620 Part IV. Chapter P% 
western slopes only:), The shrubs of this belt are Herspnek ..s Quercus chrysolepis var. 
vweeiniioln, and Castanopsis un var. minor at the higher elevations 
Juniperus occidentalis is of high altitudes ze Be situations. It is GE 
abundant, but is frequent as a Seh tree between 7,000 and 8,500 feet elevation on bare 
granite rock slopes and low summits. On Mount Rose in western Nevada (10,800 feet) from 
9,000 to 10,000 feet Pinus albicaulis is associated according to Kennedy (Muhlenbergia III: 30) 
with Cystopteris ee Agrostis Rossii, Phleum alpinum, Poa Olneya, Poa reflexa, Stipa occi- 
dentalis, Salix glaucops, Eriogonum Lobbii, Blöbaldin procumbens, Lupinus cytisoides, L. leuco- 
phyllus, Trifolium Ben (abundant in meadows), Rhodiola integrifolia, Ribes lentum, Anten- 
naria dioica, Senecio triangularis and Solidago multiradiata. 
To conclude our account of the forest flora of Sierra Nevada Mountains 
we find on the eastern side a desert region”) whose lower altitudes lie in a 
belt marked below by the presence of Zarrea Mexicana (= Covillea tridentata) 
and above by a narrow treeless belt characterized by several shrubs and in 
many parts by an abundant growth of Yucca arborescens; and next a belt 
covered by a scant forest of Pinus monophylla (from the desert margin to 
8,000 feet) Funiperus californica var. utahensis and Pinus flexilis seldom found 
lower than 9,000 feet, but from this elevation it pushes upward over the rough- 
est ledges to the extreme limit of tree growth. The foxtail pine, Pinus aristata, 
is also another denizen of the eastern slopes of the sierras restricted to the 
southern portion of the range about the head waters of Kings and Kern rivers 
where it forms extensive forests above 9,000 feet. It ascends to 11,000 feet 
without seeming to suffer from the climate. Pinus monophylla is, however, 
commonest tree and covers many mountains from base to summit associated 
with a sparse growth of the juniper on the lower slopes, thus breaking the 
continuity of the nut pine forest’). 
Alpine Lakes and Meadows. Thousands of lakelets exist in the sierras. 
They occupy the sheltered hollows of glacial valley basins, or are streams 
dammed by ancient moraines, or they exist in chains on mountain streams, 
as in Lake Hollow in Tuolumne Canyon, where ten such lakes lie together. 
The outer circumarea is characterized by Spiranthies Romanzoffiana, Sagıttaria 
vartabilis, Damasonium californicum, Caltha leptosepala, Veratrum californicum, 
and species of /soötes, Narthecium, Habenaria, and Hastingsia. The second 
circumarea, the lake-bog circumarea, is marked by the presence of Ranun- 
culus RE R. oxynotus, R. alismacfolius, Dodecatheon alpinum, D. Feffreyi 
and Kalmia glauca var. microphylla. 
The alpine meadows are smooth, silky lawns representing the basins of 
lakes which have been converted first into bogs and then into meadows with 
1) LEIBERG, JOHN B.: Forest Conditions in the northern Sierra Nevada, and Muvir, Jonn: The 
Mountains of California 1901:-138—225, see ante p. 
3 See Great Basin Region. 
3) Jerson, Wirrıs L.: Mount Whitney, ete, Sierra Club Bulletin IV, No. 3, 1903: 207—215; 
ri JOHN: loc. cit. 215—222; CoviLe, F. V.: Bot. Death Valley Exp. p- 26, see ante Biblio- 
graphy p. 75- 
