FLOWERS AND FORESTS OF THE FAR WEST 219 



snow. These were, a nearly white globe-flower (Trollius 

 albiflorus), very dwarf and with spreading, not globular 

 flowers; a buttercup, whose flowers were of the most 

 perfect circular outline, and of a pure and rich yellow, 

 both peculiar to the Rocky Mountains ; and the narcissus- 

 flowered anemone of the European Alps. Going a little 

 further we found some of the more characteristic American 

 forms, such as the beautiful blue-flowered Mcrtensia alpina, 

 a dwarf Alpine form of Mertensia siherica and perhaps the 

 most lovely plant of the genus ; the pretty fringed grass 

 of parnassus (Farnassia Jimhriata) ; Avith peculiar species 

 of the European genera, Aster, Cardamine, Astragalus, 

 Delphinium, Trifolium, Saxifraga, Sedum, Valeriana, 

 Veronica, and Pedicularis ; with others of the American 

 genera, Phacelia, Chionophila, Mimulus, and Zygadenus ; 

 and hidden among the rocks the minute purple-flowered 

 Primula augustifolia. What more especially interested 

 me, however, was the number of identical British or 

 European species. Such were the moss- campion, the 

 Dry as odcypetcda, Sibhaldia procumhens, the rosewort (Sedum 

 rhodiola), the Alpine Veronica, and the Alpine chick- 

 weed, Lloydia seroiina, a small liliaceous plant found on 

 Snowdon, and two saxifrages, Saxifraga nivalis and S. 

 ccrmta, all found also in our Welsh or Scotch mountains ; 

 and of European Alpines the pretty slaty-blue Swertia 

 pereniiis, which dotted the grassy slopes with its delicate 

 flowers, the Alpine Astragalus, the Arctic willow, several 

 saxifrages and gentians, and some other species charac- 

 teristic of the flora of the Alps. 



The next day, after sleeping at a miner's cabin situated 

 at the head of the main valley at about 12,500 feet eleva- 

 tion, we ascended to the top of Gray's Peak, which is 

 14,250 feet high, and met with many other interesting 

 plants. The little EritricJiium nan^wi, a minute but 

 intensely blue forget-me-not, was found growing in the 

 midst of clumps of the moss-campion ; the Gentiana tcnella 

 and Cam]pamda %iniflora of the Arctic regions were also 

 found at about 13,000 feet elevation ; with the British 

 Alpine penny-cress, the yellow Iceland poppy, the two- 

 flowered sandwort, the Alpine arnica, the snowy buttercup, 



