PLANT SUCCESSIONS IN THE MOUNT ROBSON REGION, 



BRITISH COLUMBIA 



WILLIAM S. COOPER 



University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 



The observations here recorded were made during a brief visit 

 to the vicinity of Mt. Robson, British Columbia, in the summer 

 of 1914. The incompleteness of the study is thoroughly real- 

 ized, and the only justification of this somewhat lengthy report 

 lies in the fact that the region is absolutely new so far as ecologi- 

 cal study is concerned. It may well be that many years will 

 pass before a more thorough study is made. It is necessary 

 also to explain that most of the plants collected for determi- 

 nation disappeared during a recent transcontinental journey, 

 and for this reason many important plant names are of necessity 

 missing or uncertain. With these apologies the author pro- 

 ceeds to make the best possible use of the data at his command. 



Location. Mt. Robson is situated just upon the eastern edge 

 of British Columbia, overlooking the Continental Divide, which 

 at Robson Pass separates the Pacific from the Arctic drainage. 

 Although the mountain is but six miles from the tracks of the 

 Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern Railroads, it is 

 almost upon the northern edge of the known country. Beyond 

 it he hundreds of miles of mountains as yet unmapped, and hardly 

 even penetrated. 



From the Robson Glacier, which descends from the north 

 side of Mt. Robson to Robson Pass, the drainage flows toward 

 both slopes of the Divide (or did so in the summer of 1914) — 

 northward into the Smoky and finally into the Mackenzie and 

 the Arctic Ocean, and southward into the Fraser and the Pacific, 

 by far the greater bulk taking the latter course. 



Topography. The relief in these mountains is very great. 

 Slopes of six to seven thousand feet are frequent, and the south- 



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THE PLANT WORLD, VOL. 19, NO. 8 

 AUGUST, 1916 



