Yellow to Orange Flowers 331 



DRUMMOND'S DRYAS 



Dryas Drummondii. Rose Family 



Low, tufted, herbaceous shrubs. Stems: woody at the base. Leaves: 

 oval, crenate-dentate, green and glabrous above, white-canescent be- 

 neath. Flowers: yellow, solitary; calyx persistent, its tube concave, 

 hirsute lobed; petals numerous; style elongated and plumose in fruit. 



This insignificant little yellow flower, which meekly 

 droops its head as if conscious of its lack of good looks, 

 has the most lovely plumose seed-heads imaginable; and 

 there are few prettier sights in the mountains than that of 

 some low-lying alpine meadow literally covered with these 

 frail feathery tufts, rising up on their long, slender, woody 

 stems several inches above the prostrate foliage, half'of 

 which is curled over to show its silvery lining; for all the 

 leaves of Drummond's Dryas are green and shining on the 

 top and white and silky underneath. The flower consists 

 of numerous small yellow petals enclosed in a short, hairy, 

 green calyx; but as soon as these die and fall off, the stalk 

 elongates and the seed-head quickly develops. This plant 

 will grow in the poorest soil, and is most frequently found 

 on arid gravel beds and in the gravelly battures of the alpine 

 streams. 



YELLOW MELILOT 

 Melilotus officinalis. Pea Family 



Stems: ascending, one to four feet high, branching. Leaves: tri- 

 foliolate, petioled, rather distant; leaflets oblong, serrate, narrowed at 

 the base, rounded at the apex. Flowers: in slender racemes; standard 

 equalling the wings and keel. Not indigenous. 



The Yellow Melilot, or Sweet Clover, closely resembles 

 the White Sweet Clover. It has spike-like racemes of tiny 

 clustered flowers, which are fragrant and extremely deli- 



