 Arenaria nardifolia, 27 Arnica alpina, 298 Arnica Chamissonis. 298 Arnica cordifolia, 297 Arnica Parryi, 298 Artemisia biennis, 79 Artemisia discolor, 79 Artemisia frigida, 79 Aster alpinus, 68 Aster commutatus, 68 Aster conspicuus, 213
Aster I'lngelmaniiii. :\'i Aster foliaceus, 214 Aster Kremonti, 214 Astragalus aboriginorum. 32 Astragalus adsurgens, 203 Astragalus alpinus, 204 Astragalus convallarius, 204 Astragalus hypoglottis. 204 Astragalus Macounii, 204
Berberis repens, ^2^ lirassica Sinapistrum, 268 Brunella vulgaris. 248 Hryanthus empetriforniis. 159 Hryantluis glandulitlorus. 85 Hryanthus intermedius, iCto
Caltha palustris. 262 Calypso borealis, 177 Campanula rotundifolia. 223 Capsella Hursapasturis. 16 Cassiope Mertensiana. 80 Castilleia Bradburii. 173 Castilleia miniata. 170 Castilleia pallida, 170 Castilleia septentrionalis, 166 Cerastium alpinum ^ " H»-hri"
ianum, 28 Cerastium arvcnse. 27 Chenopodium album, m) Chenopodium capitatum. 3<'^ Chrvsanlht-mum I.eucanthfii Chrysopsis villnsa. 2^^ Claytonia sessilifolia. 28 Clematis Columbi.tna. 185 Clintonia unirt<»ra. 120 Cnicus crioiephalus. 80 Cnicus undulatus. 220 Collinsia parvirtora. 243 Comandra livida. 103
378
INDEX TO SCIENTIFIC NAMES
Comandra pallida, 103 Corallorhiza innata, 103 Comus Canadensis, 62 Cornus stolonifera, 343 Corydalis aurea var. occidentalis, 266 Crepis elegans, 302 Crepis nana, 302 Crepis runcinata, 302 Cypripedium acaule, 178 Cypripedium parviflorum, 314 Cypripedium passerinum, 114 Cypripedium pubescens, 313
Delphinium Brownii, 191 Delphinium Columbianum, 192 Dicentra formosa, 139 Disporum trachycarpum, 363 Dodecatheon pauciflorum, 165 Draba alpina, 268 Draba aurea, 268 Draba incana, 16 Dryas Drummondii, 272 Dryas octopetala, 38
Echinospermum floribundum, 234 Echinospermum Lappula, 239 Elasagnus argentea, 360 Empetrum nigrum, 369 Epilobium anagallidifolium, 147 Epilobium angustifolium, 144 Epilobium angustifolium var. canes-
cens, 147 Epilobium Hornemanni, 148 Epilobium latifolium, 147 Epilobium luteum, 282 Equisetum arvense, 375 Erigeron acris, 219 Erigeron compositus, 68 Erigeron glabellus, 152 Erigeron lanatus, 220 Erigeron Philadelphicus, 220 Erigeron salsuginosus, 220 Erigeron uniflorus, 220 Eriogonum androsaceum, 100 Eriogonum umbellatum, 100 Eriophorum capitatum, 373 Erysimum parviflorum, 267 Erythronium giganteum, 318
Fatsia horrida. 338 Fragaria glauca, 43
Gaillardia aristata, 294 Galium boreale, 62 Galium triflorum, 67 Gentiana acuta, 230 Gentiana affinis, 233 Gentiana arctophila, 230 Gentiana Forwoodii, 233 Gentiana Macounii, 229 Gentiana propinqua, 230 Gentiana prostrata, 230 Geranium Carolinianum, 139 Geranium Richardsoni, 31 Geum macrophyllum, 275 Geum striatum, 275 Geum triflorum, 143 Goodyera Menziesii, 107 Goodyera repens, 107
Habenaria bracteata, 108 Habenaria dilatata, 113 Habenaria hyperborea, 108 Habenaria leucostachys, 114 Habenaria obtusata, 108 Hedysarum boreale, 207 Hedysarum boreale var. albiflorum, 37 Hedysarum Mackenzii, 140 Helianthus giganteus, 293 Heracleum lanatum, 61 Heuchera ovalifolia, 56 Hieracium gracile, 305 Hieracium Scouleri, 302 Hippuris vulgaris, 367 Hordeum jubatum, 374
