The Mountaineer 59 
*A FEW FLOWERS OF THE HIGHER OLYMPICS 
WINONA BAILEY 
—7HE peculiar interest that attaches to the flora of the Olympic 
Cl ey 
@)/| mountains lies not in the number of new or distinct species, 
Bi) this area, nor does it lie in great flowery meadows and 
parks, although these may be found, but the most striking char- 
acteristic is the curious mingling of lowland and mountain forms. In 
the Elwha Basin, for instance, last August the most conspicuous flower 
was the big yellow lily (Lilium parvifiorum) common on logged-off and 
open ground all around the shores of Puget Sound. The red colum- 
bine (Aquilegia formosa) found on the Olympia and Tacoma prairies, 
here associated familiarly with the heathers, purple and white (Phyllo- 
doce empetriformis and Cassiope mertensiana), and the avalanche lilies 
(Erythronium montanum). 
But a similar statement might be made of all the physiographical 
features of the Olympics. They are like the Cascades on a reduced 
altitudinal scale. While from two to six thousand feet lower they 
have the same arctic characteristics. Here the forest belt and the park 
belt suddenly merge at about three thousand feet, the snow remains 
late far down into the timber, and glaciers head at the elevation they 
end in the Cascades. In the same way the whole floral scale is com- 
pressed and plants ordinarily arctic are found at three thousand feet 
or even lower, while the rocky summits afford root-hold for numerous 
alpine species. 
Much has been said about plants found in the Olympics and not 
elsewhere. As a matter of fact, about a dozen such distinct kinds 
are at present known. But the similarity of the Olympic flora to that 
of other Washington mountains is the noticeable thing, not its dif- 
ference. Such difference as does exist is due largely, no doubt, to 
geographical isolation and consists as much in the absence of plants 
common in similar environments elsewhere as in rare species here. 
Of such species several were observed last summer: Flett’s violet 
(Viola flettii) on top of Mount Olympus, an exquisitely beautiful flower 
with reddish violet petals and dark red-veined reniform leaves; on 
Mount Barnes, a yellow composite, Flett’s senecio (Senecio flettii), and 
Piper’s harebell (Campanula piperi), the “flower in the crannied 
wall” of the Olympics. It is a bright, clear blue with light grayish 
leaves, growing generally in crevices of the rock. Unlike other hare- 
* A complete list of Olympic flowers will be found in the Mt. Baker number 
of the Mountaineer. 
