NaTf Y of sconces.] DESCRIPTION OF ALPINE TYPES. 41 



by another species, of which the flowers are generally replaced by similar bulblets, of a more 

 open structure, however, S. stellaris L. forma comosa Poir. In the Alps of Switzerland a third 

 bulbiferous species occurs, S. bulbifera L., while common in North Europe is S. granulata L., with 

 bulblets only upon the rhizome. 



The genus Saxifraga is altogether a very polymorphic genus. We have in the Alpine 

 region the densely caespitose S. bronchialis, the creeping S. punctata with a typical rhizome, 

 the bulbiferous S. cernua, S. nivalis with simply a rosette of leaves, the creeping S. flagellaris 

 with runners terminated by rosettes, and, moreover, we have in S. chrysantha (pi. 2, fig. 17) a 

 type which makes an approach to the suffrutescent. In this species the branches are almost 

 woody above ground, and terminated by rosettes of fleshy leaves; the infloresence, a single 

 flower borne upon a leafy stem, terminates the shoot, and the rosette may persist for several 

 years. 



Suffrutescent in the stricter sense of the word, on the other hand, is Pentstemon confertus, 

 with a woody, main stem buried in the ground, emitting herbaceous aerial shoots, which bear 

 clusters of leaves and a terminal long-peduncled inflorescense. Potentilla fruticosa is a shrub, 

 but it is rare above timber line. All the other shrubs are more or less creeping, for instance, 

 Dryas, Arctostaphylos, Vaccinium caespitosum (pi. 7, figs. 54-55), V. Myrtillus var. micro- 

 phyllum (pi. 7, figs. 56-58), and the singular Paronychia pulvinata (pi. 5, fig. 41), with the thick 

 woody branches closely appressed to the ground. 



Kalmia glauca var. micropliylla (pi. 3, fig. 22) shows the low erect branches arising from 

 the very stout trunk buried in the ground. 



Now, with regard to the Betulaceae and Salicaceae, we have Betula glandulosa and a few 

 Salices. Betula, however, is very seldom Alpine, but I did find it in Thompsons Canyon on 

 Longs Peak, where it occurred as a low straggling shrub in a swamp near a frozen lake. Of 

 the willows, S. glaucops and S. chlorophylla grow in the shape of small erect shrubs, especially 

 along the mountain brooks; the two other species are merely creeping, with the branches 

 appressed to the ground. Salix reticulata is of special interest since it represents an Arctic- 

 Alpine type. I have figured a specimen from Mount Elbert on Plate 6, Figure 42, and on this 

 same plate I have inserted some drawings of specimens from other localities outside the Rocky 

 Mountains. The leaf varies a good deal in this species, but, as may be seen from the figures, 

 this variation seems to be independent of the environment. The specimen from Copper Island 

 (fig. 46) shows a remarkable round outline of the leaves, but in comparing the single leaves 

 (figs. 43—44, 50-51, and 52-53) from specimens gathered on Mount Elbert, in Norway and 

 Sweden, we notice the variation in outline to be analogous, and the minute specimens from 

 Spitsbergen (fig. 47) and from Nova Zembla (fig. 48) agree in all respects with the larger speci- 

 mens from stations much farther south. The shape of the leaves and the habit of the species 

 remain the same wherever it grows. 



Finally, Junipcrus communis occurs sometimes above timber line as the variety alpina. 

 It grows there as a low depressed shrub, a habit very different from that which may be observed 

 at lower elevations in the wooded belts. 



All the types which have been described in the preceding pages are perennial, and, as it 

 would be natural to expect, the annual species are very scarce here as well as in the Arctic 

 region. A dwarfed Gentiana, G. plebeja (pi. 4, fig. 29), was the only annual which I found, 

 but there is also an annual Deschampsia, D. calycina Presl., which many years ago was collected 

 on the summit of Grays Peak by B. H. Smith. In the Arctic region Eoenigia Islandica L. 

 and Phippsia algida R. Br. are about the only annual species which have been recorded so far. 

 The latter, however, is not constantly an annual but, according to Blytt, may sometimes 

 persist for two or three years. 



While thus the vegetative reproduction is well expressed in these Alpine species, it deserves 

 notice that so far as concerns the various kinds of fruit developed in these species the dry fruit 

 is by far the commonest. Fleshy fruits are known only from Vaccinium and Arctostaphylos, 

 but among the dry fruits are some which are especially adapted to be carried away by the 



