20 
THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
duced to some extent into American cultivated grounds. It is a 
doubtful native of Britain, but has been so long established there 
that it has become a characeristic feature in the countryside. 
Of cone-bearing trees there is none that is native of England 
except the Yew. This is frequently met with in churchyards and 
about^entlemen's country seats — a sombre, funereal-looking tree, 
30 or 40 feet in height, famous in old times as the stock from 
which the British yeoman made his invincible bows. The Scotch 
pine often appears in abundance in sequested tracts, but it has 
been introduced from the Land o' Cakes. Philadelphia, Pa, 
THE FLOWERS OF PIKE'S PEAK. - 
By :^Irs. S. B. Walker. 
During the placing of my exhibit of 300 square feet of the 
pressed flowers, ferns, etc., of Colorado, in Colorado Springs, last 
year, many comments were heard as to where this and that plant 
was to be found that were sometimes very wide of the mark. 
One day I went to the summit of Pike's Peak and thinking, grass 
from the stmimit and a few of the high, alpine flowers and ferns 
would be an added interesting feature, I placed them on ice inside 
the glass case. Later, standing with others near by, our attention 
was attracted by hearing a voice loudly declaiming, ''Flowers 
from Pike's Peak at 13,000 feet altitude, grass from the summit; 
Gracious, there is not a spear of grass on the summit and not a 
flower within three thousand feet of the summit. I've been there 
myself!" and the party passed on. 
Nevertheless, grass docs grow at the extreme summit, and ferns 
are found near the top at 13.300 feet altitude, and they are not so 
rare, either. The tiny blue forget-me-not (Myosofis alpcstrc) is 
found at 13,500 feet altitude, growing in the shade of the over- 
hanging rocks clustered about with grass and the deep blue, fra- 
grant bells of Mcrtcnsia alpina. Against the lichen covered gran- 
ite boulders in the background, tall and stately, throwing its crim- 
son gleam far out, are fine specimens of Primula Parryi. The 
yellow flowers are supplied by Scnccio aureus var boreal is, while a 
trifle higher are found the cheery, more delicate blossoms of the 
