October 24, 1908 



HORTICULTURE 



587 



Rocky Mountain Rambles 



i. 



SOME UNFAMILIAR PLANTS 



I made my first outing in the Kocky Mountains in 

 1895, and since have made many more, not only to 

 study the plants of the region but also to enjoy the 

 woods and brooks. The first trip was a revelation to 

 me. Many of the plants I had never before seen grow- 

 ing, although they were familiar to me from herbarium 

 specimens. We had passed the Nebraska-Colorado line 

 and were on the high plain east of Denver at evening. 

 As the train sped along the air was filled with the per- 

 fume of a white-flowered plant, a near relative of our 

 common Four O'clock, known to botanists as Abronia 

 fragrans. I had never seen it in cultivation and won- 

 dered why a plant with such beautiful clusters and de- 

 lightfully fragrant blossoms should not find a place in 

 our gardens. So far as known to me this plant is sel- 

 dom seen in cultivation, but should be. There were 

 also to be seen along the railroads many other plants, 

 among them the Prickly Poppy ( Argemone platyceras) 

 common from Nebraska west to Utah. In places it 

 covers many acres. The large white blossoms are hand- 

 some. The species has been cultivated and some think 

 it a most desirable plant. It is, however, a bad plant 

 to handle; the setose hispid hairs inflict injuries that 

 are as exasperating to the collector as are those from 

 the common cactus. The Evening Primrose (Oenothe- 

 ra) is numerous in species. The E. speciosa an erect 

 perennial with large white or rose colored flowers is 

 found plentifully on the plains and the lower foothills 

 of the mountains, and is a most desirable plant and 

 should be cultivated. The E. Missouriensis, a low 

 caulescent perennial, with large, yellow, axillary flow- 

 ers sometimes forms large patches in shady ground. It 

 is surely a most desirable plant for cultivation. 



From central Nebraska and westward occurs a large 

 cucurbit with a large fusiform root, thick triangular 

 cordate leaves, and large, yellow flowers; up the Arkan- 

 sas it is abundant. On the plains is a large rooted 

 Morning-glory (Ipomoea leptophylla) with a root that 

 at times is said to weigh 100 pounds. Unlike our na- 

 tive species the stems are erect or ascending. The 

 large flowers are three inches long. 



THE STATELY YUCCA 



Of all the plants on the plains none are more inter- 

 esting than the Yucca. On my trips to the Eocky 

 Mountains I have always been a little too late to see 

 the Yucca glauca in bloom. This year during the 

 month of June I found this beautiful plant in full 

 bloom at Denver, Manitou, and Placerville. It was a 

 glorious sight to behold the thousands of plants in full 

 bloom. The pendant more or less bell-shaped, yellow- 

 ish-white flowers, hang in ample racemes and make a 

 fine display in the otherwise monotonous landscape. 

 They were growing abundantly in stony ground, on 

 steep banks and in level places. One wonders why the 

 Yucca is not planted more extensively in our gardens 

 than it is. There is surely a place for it in many of 

 the gardens in the Mississippi Valley. It is perfectly 

 hardy as far north as Northern Iowa, since it is indi- 



Yi cca Glauca at Manitou, Col. 



genous to the western part of the state, extending north- 

 ward to South Dakota. The picture shown here was 

 taken near Manitou, Colorado. 



THE COLORADO STATE FLOWER 



This year the Eocky Mountain Columbine was in all 

 its glory. In my first ti ip out of Denver up the moun- 

 tains saw people carrying large bunches of this plant, 

 which is an inhabitant of the pine and aspen woods. It 

 grows from 7000 feet to timber line. No wonder the 

 state of Colorado has adopted it as the state flower. No 

 other American species is quite as handsome and grows 

 so abundantly. The eastern species has a wider distri- 

 bution but it is not as beautiful. As we were coming 

 down the mountain near Palmer Lake, there was given 

 to us a Moccasin flower (Cypripvdium pubescens), the 

 same species found in the East. It is, of course, a rare 

 plant in the Eockies. 



GEMS OF THE MOUNTAIN WOODS 



As we went up the mountain in June the Western 

 Choke Cherry (Prunns demissa) was in full bloom and 

 with it a kind of Raspberry (Rubus deliciosus). Later 

 the Salmonberry (R. Nutkanus) was in bloom. It 

 seems that there should be a place for this plant in our 

 gardens. In the foothills one finds a great deal of a 

 spiraea with fragrant leaves, the Ilolodiscus discolor. 

 The western Geranium lias great possibilities under cul- 

 tivation. The parks and woods show a continuous 

 bloom of these species. Add to these the great Fire- 

 weed (Epilobium angustifolium) so common in the 

 north, which is everywhere abundant at higher altitudes, 

 especially where the woods have been burned. In many 

 streams and brooks we find a yellow-flowered mimulus 

 (M. Jamesti) occurs and in some places a large flowered 

 purplish kind, the M. Leweii. The service Berry (Anp- 

 elanchier alnifolia) Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus 

 parvifoUus) and Purshia tridentata all add charm to 

 these woods, each species in its appropriate place, the 

 Mahogany in dry arid soil and the Service berry in 

 more moist places, generally, although it sometimes 

 occurs in dry places. 



Ames, Iowa. 



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