THE NORTH TEMPERATE ZONE 109 



well illustrated in Glacier National Park in Montana, where the 

 rolling prairie of the Blackfeet Indian reservation meets the main 

 range of the Rockies, This prairie is rich in showy flowers, and 

 very beautiful in the late summer. Near the base of the mountains 

 are dense groves of aspens and scrub cotton-woods, while scattered 

 conifers, — pines and spruces — begin to appear. 



The spring flora includes a number of pretty liliaceous species, 

 fritillaries, adder-tongue (Erythronium), mariposa lilies (Cal- 

 ochortus) and the blue quamash (Camassia esculenta), formerly 

 an important food plant of the Indians. Other spring flowers, 

 like those of the eastern prairies are also met with, but it is in late 

 July and August that the prairie flora is at its best. 



The prairie is of the bunch-grass type, and the silky plumes of 

 Stipa comata, are very conspicuous. The space between the grass 

 tussocks is completely covered with an extraordinary profusion 

 of showy flowers, reminding one of the flowery Swiss meadows. 



This prairie is in the foot-hill region at an elevation of about 

 4,000 feet. Asters, golden-rods and several very beautiful species 

 of Erigeron are perhaps the most abundant flowers, and another 

 even showier composite is Gaillardia aristata, whose big yellow 

 flowers with crimson discs are not infrequently seen in gardens. 



Lupins, Astragalus, and several vetches are abundant, and yar- 

 row (Achillaea), and several umbellifers furnish most of the white 

 flowers. Bluebells (Campanula rotundifolia) , one of the most wide- 

 spread of northern plants, are extremely abundant and a showy 

 mint (Monarda) was conspicuous, and here and there were masses 

 of the beautiful pink blossoms of a dwarf rose (R. Arkansana). 



At the edge of the prairie, and along the banks of the streams, 

 there is a luxuriant growth of tall herbaceous plants with showy 

 flowers, the most abundant being the pink fire-weed (Epilobium) 

 which occurs in immense quantities, and with it is often associated 

 a very showy Senecio, with golden yellow flowers. The huge 

 umbels of the cow-parsnip (Heracleum) are conspicuous in the low 

 ground, and in places the ground is scarlet with the Indian paint- 

 brush (Castilleja), of which there are a number of extremely 

 beautiful species in the mountains near by. 



Southward the prairie-region diminishes in breadth, and the 

 western plains gradually assume the character of dry steppes, or 

 semi-deserts merging into the arid Mexican plateau. 



