January 20, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



29 



travelers, who were certainly familiar with the eastern 

 White Pine, would have at once noticed its resemblance to 

 that tree. It is more probable that they saw the Lodge 

 Pole Pine, one of the forms of Pinus contorta, which is one 

 of the commonest trees in this region. 



Having crossed the continental divide and being on the 

 waters of the Lemhi River, Captain Lewis found bushes of 

 White Maple on the 13th of August (ii., 487), which Dr. Coues 

 rightly refers to Acer glabrum, the only Maple of the Rocky 

 Mountains with the exception, of course, of the Box Elder, 

 which was well known to our travelers and which is quite 

 generally distributed through all this region. Acer glabrum, 

 which was discovered at this time, was technically de- 

 scribed in 1S24 by Dr. Torrey among the plants found by 

 James in Colorado. 



On the 23d of August Captain Clark reports on the Sal- 

 mon River (ii., 532) tall Pine-trees suitable for the construc- 

 tion of canoes. This is another reference to Pinus 

 ponderosa, which is the common and largest tree of the 

 region. On September 3d (ii., 579), being then on Fish 

 Creek, before reaching the Bitterroot valley and near the 

 present boundary between Montana and Idaho, he reports 

 the country as well supplied with Pine, and in the low 

 ground " a great abundance of Fir-trees and underbrush." 

 There is some doubt about the identity of these Fir-trees, 

 but it is probably the Douglas Fir or Spruce (Pseudotsuga), 

 which is not rare in this region. If this surmise is correct, it 

 is the first reference in this work to this tree which later the 

 party found abundant near the mouth of the Columbia River. 

 On the 9th of September the travelers were crossing the Bit- 

 terroot Mountains by the Lolo Pass. Here they found the 

 timber (ii., 596) "almost exclusively Pine, chiefly of the long- 

 leaf kind, with some Spruce, and a species of Fir resembling 

 the Scotch Fir." The long-leaved Pine is, of course, Pinus 

 ponderosa. The Spruce is probably Picea Engelmanni, 

 which would have been seen here then for the first time by 

 white men; and the Fir "resembling the Scotch Fir" is 

 clearly the Lodge Pole Pine. It may have been this tree 

 which is spoken of as Spruce Pine in the entry of September 

 1 2th (ii., 593). Under the entry of September 1 6th (ii., 598), 

 the party still being engaged in crossing the Bitterroot 

 Mountains, the road was obstructed by "a growth of eight 

 different species of Pine." These must have been Pinus 

 ponderosa, Pinus contorta, Abies grandis, Abies lasiocarpa, 

 Picea Engelmanni, Pinus flexilis, Pinus Monticola and 

 Thuya gigantea, the evergreen trees which compose the 

 forest of these mountains. Under the entry of September 

 20th reference is made to an Alder (ii., 605), referred doubt- 

 fully by Dr. Coues to Alnus incana. It is more probably 

 the Alnus tenuifolia of Nuttall, who found it in the Blue 

 Mountains of Oregon and described it in 1842 in the first 

 volume of his Sylva of North America. This is the com- 

 monest Alder of the Bitterroot region. The Arbor Vitas 

 reported on this day (ii., 605) as very common and grow- 

 ing to a great size, being from two to six feet in diameter, is 

 referred doubtfully by Dr. Coues to Thuya occidentalis. It 

 is really the western Thuya gigantea, which ranges from 

 the coast inland to the Bitterroot Mountains and the west- 

 ern slopes of the continental divide in northern Montana, 

 and which, although it had been seen on the coast of British 

 Columbia by Mackenzie in 1793, and by Menzies in 1796, 

 was not described until 1834 by Nuttall. 



The Hackberry seen on the 12th of October on the 

 Columbia River (ii., 629), and referred by Dr. Coues to Celtis 

 reticulata of Torrey, was more probably the thick-leaved 

 form of Celtis occidentalis, which is not rare in the north- 

 west, Celtis reticulata being a tree of the south-west, and 

 now usually considered a geographical form of Celtis Mis- 

 sissippiensis. On the Columbia they observed the fruit of 

 the White Oak, Quercus Garryana (ii., 654), used as food by 

 the Indians, who told them they had procured it from a 

 tribe living near the great falls of the Columbia, where 

 this tree is still common, and where our travelers saw it on 

 the 29th of October growing on hills near the mouth of the 

 Klikat River, in company with a Pine, which is still Pinus 



ponderosa. Near the mouth of Wind River, Oregon, which 

 is just above the town of Sprague, and which Lewis and 

 Clark called "New Timber River, from a species of Ash 

 which grows on its bank, . . . and a timber resembling 

 the Beech in bark, but different in its leaf, which is smaller " 

