COTTONGRASS 



Eriophorum chamissonis Meyer 



In all parts of the Rocky Mountains of Canada one's attention is 

 drawn in mid- July to the masses of sedge growing along the wet 

 borders of alpine lakes, oftentimes out of the water itself If there have 

 been a few dry days, the cottony heads are waving in the breeze, as it 

 fitfully blows over them. Farther away from the lake shore the plants 

 become scattered and lose much of the beauty that comes from a 

 massed effect. Buffeted by mountain showers and winds, they are in 

 their prime only a few days. 



This species of cottongrass is found usually about timber line in the 

 Rockies. It is a circumpolar plant, occurring in northern Europe and 

 Asia as well as North America. On this continent it perhaps survived 

 the glacial period in Wyoming and adjoining States, where it still 

 grows, but since the ice retreated it has spread far into Alaska, and 

 eastward across Canada to Ontario and even to New Brunswick. 



The sketch was made from specimens gathered at Cottongrass 

 Lake, north of Ptarmigan Pass, ten miles north of Lake Louise Sta- 

 tion, Alberta, at an altitude of 7,000 feet. 



PLATE 12. 



