24 BOTANICAL BULLETIN. 



flowers are solitary, golden yellow and often an inch in diameter. Any one trav- 

 eling and camping in the monntains will soon become acquainted with Cultha lepto- 

 sepala, DC,, as it is a most excellent pot-herb and many a case full have I carried 

 in to camp to be used at our next meal. Its flowers are large and beautiful but al- 

 ways look as if tliey were about chilled to death. There is always a tinge of blue, 

 especially on the underside of the white petals. Trullius laxus, Salisb. is always 

 associated with tlie last, but its flowers are various shades of j'ellow and look more 

 in keeping with the frosty air. The Drahas are also well represented. There are 

 the yellow flowered Dniha alpina, L., D. aurea, Vahl. and D. streptocarpa, Gr., with 

 its curiously twisted silicles. Tiie white flowered D. nemorosa, J^.,\nv.alpina, Por- 

 ter, occurs quite abundantly at 12-13000 feet elevation. The little golden flowered 

 Cyni'iptenis aljjijius, Gr., is found growing every where on the mountain tops. Two 

 beautiful little Eriiienins were fountl growing at 13000 feet altitude; E. compositumi 

 Pursh., having a scape 2-6 inches high and rays wliite. pink or blue, and E. uniflo- 

 rum, L., growing 3-G inches high, its large solitary head surrounded by a very 

 woolly involucre, the wool generally being deep purple. At about 13000 feet ele- 

 vation we came across a patch of flowers I never shall forget. It was a level, 

 grassy spot, saturated with the just melted snow-water and well protected from 

 chilling blasts. The ground was absolutely covered with brilliant bloom and it 

 seemed as if every color in the rainbow was represented. Never have I seen, in 

 the best kept gardens, such a rich display. There was a sparkling freshness and 

 freedom about it we never can get into green houses. The first to attract my no- 

 tice, because the largest, was the showy Primula Parnji, Gr., having its dense clus- 

 ter of fleshy root leaves and bearing on its long scape a cluster of rose-colored 

 flowers. Close to it was its more humble relative, P. angustifolia, Torr., a most 

 exquisite little Primula, bearing a single purple flower and running up the moun- 

 tains to 14000 feet. Then I noticed the flowers that contributed the yellow to the 

 scene. First and foremost was the splendid Actiuella grandiflorn, T. & G. with a 

 scape 6-9 inches high and densely white woolly from top to bottom. Its large sol- 

 itary heads seemed half as large as the whole plant and were frequently three 

 inches broad. Then there was its smaller relative, A. aculis. L., with a naked 

 scape 1-6 inches high and smaller flowers. Then there were two Sednms giving 

 shades of purple, rose and Avhite. They were S. Rhodiola, DC, with its dark pur- 

 ple fertile heads and greenish sterile heads and S. rJiodanthum, Gr., bearing rose- 

 colored or white flowers. Then there was Geum Possii, Seringe, with golden yel- 

 low petals and the little rose-colored Culandrinia pijgmcm, Gr., which also runs far 

 up the mountains. Then I noticed three species of Saxifraga, viz : S. cermia, L., 

 with small white or cream-colored flowers and bearing little bulbs in the axils of 

 its upper leaves; S. flagellar is, Willd., with large yellow flowers and stolons stri- 

 king out in every direction from its cluster of root leaves ; and *S'. punctata, L., with 

 white petals and a tall naked scape. Then high up on the mountain, at 14000 feet 

 altitude, came the little moss-tufted flowers, crouching down close to the ground 

 to escape as much as possible the freezing winds, but brilliant nevertheless. There 

 was the purple-flowered .sV^ei^e acatdia, L., or Moss Campion, familiar to visitors in 

 the White Mountains. It clung to these high slopes in large bunches and made 

 great mats of purple. AVe saw also two Claijtonias, viz : C. Caroliniana, Mx., var. 

 lanceolata, Watson, and C. arctica, Adams, var. megarhiza, Gr. with its great purple 

 tap root running deep into the rocks and its scape bearing delicate white flowers 

 penciled with pink lines. No less than four Trifoliums lent their beauty to these 

 great heights. They were T. lovgipes, Nutt., the beautiful little dark purple, half 

 opened T. namim, Torr., the delicately shaded T. dasgphi/llum, T. & G., and the 

 large headetl, rose purple T. Parryi, Gr. No flower was prettier than the densely 

 matted, violet blue Oxgtropis Uralensis, L., var. pumila, Ledeb. The sky blue 

 shade was given by dense patches of Eritrichiutn villosum, DC, var. aretioides, Hook., 

 which is called the mountain Forget-me-not. These flowers are to be met upon 

 almost all the mountains in Colorado and well repay the fatigue of climbing.— Ed. 



