8 PLANTS BAKERIAN.E. 



reached the moister basins at the head of the La Plata 

 River on the eastern side of the range. 



One of the most interesting features of this western flank 

 of the range was the great reaches of verdant mountain 

 meadow stretching away in every direction between the 

 scattered clumps of spruces and aspens. The grass, con- 

 sisting largely of Poas and Festucas, was exceedingly 

 luxuriant and was everywhere sprinkled or crowded by 

 showy species of Mertensia, Polemonium, Valerianella, 

 Frasera, Veratrum, Aconitum, Delphinium and numberless 

 other smaller flowering plants. 



The morning of July 6 found us breaking camp and 

 starting on the return trip to Mancos. The season was now 

 at its height, and it was marvelous to see how rapidly vege- 

 tation was developing at these high altitudes. Had time 

 permitted we should gladly have lingered longer at this 

 camp, for each day brought new species into bloom, and it 

 seemed to our regretful eyes that we were leaving more still 

 undeveloped species behind us than we had found in con- 

 dition to collect. The trip back to Mancos occupied two 

 days, as much time was consumed in collecting on the way 

 the things that had opened during our brief absence. A 

 further stop of two days in Mancos enabled us to pack and 

 ship the dried plants that had accumulated, and to take a 

 short side trip over the sage plains to the south westward along 

 the road toward Cortez, in the direction of the Ute Moun- 

 tain. This day's collecting proved to be the richest in the 

 number of specimens taken and in the number of new 

 species of flowering plants discovered of any on the entire 

 trip, thus showing that in planning future work in this 

 region the lower levels should receive careful attention. 



The afternoon of July 9 found us again under way for 

 a trip up the La Plata Valley on the east side of Mt. 



