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/'() 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?;/ (,'/ 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 P1..VJ1-: xxjx 91 1' I ATI: XXX ^ ,1. ■M-^.:^' -■ # i/k ifNi X ^ '^' ^^^ ^>^ w ^^^fwK^ ^^^ ^^-^ir ^^^B^BjH \t%^' " V r^jf^ ^fe"--^^ ^ P ■ ,V ■■-•" / Kfea^-*^ y<^N |t " ^ 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 : <'////('<.'<>;///';« //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:iit/iiis cmpctrtformis) i6i MOl A r.\I.\ 1'I,()\\I:R; lro//(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, "gnulus 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^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:iic'//ii>fu- .\'ntt(i//ii 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, "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 -/ 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- 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. VIATK XC\ \\'i:STKK.\ MolNIAIN AmI {/yriis Siiiit/'iiii/i'/iii ) riAii: xcii Si K\ II I r>i KK\ {Amclaiuliicr ahiifoltii) ;^t' 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 I'l A 1 1: xciii Kl-.D-S 1 I.M Mill 1 )« H.W ( M .|i ( Corn US sioU'iiiJcra) 345 I'i Al I. \( 1\ Ri:i)-Bkkkiki) Ki.di.k i^SitiHl'Hiiis ritit'tnosa) 34: MOUNTAIN FLO\VEI<> . j4^> 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 I'l \ 1 1. .\< AkK(i\V-\\<»»»1) ( / 'i/>iiritiini piiiiiiflo) lint) Pi.Ai i: .\( \ i^Lciium latifoliuin) 353 MOUNTAIN l-l,()\\i:iwd\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. iM.vn .' \ 1 Wlllll MmINI Al\ Kll<»l»()|>KNI)Kt»N 357 MOLNTAIX FI.()\\i:kS . J^v 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. I'lATi; \( A 111 SMtM.l II Ml \/ll>IA {^Minzicsio x/(iM/it) />• MOUNTAIN FI.()\\i:Rs . ^ .V>;^ 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)rii. 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■ '"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, Narrun'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''