250 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



trails, since they are not nearly so extensive as those of the east side 

 of the park. 



Besides the work done inside the park proper, extensive collections 

 were made also at the "east entrance" (Glacier Park station on the 

 Great Northern Railroad, formerly known as Midvale), and at 

 Belton, the west entrance. The plants collected at these localities 

 are listed here, for it is probable that nearly all are found also within 

 the actual park boundaries. Certainly those found at Belton must 

 be, that station being separated from the park only by one of the 

 forks of the Flathead River. The east entrance is farther removed 

 from the park; yet nearly all of even the typical prairie species of 

 that region must be expected to cross the boundaries on the foothills 

 or along the low stream valleys. At any rate, it is desirable that 

 the floras of these two localities should be included, for many visitors 

 spend considerable time at one or both stations, which are for 

 practical purposes a part of the park. 



The summer of 1919 was not a favorable season for botanical 

 work in northwestern Montana, since it was the third of a series of 

 dry years; practically no rain fell during the summer, and the 

 snowfall of the preceding winter was exceptionally light. As early 

 as the first of July the vegetation upon the prairies was almost as 

 dry as tinder, and on the foothills conditions were not much better. 

 Even in the heavy forest the ground became very dry by mid- 

 summer, and the plants drooped and withered. At high altitudes, 

 where the snowfall is heavier and evaporation less rapid, plants 

 were probably nearly as luxuriant as in normal seasons. While 

 the dry season increased the comfort of travelers in the park, it 

 was most imfavorable for the growth of plants. Probably most of 

 the species of the region were represented during the season by 

 growing plants, but some of them withered so early that the writer 

 did not see them. On account of the dryness of the summer it 

 may be that the habitats of some of the species have been indicated 

 as more arid than they would be in a normal season. In the 

 Rockies the amount of moisture in a given locality varies so much 

 from month to month or even" from week to week that it may be 

 described at one time as ''dry" and with equal correctness at 

 another season as ''wet." The writer has often had occasion to 

 note this in labeling or working over a summer's collection, for 

 sometimes a plant collected in midsummer during the rainy season 

 was, according to the notes, collected on a "wet grassy slope," 

 while a less mature plant from exactly the same hillside, but collected 

 early in the summer, might be noted as coming from a "dry "slope. 



Keys for the identification of the genera and species accompany 

 the present catalogue of species, and there is also an artificial key 

 to the families, based so far as possible upon leaf characters and 



