6 



The Plant World. 



growing species and the introduced summer-growing flowers and 

 vegetables. 



At Flagstaff, Arizona, which place has an altitude of ap- 

 proximately 6900 feet, the writer noticed such perennial her- 

 baceous species as bouncing bet (Saponaria), bunch and grass 

 pinks (Dianthus sps.), bleeding heart (Dicentra), day lily 

 (Hemerocallis), golden glow (Rudbeckia), plantain lily (Funkia), 

 rosemary (Chrysanthemum balsamite var.), tansy (Tanacetum 

 vulgare), Gladiolus, German Iris, tiger lily, columbine, perennial 

 phlox and perennial larkspur growing very luxuriantly in August. 

 The lawn plants, white clover and Kentucky blue grass, which 

 have great difficulty in living through the summer period at 

 the lower altitudes were also making a good healthy growth. 

 Other species which were notably at home in the vicinity of 

 Flagstaff were red top (Agrostis vulgaris), timothy (Phleum 

 pratense), English blue grass (Poa compressa), orchard grass 

 (Dactylis glomerata) , smooth brome grass (Bromus inermis) and 

 common mullein (Verbascum thapsus), none of which can be 

 grown to maturity, under ordinary conditions, at Tucson. At 

 an altitude corresponding to that of Flagstaff, in the vicinity of 

 the White Mountains in land which was rather wet during 

 most of the year as a result of seepage, white clover was noted to 

 be spreading considerably, having become naturalized. These 

 observations are especially significant in as much as perennial 

 herbaceous species which make their growth during the summer 

 months, with few exceptions, cannot be grown with any degree 

 of success at our lower altitudes; and also, since herbaceous 

 perennials comprise the predominant vegetation form, so far 

 as numbers are concerned, at the higher altitudes. 



In addition to the above list of perennials, such annual 

 species as the California poppy, Canterbury bells, corn flower 

 (Centaurea cyanus), pot marigold (Calendula officinalis), snap 

 dragon (Antirrhinum), Coreopsis, Gaillardia, Zinnia, opium and 

 Shirley poppies (Papaver sps.), annual larkspur (Delphinium 

 aiacis), sweet peas,* candytuft, sweet alyssum, foxglove, nas- 

 turtium and scarlet flax were growing profusely at this same 



* The behavior of sweet peas at various altitudes may be noted here; at Yuma, Ari- 

 zona, which is practically 300 feet above sea level, they begin blossoming in late December 

 or January; at Tucson with an altitude of 2400 feet, the first sweet pea flowers appear 

 in February or March; at Oracle, Arizona, the altitude of which place is 4500 feet, the 

 plants ordinarily begin blossoming in June, the seeds being sown in early spring; while 

 at Flagstaff with an altitude of nearly 7000 feet, the writer noted the first blooms in early 

 August. 