Juniperus nana, 370
Kalmia glauca, 160
Larix Lyallii, 370 Lathyrus ochroleucus, 32 Ledum glandulosum, 356 Ledum latifolium, 355 Leptarrhena pyrolifolia. 50 Ligusticum apiifolium, 61 Lilium Columbianum, 317
INDEX TO >(I1,\ 111 IC \ AMI
Lilium Fhiladelphicum, 314 Linnaea borealis, 14S Linum Lewisii, 198 Listera coiivallarioides, 104 Listera cordata, 104 Lithospermum aiigustifolium, 309 Lobelia Kalmii, 223 Lonicera glaucescens, 151 Lonicera involucrata, 349 Lonicera Utahensis, 350 Lycopodium annotiiuim, 375 Lycopodium clavatum, 375
Melilotus officinalis, 271
Mentha Canadensis, 248
Menyanthes trifoliata, 95
Menziesia glabella, 360
Mertensia paniculata, 239
Mimulus Lewisii, 165
Mimulus Langsdorfii, 310
Mitella Breweii, 55
Moneses uniflora, 89
Myosotis sylvatica var. alpestris, 240
Myriophyllum spicatum, 367
Nasturtium officinale, 15 Nuphar polysepalum, 265
CEnothera biennis, 282 Orchis rotundifolia, 178 Orthocarpus lute us, 310 Oxycoccus vulgaris, 156 Oxytropis Lamberti, 272 Oxytropis podocarpa, 204 Oxytropis splendens, 207 Oxytropis viscida, 207
Papaver nudicaule, 266 Parnassia fimbriata. 61 Parnassia Kotzebuei, 61 Parnassia montanensis, 56 Pedicularis bracteosa. 174 Pedicularis contorta, 96 Pedicularis Groenlandica, 173 Pedicularis raceniosa, 96 Penstemon confertus, 309 Penstemon confertus var. ca-ruleo
purpurens, 244 Penstemon Men/iesii, 243
Petasites frigida. 80 Petasites palmata, 80 I'etasites sagittata, So Phaca Americana. 32 Phacelia sericea, 233 Physaria didymocar])a, 268 Pinguicula vulgaris. 247 Plantago major, 99 Plantago Kugelii, 99 Polygonum amphibium. 368 Polygonum viviparum, 100 Potentilla Anserina, 276 Potentilla arguta, 43. 279 Potentilla dissecta, 276 Potentilla fruticosa. 330 Potentilla gracilis. 279 Potentilla llippiana. 279 Potentilla nivea, 279 Potentilla Novegica, 279 Primula farinosa. 164 Primula Mistassinica. 164 Prunus Virginiana, 324 Pyrola asarifolia. 163 Pyrola chlorantha, 85 Pyrola minor, 86 Pyrola secunda, 86 Pyrus samb.ucifolia, 336
Ranunculus acris, 2v<
Ranunculus a(|uatilis var. stagnatilis,
261 Ranunculus C'ymbalaria. 261 Ranunculus Kschscholtzii. 260 Ranunculus Macounii, 260 Ranunculus repens, 261 Ranunculus reptans, 261 Rhinanthus Crista galli. 313 Rhododendron albiritirum. 356 Ribes rubrun). 33S Ribes setosum. 33S Roman/ottia sitchensis. 95 Rosa acicularis. 330 Ro.sa Macounii. 335 Rubus arcticus. 143 Rubus Nutkanus. 329 Kubus pedatus. t^S Rume.v acetosa, 360 Rumex occiiUnt.ilis. 36*)
38o
INDEX TO SCIENTIFIC NAMES
Sambucus melanocarpa, 344
Sambucus racemosa, 343
Saxifraga aizoides, 280
Saxifraga bronchialis, 43
Saxifraga cernua, 44
Saxifraga Lyallii, 44
Saxifraga nivalis, 50
Saxifraga Nutkana, 49
Saxifraga oppositifolia, 213
Sedum frigidum, 144
Sedum stenopetalum, 280
Senecio Balsamitae, 298
Senecio canus, 301
Senecio lugens, 301
Senecio triangularis, 301
Shepherida Canadensis. 363
Silene acaulis, 197
Silene Macounii, 22
Silene noctiflora. 22
Sisymbrium Hartwegianum, 267
