PLANTS OF THE FLORISSANT REGION IN COLORADO 



I8l 



ing different kinds of soil. So, with less sameness in the environment 

 will come less sameness in the tiora. ' 



In the spring these hills bear larkspurs and vetches; and there 

 are the dehcate flowers of the bear-berry, or "kinnikinik,"' as it is 

 called m Colorado. Later come the lungwort^ or "bluebell " and 

 lupmes and loco-weeds.3 Throughout the summer may be' found 

 various kinds of beard-tongue, ^ and on dry, gravelly slopes certain 

 stemless ' forms of evening primroses. Some of these have flowers 

 two inches across. The wild geranium^ blooms through spring 

 and summer among fallen logs and in the partial shade of pine and 

 spruce trees. This plant closely resembles the crane's-bill of our 

 eastern states. The columbo is a tall, straight plant of the gentian 

 family, but with greenish flowers. It has much the form of common 

 mullein. At the heads of guUies the tall, pink Gilia^ can almost always 

 be found. It seldom occurs elsewhere. Different species of golden- 

 rod grow sparingly among pine trees and aspens on the hillsides 



Although most of the plants of the hillsides are herbaceous, rather 

 than woody, still there are representatives of some woody species here 

 and there. Wherever large rocks are found, with frost cracks, one 

 may expect to find a few shrubs. The thimble berry« is fairly common. 

 In early spring this bears a mass of large, white, rose-like flowers. 

 At that season the plant is very attractive. However, the berries which 

 come later are so insipid and so full of seeds that one may well wonder 

 at the taste of the botanist who gave the plant its specific name "deh- 

 ciosus " Some wild raspberries of good flavor may be found now 

 and then, but they are nowhere abundant. A few of our western 

 choke cherries,^ and some wild gooseberries and currants, grow on 

 the higher hills and in rocky or shaded places. 



A shrub known as mountain mahogany- is fairly common on drier 

 parts of the hills. The wood of this species is extremely hard; even 

 m collecting small specimens of the plant for the herbarium a pocket 



n ■ , fentstemon spp. 



this .^T:""" ^""''"'"- ^ P'^°'°^'^'* °f --^ °f these plants is reproduced in the plate at the e.d of 



Kubus deltcwsus James, Oreobatus delkiosus (James) Rydb 

 « Prunus demissa mdanocarpa. .» Cercocarpus parzn/olius 



