254 FRANCIS RAMALEY 



is as a rule confined to the lower slopes of morainic knolls or to 

 sloping banks of the creek, well up from the water but in rather 

 hypoxerophytic conditions. The early aestival period includes 

 the blooming time for a very large number of flowering herbs 

 but none except those already mentioned are sufficiently abun- 

 dant to make any profound impression on the general aspect of 

 the vegetation. 



4. Late aestival period, July 15 to August 1. Important plants 

 in flower: Festuca spp., Poa spp., Avena americana, Bromus 

 pumpellianus, Artemisia frigida, A. forwoodii and A. aromatica, 

 Campanula petiolata, Orthocarpus luteus. A general lessening 

 of color occurs during this period. As the grasses become 

 larger the flowering herbs are less conspicuous, besides, fewer 

 of them are now in bloom. The vegetation level is at its height, 

 many of the grasses and other plants rising to 2 dm. above the 

 soil surface. The general average height is, however, much 

 less. Flowering culms of some of the grasses are 3 to 4 dm. 

 tall and the species of Stipa sometimes reach even higher. 

 The vegetation cover is more dense than before. But there is 

 still, and always, a considerable proportion" of bare ground. 

 This is the "blue and yellow" period, because of the Campanula 

 (Fig. 6) and Orthocarpus. The two plants are seldom closely 

 associated, although they both occupy hj^oxerophytic situ- 

 ations. The yellow of Sedum stenopetalum may be continued 

 from the preceding period. 



5. Autumnal period, August 1 to October 1. Important 

 plants in bloom; Muhlenbergia gracilis and other grasses, Dasy- 

 stephana parryi. The dry grassland shows very little color, 

 the blue gentian, Dasystephana, being about the only conspicu- 

 ous flower. In backward seasons the Campanula and Ortho- 

 carpus of late summer may remain in bloom to about Septem- 

 ber 1 . There is no autumnal flora of yellow-flowered suffruticose 



^ Ramaley, Francis, The amount of bare ground in some mountain grasslands. 

 Bot. Gaz., 57: 526-28, 1914. 