Sisyrinchium angustifolium, 251
Smilacina amplexicaulis, 120
Smilacina Canadensis, 120
Smilacina stellata, 119
Solidago Canadensis, 289
Solidago decumbens, 290
Solidago Missouriensis, 290
Solidago multiradiata var. scopulo-
rum, 290 Solidago nemoralis. 293 Sonchus arvensis, 306 Spiraea Aruncus, 329 Spiraea lucida, 37 Spiraea pectinata, 37 Spiranthes Romanzoftiana, 107 Stachys palustris, 251 Stellaria longipes, 27 Stenanthium occidentale, 126 • Streptopus amplexifolius, 114 Streptopus brevipes, 181 Streptopus curvipes, 181
Streptopus roseus, 181 Symphoricarpus racemosus var. pau- ciflorus, 344
Taraxacum officinale var. lividum, 305
Taraxacum rupestre, 306
Tellima grandiflora, 50
Thalictrum occidentale, 10
Thaspium cordatum, 285
Thlaspi arvense, 21
Tiarella unifoliata, 55
Tofieldia glutinosa, 125
Trientalis Americana, 90
Trifolium hybridum, 31
Trifolium pratense, 140
Trifolium repens, 31
Trollius laxus, 10
Troximon aurantiacum, 305
Troximon glaucum, 305
Vaccinium ccespitosum, 155 Vaccinium membranaceum, 355 Vaccinium Myrtillus, 155 Vaccinium ovalifolium, 350 Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea, 155 Valeriana sitchensis, 67 Valeriana sylvatica, 67 Veratrum viride, 126 Veronica alpina, 244 Veronica serpyllifolia, 247 Viburnum pauciflorum, 344 Vicia Americana, 208 Vicia Cracca, 208 Viola adunca, 197 Viola Canadensis, 21 Viola cognata, 192 Viola glabella, 271
Zygadenus elegans, 131 Zygadenus venenosus, 13:
INDEX TO KXCWJSIl NAMl.s
Adder's Tongue. \'ello\v, 31S Alum-root, 56 Androsace, Alpine, 90 Androsace, Sweet, 90 Anemone, Alpine, 9 Anemone, Few-flowered, 9 Anemone, Western, 4 Aplopappus, 286 Arnica, Alpine, 298 Arnica, Chamisso's, 29S Arnica, Heart-leaf, 297 Arnica, Parry's, 298 Arrow-wood, 344 Ash, Western Mountain, 336 Asphodel, 125 Aster, Alpine, 6S Aster, Engelmann's. 219 Aster, Fremont's, 214 Aster, Hairy Golden, 2S6 Aster, Large Purple, 213 Aster, Leafy-bracted, 214 Aster, White, 68 Avens, Large-leaved, 273 Avens, Long-plumed, 143 Avens, Yellow, 275
Baneberry, Red, ^Z} Bearberry, Alpine, 159 Bearberry, Red. i 36 Beard-tongue, Blue, 244 Beard-tongue, Large Purple, 24 ; Beard-tongue, Yellow, 309 Bedstraw, Northern. 62 Bedstraw, Sweet-scented, 67 Betony, Wood. 174 Bilberry. Alpine, 155 Bilberry Dwarf. 155 Bistort. Alpine. 100 Bladder-pod, 268 Bleeding heart. Wild. 139
Blueberry, 350 lirunella, 248 Buckbean. 95 Buffalo-berry, ( aiiatl.t. 5(1^ Bunch -berry, 62 Buttercup, Macoun's, 260 Buttercup. Mead«>w. 259 Buttercup. .Snow, 2(0 Butterwort, 247
Calypso. I 77 Campion. Moss, ii>7 Campion. White, 22 Catchfly, Night-flowering. 22 Cherry. Choke. 324 Chickweed, Alpine. 2S Chickweed. Field, 27 Cincpiefoil, Alpine, 279 Cinquefoil. Common, 276 Cin(|uefoil. Rough. 271) Cin(iuefoil. .Shrubby. 330 Cincpiefoil, .Small. 279 Cin(|uefoil. Tall. 43. 279 Cintjuefoil. Woolly. 279 Clematis. Wild. 1S5 Clover. Alsatian. 31 Clover. Red, 140 Clover. White. 31 Club-moss, Creeping. 375 Club moss, .Stiff. 375 Collinsia, Small-flowered. 243 Coltsfoot. Arctic. So Coltsfoot, Arrow-leaf. So Coltsfoot. Palm leaf. So Columbine. IMue. it)i Columbine. Western. 135 Columbine, \ellow. 2<>2 Comandra. Swamp. 1 03 Comandra. White. 103 Coralr... • >
