30 The Mountaineer 



foot of the higher altitudes {petasites frigida) wrapped 

 in cotton as it is, seemed to shiver beside the icy stream. 

 The little blue violet (viola retroscahra) was out, and 

 nestling so close to Mother Earth as not to feel the chill 

 winds, smiled a welcome. Wild heliotrope {Valeriana 

 sitchetisis) , so called because of her fragrance, was ar- 

 rayed in her thinnest gown — possibly in her Alaska 

 home she has become inured to cold weather and light 

 garments — and tossing her head high, received the at- 

 tention she demanded. The avalanche lily, as Mr. Cur- 

 tis appropriately calls the white dog-tooth violet of the 

 mountains {erythronium montanum), is also accli- 

 mated to a northern home, and to show its indifference 

 to cold frequently pushes its head up through the edge 

 of a retreating snow-bank. 



But to go back to Fairfax and come up the trail 

 with the flowers. The first miles were not especially 

 interesting, leading for the most part through a burn 

 with the fire-weed (ejnlohiiwi spicatiim) , conspicuous, 

 as it is in such places, the whole Western country over. 

 A reminder of home were the graceful plumes of goat's 

 beard (arunciis aruncus). Three weeks later this gen- 

 tleman, like many a good mountaineer, had lost his 

 blonde complexion and developed a shaggy beard, while 

 his place in the world of beauty had been taken by the 

 feathery ocean spray {scizonotus discolor). In many 

 places the rocks were covered with the bright yellow^ of 

 the stone crop (sediim divergens). The botanists also 

 picked up a turtle-head (chelone ncmorosa) and a 

 coarse water-leaf {hydrophyllum capitatum) before 

 reaching the deep forest near the borders of the Na- 

 tional Park. Within the forest the air was sweet with 

 the delicate fragrance of millions of the tiny, tinkling 

 pink bells of the twin flower (Linnaeas Americana) , the 

 one flower the great Linnaeus wanted to bear his name. 

 Whenever the trail came near the brook there were 

 great hedges of beautiful lace-like leaves with spikes of 



