212 



fact I only remember it as growing in the upper part of Tucker- 

 man's Ravine in a quite limited area, a little in the Alpine Gar- 

 den and a pretty large area about the Lake of the Clouds — all on 

 or near Mount Washington. It is upright or bushy-branched 



throughout, growing in wide, dense patches, one and one-hali to 

 two and one-half feet high, frequently depressed at base. It is 

 much smaller and less irregular in form than the 5. phyhcijolia 

 with which it is usually associated." 



The staminate plant seems to be rare and the few specimens 

 which I have seen (with only a single exception) show aments 

 that have been drenched by rains or injured by frosts, i"'^ 

 scarcity of the male plant and its flowering at an unfavorable 

 season, may account for the fact that perfectly fertilized pistillate 

 aments are likewise rarely seen. Andersson says, " capsults v 

 , i lin. longis," showing that he was unacquainted with the lu y 

 developed capsule, which is 2-2 ^^ lines long. The non-fertihze 



plant, with minute, silky- white capsules, is 

 the form commonly seen in herbaria, an 

 in fact so familiar do persons become with 

 this and so accustomed to regard it as the 

 ordinary state of the species, that I once 

 had a specimen of fully developed aments 

 sent me accompanied by a note calhng i y 

 attention to the " abnormal fruit ! " 

 figure (x8) represents the peculiar doubling of the gland m the 

 male flower, first noticed by Mr. Carey. 



Salix Uva Ursi, Pursh. (5. Qitleri, Tuck.) 



This little willow is found on all the alpine summits of JNew 

 England and New York, on Mt. Albert, Lower Canada, near the 

 summit (/. H. Allen) and at the sea-level on the coast o^ Labra- 

 dor. Mr. Faxon says of it," extremely abundant over all the hig 1 

 summits of the White Mountains, from 4,000 ft. altitude up- 

 ward. It is strictly prostrate and creeping, all the branches keep- 

 ing near the surface of the earth and rocks, except in very she - 

 tered situations, where the terminal shoots may bend upward to 

 a height of 4 inches. It frequently creeps up and over stones, 

 to which it seems to cling for warmth. From a stout central root 

 it spreads in all directions (the branches for a short distance send- 



