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The Canadian Horticulturist. 331 



On every side is seen the White Mexican Poppy (Argemone). It covers 

 the prairie, as you approach the mountains, and presents a beautiful appear- 

 ance with its large white with yellow centre flowers. 



All along the base of the mountains the Clematis decorates many a spot, 

 at the side of paths along which you tread your way. 



In some places the Prickly Pear cactus {Opuntia) is readily found, and in 

 some the " Dwarf, or Cup cactus." Both bear beautiful flowers which from their 

 low position present an attractive appearance to the patches of dry prairie where 

 they are found. 



Gilias of scarlet (sometimes forty blossoms on a stem), can be selected 

 before you reach the spot where they grow, and beatiful gentias, in their rich 

 purple hues, add their quota to the beauties of a natural flower bed, as it bor- 

 ders some mountain stream. A geranium much like our wild form but more 

 highly colored is quite common. A near relative of our burrs and forget-me- 

 nots, lungwort Marie n:ia, occurs in several places. Near the mountains, especi- 

 ally at Denver, a very beautiful foliage plant is very common. Its leaves of 

 green bordered with white, presents a peculiar appearance, on account of which 

 it no doubt has been termed " Snow on the Mountain " {Euphorbia viar- 

 ginata). 



The vacant lots in Denver are covered with a very beautiful flower common 

 throughout Colorado, the Cleoir.e. In bloom from August to September, and 

 even later, its dense masses of purplish flowers are very pretty. Some claim that 

 it is a good honey plant, supplying nectar at an opportune time. The reader 

 will be inclined to ask " Are there no flowers in this El dorado described, akin 

 to those in Canada ? " We find a few, but as a general thing, they are of differ- 

 ent species. Some vacant lots in Colorado Springs are covered with a sunflower 

 about three feet high, the flowers of which is about three inches in diameter. 

 Colorado College campus abounds with these. Other forms of yellow compo- 

 sites related to our ox-eye daisy are also common. In fact, travel where you 

 will in the vicinity referred to in this article and you find yourself in a veritable 

 flower garden. I should have mentioned among other forms the beautiful 

 Prairie clover, white and purple varieties, petalostemon, and the spider.vort Tra- 

 descatitia Virginica blooming in abundance, and adorning the wayside with its 

 rich purple flowers. 



If you climb Pike's Peak for nine miles up a grade of one foot in every five 

 and a half feet, and in some places one in four, on the railway track which leads 

 to the summit, as you leisurely tread your way, a new flora will pass in review 

 before you ; plants of Alpine variety appearing as you ascend, such as miniature 

 campanulas, thistles, saxifrages, gentians and primroses. Even at the summit, 

 14,147 feet above sea level, far beyond the tree line and in regions of eternal 

 snow, upon the fragments of granite, you find minute plants, blooming through- 

 out the summer. At this altitude ^the barometer rarely rises higher than 17 

 inches, and water boils at 186" F. All plant life is dwarfed, and forms of fair 

 size at the base, are represented by exceedingly small types. 