;8i
3^2
INDEX TO ENGLISH NAMES
Corydalis, Golden, 266 Cotton-grass, 373 Cow-Parsnip, 61 Cranberry, Mountain, 155 Cranberry, Small, 156 Crane's-bill, Carolina, 139 Crow-berry, Black, 369 Crowfoot, Creeping, 261 Crowfoot, Water, 261 Crowfoot, Yellow, 261 Currant, Red, 338
Daisy, Ox-eye, 74 Dandelion, Alpine, 306 Dandelion, Common, 305 Dandelion, Copper False, 305 Dandelion, Large-flowered False,
305 Devil's Club, 338 Disporum, Rough-fruited, 363 Dock, Western, 369 Dogwood, Red-stemmed, 343 Dryas, Drummond's, 272 Dryas, White, 38
Elder, Black-berried, 344 Elder, Red-berried, 343 Eriogonum, Dwarf, 100 Eriogonum, Tall, 100 Everlasting, Alpine, 73 Everlasting, Mountain, 73 Everlasting, Mouse-ear, 73 Everlasting, Pearly, 74 Everlasting, Pink, 152 Everlasting, White, 73
Flax, Wild, 198 Fleabane, Alpine, 220 Fleabane, Arctic, 220 Fleabane, Blue, 219 Fleabane, Daisy, 68 Fleabane, Large Purple, 220 Fleabane, Lavender, 220 Fleabane, Rough, 152 Fly-Honeysuckle, Bush, 350 Fly-Honeysuckle, Involucred, 349 Forget-me-not, False, 234 Forget-me-not, True, 240
Gaillardia, Great-flowered, 294 Garlic, Pink, 182 Garlic, Purple, 255 Gentian, Alpine, 230 Gentian, Blue, 233 Gentian, Dwarf, 230 Gentian, Four-parted, 230 Gentian, Large, 233 Gentian, Macoun's, 229- Gentian, Northern, 230 Geranium, White, 31 Globe Flower, 10 Goat's Beard, 329 Golden-rod, Canada, 289 Golden-rod, Field, 290 Golden-rod, Gray, 293 Golden-rod, Mountain, 290 Golden-rod, Northern, 290 Gooseberry, Bristly, 338 Grape, Rocky Mountain, 323 Grass, Blue-eyed, 251 Grass, Squirrel-tail, 374 Groundsel, Black-tipped, 301 Groundsel, Silvery, 301
Harebell, 223 Hawksbeard, Alpine, 302 Hawksbeard, Many-flowered, 302 Hawksbeard, Naked-stemmed, 302 Hawkweed, Hairy, 302 Hawkweed, Small, 305 Heath, White, 80 Heather, Pink False, 160 Heather, Red False, 159 Heather, White False, 85 Hedysarum, Mackenzie's, 140 Hedysarum, Purple, 207 Hedysarum, White, ^7 Heliotrope, White, 67 Heliotrope, Wild, 67 Hellebore, False, 126 Honeysuckle, Smooth-leaved, 151 Horsetail, Field, 375
Juniper, 370
Labrador Tea, Smooth-leaved, 356 Labrador Tea, Woolly, 355 Ladies' Tresses, 107
INDKX TO KXCI.ISII XAMI
Lady's Slipper, Large \'ell()\v. 315
Lady's Slipper, Mountain, 114
Lady's Slipper, Pink, 17S
Lady's Slipper, Small Yellow, 314
Lamb's Quarters, 99
Larkspur, Blue, 192
Larkspur, Mountain, 191
Laurel, Swamp, 160
Leptarrhena, 50
Lily, Philadelphia, 314
Lily, Western, 317
Lily, Yellow Pond, 265
Lobelia, Brook, 223
Loco-weed, 272
Lousewort, Contorted, 96
Lousewort, White, 96
Lungwort, Tall, 239
Lyall's Larch, 370
Mare's Tail, 367 Marsh-Marigold, 262 Meadow-rue, 10 Melilot, Yellow, 271 Menziesia, Smooth, 360 Milfoil, Spiked Water, 367 Mint, Wild Canada, 248 Mitre-wort, False, 55 Mitre-wort, True, 55 Monkey-flower, Red, 165 Monkey-flower, Yellow, 310 Mustard, Hedge, 267 Mustard, Treacle, 267 Mustard, Wild, 26S
Nettle, Hedge, 251
