32 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



longer costa, and with nan•o^Yel• and more vermicular cells. H. piliferum, Schreb., has 

 much longer often subpiunate stems and serrate leaves with a longer pilum and ditt'er- 

 ent areoiation. 



Ilypiaiiii Coloradease, Aust., (Bot. Gazette, II., p. Ill,) is also a somewhat similar 

 moss; but is much more robust, with rather more comjjressed stems, and oblong-ovate 

 leaves, furnished with a much longer pilum, and composed of much longer and nar- 

 rower cells. 



I have lately received a moss from Mrs. Roy, under the name of '■'■ Hypnum cari- 

 osiijii.'' collected in Scotland by Rev. J. Ferguson, which is about the size of //. Colora- 

 (lensc, and has the same piliferous and concave leaf; l)ut ditfers from it, as well as from 

 the other species mentioned above, in having the leaf distinctly auricled, the auricles 

 minute and composed of somewhat inflated cells; the rest of the lowermost alar cells 

 are very minute, subsolid and opake. 



There is a compact form of Ilypnuia acuminatum^ Beauv., which occurs abund- 

 antly on the roots of trees in woods about Closter, which somewhat resembles H. 

 Brandegei, but it is of a dark green color, the leaves are more plicate, with the apex 

 less abrui)tly and never piliferously acuminate, the margins more or less recurved and 

 sen-ate, costa always single, &c. 



The Conifers op the Crestones. — The Crestones are pinnacles of rock on the 

 Sangre de Cristo spur of the Rocky Mountains, rising to an elevation of 14,200 feet 

 above sea level The altitude of timber line is about 12,000 feet, but as most of the 

 Coitiferw \\\)(n\ the northern slope have been killed, it does not appear so plainly marked 

 as m many parts of the Rockj' Mountains. At 10,000 feet altitude, all the Coniferm of 

 Colorado excei)ting Juaipenis Virf/iii tuna and occidental is and Pi mis edulis can be seen 

 growing together. Abies Enejehnanni is the most abundant tree above 10,500 feet alti- 

 tuik', and A. cuncolor the predominant conifer below that altitude. 



Piiiits cimtorta. Dough, is almndant upon some drj' ridges and isgeuerallj' so small 

 that hardly any of it can be called trees. Its leaves are persistent seven years and its 

 cones very many years. Old dead trees are full of the persistent cones. Nothing but 

 wings of seeds could be found in these old unopened cones. 



Pvius ponderosa, Dougl., is found up to 10,000 feet altitude. It bears Arceutltohium 

 robustum in great quantities. This pine often throws its parasite-bearing limbs and 

 branches amongst those of other pines and spruces, but the Avceutliobiam grows only 

 upon those of P. ponderosa. Its leaves are persistent six and seven years. The cones 

 begin to open about the first of October, the scales opening fii'st at the base. 



Pintuffle.vilis, James, is not common, but single tiees are found scattered about up 

 to an elevation of 11,000 feet. The leaves are persistent three and four years. The seed 

 falls between Sept. ^tli and 20th, those growing at low altitudes ripening first. Some 

 seeds near the base of the cone are held in by the scales not opening wide enough to 

 let tliem fall. 



Piiuis aristata, Engelm., is common at timber line and like many alpine plants 

 comes down to a lower altitude. Here it is found at 10,000 feet, and west of Pike's 

 Peak I have seen it below S,000 feet altitude. Trees at 11,000 were beginning to drop 

 their seed Oct. 6th. Its leaves are persistent 12 and i3 3 ears. 



Abies Enyclmanni Parry. The lower limit of this species is 10,500 feet, but many 

 trees come down to near 9,000 feet, generally, however, growing in shaded situations. 

 The dwarfed, prostrate, cone-bearing trees are plenty at timber line, but the very large 

 magnificent forms of the western slope are not found in the Crestones. It is a very 

 variable species. The branchlets may be either pubescent or smooth and shining, so 

 that it cannot be separated from A. Menzicsii by this character alone. At higher alti- 

 udes the branchlets are always jnibescent, but at its lower elevations they are often 



