

In the Sierra 



leaved ivesia, pentstemon, orthocarpus, and 

 patches of Primula suffruticosa, a beautiful 

 shrubby species. Here also I found bryan- 

 thus, a charming heathwort covered with 

 purple flowers and dark green foliage like 

 heather, and three trees new to me, 

 a hemlock and two pines. The hemlock 

 (Tsuga Mertensiana] is the most beautiful 

 conifer I have ever seen ; the branches and 

 also the main axis droop in a singularly 

 graceful way, and the dense foliage covers 

 the delicate, sensitive, swaying branchlets 

 all around. It is now in full bloom, and 

 the flowers, together with thousands of last 

 season's cones still clinging to the droop- 

 ing sprays, display wonderful wealth of 

 color, brown and purple and blue. Gladly 

 I climbed the first tree I found to revel in 

 the midst of it. How the touch of the 

 flowers makes one's flesh tingle ! The pis- 

 tillate are dark, rich purple, and almost 

 translucent, the staminate blue, a vivid, 

 pure tone of blue like the mountain sky, - 

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