PAPERS PRESENTED AT GENERAL SESSIONS 31 



ry, the buckthorn, the buffalo-berry, the deerbrush, the 



snowbcrry, and honeysuckles, with blueberries, g --ber- 

 ries, and raspberries. Among the ground plants are such 

 characteristic forms as the queencup, the rattlesnake 

 plantain, the baneberry, the pyrola, the bishop's cap, and 

 several ferns. Occasionally rounded shoulders or knobs, 

 usually on the north side of a valley, show very xerophy- 

 tic conditions and have a vegetation resembling that of 

 a pine barren. The trees are chiefly lodgepole and lum- 

 ber pines and poplars, and they have a stunted growth 

 and open stand. The chief shrubs are blueberries, 

 mountain spray, and deerbrush, and the ground plants in- 

 clude bergamot, harebell, fireweed, beardtongue, stone- 

 crop, and a xerophytic selaginella. 



PLANT COHHUS P THE MOUNTAIN-SIDES 



On the valley sides the soil rapidly becomes drier than 

 that of the flood-plains, the trees are not so tall and have 

 a more open stand, and the undergrowth becomes more 

 xerophytic. The foi 30 becom jontinuous, with 



alternating patches of shrubby thickets or of mountain 

 meadow. In the thickets, alder and willows predominate, 

 with elder and red osier dog'wood and stunted specimens 

 of mountain ash, mountain maple and service berry. 



The mountain meadows consist of a dense ground cover 

 of grasses and herbaceous plants which are famous for 

 the variety and bright color of their flowers. Among 

 these are paint brush, columbine, bear grass, mar; 

 lily, beard-tongues, louseworts, larkspur, Jacob's ladder, 

 shooting star, spirea. stonecrop, saxifrages, sulphur 

 plant, bistort, wild onions, lupines and other legumes, and 

 several showy composites. "Where there is plenty of 

 water in the soil, as along the mountain streams, will 

 be found the globe flower, little elephant, pa -que flower, 

 anemones, arid hydrophytic saxifrages and nios- 



Farther up the mountain side the plants get more and 

 more stunted. At timberline the conifers form extensive 

 thickets of trees not over 3 or 6 feet tall. Above timber- 

 line there are no trees and the ground plants grow in 

 clumps with a very open stand. All have short stems 

 and many show the cushion habit, but the flowers are still 



