GLACIERLILY 



Erythronium grandiflorum Pursh 



The gkcierlily seems to radiate the spirit of the high places, and with 

 bright sunshine and pure air helps to entice the lover of nature to the 

 mountain tops. Along the edges of the melting snow the pointed, 

 green, daggerlike leaves push upward, often through the snow itself, 

 and soon the flower bursts into bloom, exhaling a delicious fragrance 

 quite distinct from any other we experienced in the mountains. Car- 

 peting the ground with gold, the plant may be found even in mid- 

 summer, along with springbeauties, yellow violets, and buttercups, 

 where the spring avalanches have lodged their load of snow and thus 

 held the early flowers in cold storage. The name avalanche lily is often 

 applied to it because of this fact. At lower altitudes it grows in 

 greater numbers and with longer stems, but always with the same 

 lovely coloring of brilliant green and gold. It is rarely found below an 

 elevation of 4,000 feet. 



The glacierlily is evidently adapted to grow in regions of heavy 

 snowfall, and no doubt survived the glacial period close to the edge of 

 the ice from Wyoming to Washington, having since pushed north- 

 ward into the mountains of British Columbia and Alberta. 



The specimen sketched was obtained on the slopes of Mt. Wapta, 

 above Emerald Lake near Field, in the Canadian Rockies, at an altitude 

 of 6,000 feet. 



PLATE 68 



