EARLY SPRING AT THE GRAND CANON NEAR 



EL TOVAR 



ALICE EASTWOOD 

 California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California 



The middle of April, 1917, found spring just commencing 

 at the rim of the Grand Cafion but far advanced at the river 

 almost 5000 feet below. A few small flowers had begun to 

 creep out and unfold their hardy blossoms. Snow may come 

 again after this date as it did in fact in 1917. The first flower 

 to appear is Thlaspi fendleri, like a small white candy-tuft 

 dotting the ground under the trees. Pedicularis centranthera is 

 pushing up its rosy hoods amid a rosette of purple-red leaves, 

 with crinkled edges. Two low umbellifers indicate their pres- 

 ence by clusters of finely dissected leaves. The one with smooth 

 glaucous leaves is probably Phellopterus purpurens and the other 

 with leaves frosted with fine white lines is Cogswellia macdougali. 

 On low leafy green cushions repose large white daisies with pink- 

 tinged rays not yet open. Undoubtedly this is the widely dis- 

 tributed Townsendia exscapa. Other rossettes of leaves can be 

 seen. One belongs to Senecio multilobatus with the leaves cut 

 into numerous lobes and edged with cottony down; another is 

 that of Frasera albomarginata, with narrow grass-like leaves each 

 neatly edged with a white border. Other strangers appear whose 

 identity cannot be guessed. 



The pines and juniper form a shelter for these small vernal 

 plants. The tall yellow pine, a variety of Pinus ponderosa 

 has three long needles in each sheath; the spreading pinon 

 (Pinus edulis) has two shorter leaves in each sheath. As the 

 elevation increases towards Grand View the yellow pine pre- 

 dominates, while at the lower elevation of Hermits Rest it is 

 entirely replaced by the pinon. El Tovar is about the divid- 

 ing line between the Transition Zone, characterized by the 



95 



THE PLANT WORLD, VOL. 22, NO. 4 

 APRIL. 1919 



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