The Arctic-Alpine Flora of Pike's Peak 107 



succulent plants and mostly occupy' their space to the exclusion 

 of other species. Even when the xerophytic meadow plants 

 are found growing here they exhibit a much larger growth, es- 

 pecially of leaf surface. 



No doubt a large factor in the distribution of seeds over 

 the entire zone is the habit of the little animals, which live in the 

 cavities between the rocks, of .carrying in great quantities of 

 seed-bearing plants for winter use. I have seen as much as a 

 cubic foot of this material in a single heap and counted fourteen 

 species of plants so collected. The stalks are cut off close to 

 the ground, carried to the rocks and deposited in sheltered 

 nooks, reminding one of miniature haystacks. 



Springs appear at the lower edges of the rock fields and, 

 if the slope is not great enough to allow the water to run off, 

 boggy areas are formed which also have their own peculiar flora. 

 Often, however, the water runs away in little rills, and so only 

 moistens a portion of the dry meadow. Certain species are par- 

 tial to these localities, but in general they are characterized 

 by the unusual size and vigor of the usual dry meadow plants. 



The areas of the gravel slides are not yet covered with 

 vegetation, only a few tentative pioneers having established them- 

 selves along the edges. Rhodiola integrijolia is the first species 

 to occupy these spaces and the last to leave territory being 

 smothered by a slide. Evidently its long root-stocks push under 

 the gravel while drawing nourishment from the parent plant 

 outside the arid area, and thus it survives where other plants can 

 not. 



The gulches, with their rocky sides and marshy bottoms, 

 repeat the variations of the meadows in a very limited area and 

 exhibit all the characteristic alpine species within a few hundred 

 feet in the course of the season. These variations merge grad- 

 ually into one another,so that it is only in certain localities that 

 typical societies are found, and all the species are thus widely 

 distributed over varying soils and exposures. Few of the plants 

 show any preference for any certain slope; I have never 

 found Dryas octopetala on a south slope and Saxifraga chrysayitha 

 prefers a northerly exposure, but it is to be found sparingly in 

 other situations. In general, the plants grow wherever other 

 conditions permit without regard to this feature. The spring- 



