ECONOMIC BOTANY OF ALASKA. 75 
ÜLADOTHAMNUS PYROLJEFLORUS (in Tlingit GHEET-SUN) is 
the most beautiful shrub to be found in Alaska and is cer- 
tainly entitled to the honor of being the State flower. Its 
height is from 4 to 10 feet; its season of flowering from 
about the first of August to the middle of September, ac- 
cording to elevation. The handsome pink flowers soon 
drop off; but, as it usually continues well in flower for 
about a month, it is always a charming sight to the ex- 
plorer as he emerges from the dense coniferous woods to the 
upland meadows, the borders of which are its favorite hab- 
itat. Sometimes it occurs on landslides, where it has ob- 
tained a temporary foothold with other strays, only to be 
eventually crowded out when the dense undergrowth of 
alder attains sufficient height. | 
ACER CIRCINATUM (Vine Maple) is a rare shrub in this 
region and apparently approaching its northern limit, being 
found only on dry rocky bluffs and landslides. It is asome- 
what remarkable fact that where a slide occurs this shrub 
will be found growing on it within a year or two, although 
another specimen of it cannot be found for miles. 
MENZIESIA GLABELLA (?). This beautiful shrub is much 
more common in Alaska than in Oregon and Washington. 
It grows from 4 to 8 feet high and ranges from sea level to 
about 2,000 feet elevation, flowering in May and fruiting 
abundantly in September. The wood is tough and is used 
by the natives for the framework of some of their coarser 
baskets, etc., when the willow is not readily obtainable. 
MENziEsIA „a species with glaucous leaves, closely 
resembles the foregoing, has about the same range, but is 
not nearly so common, and appears to prefer hillsides and 
Inland lake shores rather than the sea beach. The bluish 
Shade of the foliage is very noticeable, and differs about as 
much from the former while growing as spruce does from 
hemlock ; but this difference is not so noticeable in the dried 
