46 



FLORA OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 



flowers of a purplish yellow color in an umbel with short flower 

 stalks and thick oblong leaves. Polygonum newberryi belongs to 

 the same family as the above. It may be known by its somewhat 

 prostrate habit, rather fleshy ovate leaves, and small greenish flowers. 

 On the storm-swept peaks and ridges in the crevices of the rock 

 may be found the tiny lace fern, Cheilanthes gracillima, with its 

 numerous thread-like roots securely anchored from the fury of the 

 storms. It is seldom more than 3 or 4 inches high. Nature has 

 made ample provision for its inclement environment by clothing it 

 with a furry woolly garment. It is found on the summit of Pinnacle 

 Peak and on Plummer Peak. Sometimes it is found as low as 



Fig. 37. — Lyall's lupine (Lupinus lyallii). 

 Color of flower, bluish purple; height of plant, 2 to 7 inches; blooms July and August. 

 Photograph by A. H. Barnes. 



the peaks overlooking the terminal moraines of the glaciers and 

 the rocky pinnacles above the road leading from Narada Falls to 

 the Nisqually. Its companion plants are the mountain polypody, 

 Pohjpodium hcsperium, the kinnikinnik, Arctostapltylos uva-ursi and 

 Pentstemon oreopola. Sometimes Phlox diffusa is woven in and out 

 among them. A study of any one of these peaks is extremely inter- 

 esting, whether the student be a botanist or not. 



Competing with Lyall's lupine for first rank as to beauty of foliage 

 and brilliancy of flower is Phacelia sericea, an elegant plant of the 

 water-leaf family. It may be known by its silvery foliage and 

 purplish flowers, stem leafy to the top and leaves pinnately parted 



