FLOWERS AND FORESTS OF THE FAR WEST 217 



Alpine Plants of the FbOcJdcs. 



Accompanied by a botanical friend from Denver I went 

 first by rail up Clear Creek Canon, passing by George- 

 town, to Graymount, the terminus of the railway, where 

 there is an hotel and where horses are obtained for the 

 ascent of Gray's Peak, about nine miles distant by the 

 road. Graymount is situated at the junction of two valleys 

 and is about 9,500 feet above the sea level. During a short 

 stroll on the afternoon of our arrival on some rocky slopes 

 we found two of our rarer British plants, the winter green 

 {Pyrola rotundifolia) and the elegant twin-flower ( Linncca 

 horealis), but instead of having nearly white flowers the 

 former was reddish and the latter was of a deeper colour 

 than in our native plant. The next day we walked to Kelso's 

 cabin, where are some miners' houses about 11,000 feet 

 above sea-level, situated at the lower end of a fine upland 

 valley, which is above the timber line. During the earlier 

 part of our walk up a wooded valley we first noticed fine 

 clumps of the Siberian lungwort {Mertensia sibcrica) with 

 its lovely pale blue flowers, growing more compactly than 

 in our gardens, and splendid masses of the shrubby cinque- 

 foil covered with its handsome yellow flowers, as well as 

 our common harebell, all in the greatest luxuriance and 

 beauty. In dam23 shady places we found the little moschatel, 

 and in bogs the curious Swertia jjercnnis, a kind of gentian 

 with slaty-blue flowers. These are all European or North 

 Asian plants, but there were many others peculiar to the 

 region, though sometimes of European rather than Ameri- 

 can afiinity. Such are the lovely columbine (Aquilegia 

 cceruha), allied to the species of the European Alps, abun- 

 dant and conspicuous with its large blue and white flowers, 

 while mingled with it grew the gaudy Castillcia intcgra, 

 whose leafy bracts of intense crimson are visible from a 

 long distance. This is a true American type, as is the pretty 

 liliaceous plant, Zygademts glancus ; and there were also 

 abundance of dark purple or bright blue penstemons, 

 several showy groundsels and erigerons and the handsome 

 yellow composite. Arnica cordifolia. 