 (ii., 679). The Ash is Fraxinus Oregona, which grows to a 

 large size on the lower Columbia River. The new timber 

 Dr. Coues unhesitatingly called the Broad-leaved Maple, 

 Acermacrophyllum, but the large and deeply lobed leaves 

 of that tree could never have been mistaken for the leaves 

 of the Beech. The bark of Alnus rhombifolia has some 

 resemblance to that of the Beech-tree, and the leaves are 

 not very unlike Beech leaves in outline. There is certainly 

 no other tree on the Columbia with Beech-like leaves. 



The Spruce Pine seen on November 2d (ii., 688) near the 

 Columbia below tide-water, growing with Pine, Cotton wood, 

 a species of Ash and some Alder, was probably Pseudotsuga, 

 and the Cottonwood is Populus tricocarpa, which is the spe- 

 cies of the lower Columbia, and which our travelers had not 

 noticed before. The Pine seen here in low ground is 

 probably Pinus contorta. The Ash is Fraxinus Oregona, 

 the only species of the region, and the Alder, either Alnus 

 Oregona or Alnus rhombifolia. 



On the lower Columbia, in the entry of November 4th 

 (ii., 693), the Wild Crab was noticed growing near the river. 

 This is the first mention made by Lewis and Clark of Pyrus 

 rivularis, which had been discovered a few years earlier by 

 Archibald Menzies. On November 13th (ii., 706), when the 

 party was near the mouth of the Columbia, they found that 

 "the whole lower country was covered with almost im- 

 penetrable thickets of small Pine, with which is mixed a 

 species of plant resembling Arrow-wood, twelve or fifteen 

 feet high, with a thorny stem, almost interwoven with each 

 other, and scattered among the Fern and fallen timber." 

 The Pine may have been Pinus contorta. Dr. Coues refers the 

 thorny plant to Crataegus rivularis. This, however, is a 

 species of the interior; it may have been Crataegus 

 Douglasii, or Pyrus rivularis, which grows in low ground 

 and is often beset with short lateral, thorn-like branchlets. 



On the 1 8th of November (ii., 712) Pine-trees were seen 

 "three or four feet in thickness growing on the bodies of 

 large trees, which, though fallen and covered with moss, 

 were in part sound." This is a familiar sight in the forests 

 of the north-west coast, where the seeds of several conifers, 

 especially of the Hemlock, Tsuga Mertensiana, germinate 

 most readily on the trunks of fallen trees. Having crossed 

 from the north to the south bank of the Columbia on No- 

 vember 26th (ii., 722), they found a "thick growth of Pine, 

 Balsam and other timber." The Balsam here is Abies 

 grandis, which the travelers had seen for the first time in 

 descending the western slope of the Bitterroot Mountains. 

 In describing the country in the neighborhood of the winter 

 camp south of the mouth of the Columbia, under entry of 

 November 30th (ii., 724), they say, "the hills along the 

 coast are high and steep ; the general covering is a 

 growth of lofty Pines of different species, some ot which 

 rise more than two hundred feet, and are ten or twelve feet 

 in diameter near the root." The only trees which attain 

 this size in this region are Picea Sitchensis, Pseudotsuga 

 taxifolia and Thuya gigantea. They noticed here a plant 

 which is called "Laurel,'' which Dr. Coues considers to be 

 Rhododendron Californicum (not Californianum), but it is 

 quite possible that by "Laurel" was intended Arbutus 

 Menziesii, which is a conspicuous small tree in the coast 

 region at this point. 



On the 13th of December (ii., 734) the party were engaged 

 in building huts for their winter quarters, and were rejoiced 

 to find that " the beautiful Balsam Pine splits into excellent 

 boards more than two feet in width." The Balsam Pine is 

 here referred by Dr. Coues to Pseudotsuga, but (he wood of 

 that tree does not split particularly easily, and the planks 

 were probably obtained from Abies grandis, which is 

 abundant here. It is a tree much more readily felled than 

 Pseudotsuga and the wood splits easily. 



a s. s. 



