In the Sierra 



fine, silky, and rather short-leaved, Gala- 

 magrostis and Agrostis being the principal 

 genera. They form delightfully smooth, 

 level sods in which one finds two or three 

 species of gentian and as many of purple 

 and yellow orthocarpus, violet, vaccinium, 

 kalmia, bryanthus, and lonicera. (3) Mead- 

 ows hanging on ridge and mountain slopes, 

 not in basins at all, but made and held in 

 place by masses of boulders and fallen trees, 

 which, forming dams one above another in 

 close succession on small, outspread, chan- 

 nelless streams, have collected soil enough 

 for the growth of grasses, carices, and many 

 flowering plants, and being kept well wa- 

 tered, without being subject to currents 

 sufficiently strong to carry them away, a 

 hanging or sloping meadow is the result. 

 Their surfaces are seldom so smooth as the 

 others, being roughened more or less by 

 the projecting tops of the dam rocks or 

 logs ; but at a little distance this rough- 

 ness is not noticed, and the effect is very 

 [ 213 ] 



