THE TREES AND SHRUBS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 



23 



Only in one locality, and that near Hood's Canal, to the south-east of the 

 region, have I seen the handsome crimson rhododendron, Rhododendron 

 calif ornicum — the Western counterpart of R. catawbiense of the East. 

 There are several Spiraeas, including those so familiar to us as Spiraea 

 ariaefolia, S. Douglasii, and 5. Aruncus ; also many Ribes both of the 

 currant and gooseberry types, none more beautiful than R. sanguineum, 

 R. Lobbii, and R. bracleosum, which are perhaps the commonest. Of 

 the brambles the most conspicuous are Rubus leucodermis and 

 R. spectabilis, the one with purple, the other with transparent yellow 

 fruits. 



Rubus nuikanus forms great thickets with its broad-leaved 

 sprays. The insignificant fruit is appreciated only by the black 

 bears of the country, and is a disappointing result of such beautiful 

 blossom. 



There are five or six species of Pyrola, including P. uniflora, and 

 P. rotundifolia with its pink bell-flowers. It is remarkable in the dense 

 woods of the Olympics what numbers of saprophytic plants one 

 sees. Most strange of the saprophytes is the Pterospora andromedea, 

 which seems to be found on or near Gaultheria Shallon, and the 

 ghostly Monotropa uniflora forcing its way up among the pine 

 needles (fig. 15). 



Of alpines and bulbous plants there are fewer species than in the 

 main Cascade range, where there is opportunity of north and south 

 migration, though several species are confined to this Olympic region. 

 Lilium columbianum is universal, nowhere in such quantities as one 

 sees L. pardalinum in California. Mimulus Lewisii makes bright 

 patches of crimson among the stones of the rivers, where here and 

 there it mingles with the yellows of Epilobium luteum and Mimulus 

 Langsdorfii. Erythroni^m montanum (fig. 16) grows everywhere, 

 perhaps especially common on the sunny banks where the soil is too 

 thin for the big trees to get a foothold, and Arctostaphylos tomentosa 

 and A. Uva-ursi calif omica cover the ground with their grey dusty 

 foliage. I must mention the delicately beautiful Clintonia uniflora, the 

 speckly-leaved Goody era Menziesii, and Linnaea borealis, which climbs 

 over the stones among the mosses, the last a rather larger-flowered 

 plant than its European form. Under the firs the so-called ' Prince's 

 Pine ' makes an evergreen carpet ; there are two species — Chimaphila 

 umbellata and C. Menziesii — the former common to all the Northern 

 Hemisphere. 



In the damp and shaded hollows much the most conspicuous plant 

 is Panax horridum, with its handsome leaves and scarlet berries ; 

 its name does not belie it, as dark stories are told of how men over- 

 taken by night in the forests and getting into a thicket of it have 

 succumbed to its terrible and poisonous thorns. Acer circinatum 

 sends its long, green, willowy branches in arches which touch the ground 

 and spring again. Its pale-green seven-lobed leaves are as delicate and 

 beautiful as any Japanese maple, in my opinion. Berberis nervosa, so 

 greatly preferred by David Douglas to B. Aquifolium, is the commoner 