Orchis, Fly-spotted, 178 Orchis, Giant, 1 14 Orchis, Leafy, 108 Orchis, Long-bracted, 108 Orchis, Small, 108 Orchis, White Bog. 113 Orthocarpus, Yellow. 310 Oxytrope, Alpine, 207 Oxytrope. Inflated. 204 Oxytrope. Showy. 207
Paint-brush. Kt-d liulian. 166 Paint-brush. White Indian. 170
I'aihtcd-cup, Biailbury's, I 73 Painted-cup, lUight. 170 Parnassus, Alpine Grass of, 61 Parnassus, Fringed Grass of, 61 Parnassus, Marsh (irass of. ^6 Parsley, Wild. 61 Parsnip, Meadow, 2S5 Pas(|ue Flower. 186 Pedicularis, L(jngl)eakcd 173 Penny-cress, 21 Persicaria, Water. 36S Phacelia, Mountain. 2]^ Plantain, Common, 99 I'lantain, Pale, 99 Plantain, Rattlesnake. 107 Plantain, Small Rattlesnake. 107 Poppy, Arctic, 266 Primrose, Bird's-eye, 164 I'rimrose, Dwarf Canadian, 164 Primrose, Fvening, 2S2 Puccoon, Narr<iwleaved. 30*^
Queencup, 120
Ragwort. Giant, 301
Ragwort, (iolden. 29S
Raspberry, Arctic. 143
Raspberry, Creeping. 3S
Rattle, ^'ellow, 313
Rhododendron, While Mountain. 356
Rock-cress. Alpine. 15
Rock-cress, Drummond's. 16
Rock-cress, Hairy, 16
Rock-cress, Stony. 1 5
Romanzortia. t)5
Rose, Mac«>un's. 335
Rose, Prickly, 330
Rosewort, 144
Salmon berry, \:i) .Santlwort. Arctic, 27 S.miKvort. Kcuk, 27 Saxifrage, Alpinr. 50 Saxifrage, Common. 43 Saxifrage. Lyall's. 44 Saxifrage. Mountain. 213 Saxifrage. Nodding. 44 Saxifrage. Tall. 4*'
384
INDEX TO ENGLISH NAMES
|
Saxifrage, Yellow, |
2S0 |
Vetch, American, 208 |
|
Service-berry, 337 |
Vetch, Arctic, 32 |
|
|
Shepherd's Purse, |
16 |
Vetch, Ascending, 203 |
|
Shooting Star, 165 |
Vetch, Cow, 208 |
|
|
Silver-berry, 360 |
Vetch, Indian, 32 |
|
|
Silver-weed, 276 |
Vetch, Macoun's, 204 |
|
|
Snow-berry, 344 |
Vetch, Purple, 204 |
|
|
Solomon's Seal, False, 120 |
Vetch, Slender, 204 |
|
|
Sorrel, 369 |
Vetch, White, 32 |
|
|
Spearwort, Creeping, 261 |
Violet, Canada, 21 |
|
|
Speedwell, Alpine, |
244 |
Violet, Dog, 197 |
|
Speedwell, Thyme- |
leaved, 247 |
Violet, Early Blue, 192 |
|
Spikenard, 1 19 |
Violet, Yellow, 271 |
|
|
Spiraea, Alpine, 37 |
||
|
Spiraea, Birch-leaved, 37 |
Water-cress, 15 |
|
|
Spring Beauty, 28 |
Whitlow-grass, Alpine, 268 |
|
|
Star-flower, 90 |
Whitlow-grass, Golden, 268 |
|
|
Stenanthium, 126 |
Whitlow-grass, White, 16 |
|
|
Stichwort, 27 |
Willow-herb, Alpine, 147 |
|
|
Stickseed, 239 |
Willow-herb, Great, 144 |
|
|
Stonecrop, 280 |
Willow-herb, Hornemann's, 148 |
Strawberry Blite, 368 Strawberry, Wild, 43 Sunflower, Giant, 293
Tellima, 50 Thistle, Sow, 306 Thistle, Wavy-leaved, 220 Thistle, White, 80 Twayblade, Broad-lipped, 104 Twayblade, Heart-leafed, 104 Twin-flower, Northern, 148 Twisted-stalk, Curved, 181 Twisted-stalk, Pink, 181 Twisted stalk, Short-stemmed, 181 Twisted-stalk, White, 114
Vaccinium, Black, 355 Vetch, Alpine, 204
Willow-herb, Pink, 147 Willow-herb, Water, 147 Willow-herb, Yellow, 282 Wind-flower, 4
Wintergreen, Green-flowered, 85 W^intergreen, One-flowered, 89 Wintergreen, One-sided, 86 Wintergreen, Red, 163 Wintergreen, Small, 86 Wormwood, Biennial, 79 Wormwood, Green, 79 Wormwood, Pasture, 79
Yarrow, 74
Zygadene, Poisonous, 131 Zygadene, Tall, 131
a''