138 EBYTHEA. 



of the Alps, of Greenland, of Norway, of Alaska and even 

 of the distant mountains of Siberia would feel at home amid 

 the flowers that bloom in July and August near the summit 

 of Pike's Peak, Colorado. 



As everyone knows, this is due to the similarity of condi- 

 tions that prevailed over most of the northern hemisphere 

 during the Glacial Epoch. When the fields of ice and snow 

 retreated northward or moved southward, they carried seeds 

 and roots of the plants, then inhabiting the earth, along with 

 them; and wherever a chance offered, these plants made them- 

 selves at home and continued to flourish until the environ- 

 ment changed so as to become no longer adapted to their 

 welfare, when they were pushed gradually upward to where 

 the Arctic conditions prevailed. Even now in Greenland and 

 Alaska where the slow melting of a glacier forms a marshy 

 spot, or in the Rocky Mountains underneath a melting snow 

 bank, where the snow never disappears entirely, conditions 

 similar to those that prevailed along the route of a glacier 

 can be seen. The seeds of these plants can withstand a 

 great degree of cold without loss of vitality and the plants 

 themselves continue to thrive and reproduce under hard con- 

 ditions. They can freeze every night, gradually thaw after 

 sunrise and keep on growing and blooming until the fruit is 

 ripe.i 



It was to learn about the alpine flora of Mt. Shasta that in 

 August, 1893, I ascended that grand snow-capped mountain, 

 rising more than 10,000 feet above the surrounding country, 

 and more than 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. From 

 the base, there is a belt of timber consisting chiefly of sugar 

 pine, yellow pine, spruce and fir. In open spots the under- 

 brash is dense, cliiefly ManzanHa, Ceanothus and Castanop- 

 sis. Under the conifers, plants of the Ericacece are most 



1 At Crested Butte, Colorado, one morning before sunrise, 1 found a 

 meadow full of Gentiana serrata, Gunner. All were frozen stiff and 

 when brought into the warm atmosphere of the house became mushy. 

 About noon of the same day I went out again ; not a gentian drooped 

 its head, all were as beautiful and full of life as if they had never 

 known a frosty night. 



