LAKE-SHORE VEGETATION IN NORTH-CENTRAL COLORADO 69 
record at Burgrass Lake. Where this was taken the belt of meadow was 
so narrow that the meter quadrat covered both consociations, and most of 
the common meadow plants are, therefore, represented. Ligusticum, it 
will be seen, occupied more space than any other species. Castilleja and 
Erigeron were, however, more conspicuous because of their brilliant flowers. 
The forest association surrounding subalpine lakes does not differ from 
the forest elsewhere in the same locality. It is, therefore, not included in 
the present study. 
The following list includes only the more frequent plants of subalpine 
lake shores. Certain species may be locally abundant and yet not widely 
distributed. These have generally been excluded. Plants belonging 
primarily to the forest and only occasionally getting in among the true moor, 
heath, and meadow plants are also not admitted, nor have aquatics been 
listed. A number of species characteristic of stream banks and of narrow 
gulches, as Cardamine cordifolia, Heracleum lanatum, Primula Parryi, 
Mertensia ciliata, and Senecio triangularis, are occasional in the moor but 
are not included in the list. Mosses, lichens, and fungi are not considered. 
Many plants are lacking which are characteristic of lake shores at lower 
altitudes in Colorado and at ordinary altitudes in the United States east 
of the Rocky Mountains. The following may be mentioned: Equisetum, 
Typha, Alisma, Beckmannia, Pailicularia, Cyperus, Scirpus, Iris, Populus, 
Betula, Persicaria, Rumex, Thalictrum, Rosa, Lathyrus, Vicia, Euphorbia, 
Menyanthes, Mentha, Prunella, Galium, Sambucus, Aster, Bidens-, Iva, 
Rudbeckia, Solidago, Taraxacum. Some few of the above named are 
found in the shore vegetation of subalpine lakes close down to the 10,000- 
foot-altitude line, as Equisetum, Betula, Rosa. They do not, however, 
belong to typical subalpine lakes. 
Since the soil moisture requirement is the most useful single feature 
to be known about a plant, provided the general climatic features of the 
region are known, this has been indicated in the list. The plan followed is 
that employed by the writer (6) and by one of his students (10) whereby, as 
previously stated, the figure 4 is used as the "soil moisture index" for 
ordinary xerophytes, 6 for mesophytes, 8 for marsh plants, 10 for aquatics. 
Most plants of sedge moor have a soil moisture index of 8, most plants of 
meadow have a soil moisture index of 6. Species which grow under various 
conditions are given more than one number. 
List of Plant Species 
POACEAE 
Agrostis humilis (6, 7) 
Alopecurus occidentalis (7, 8) 
Deschampsia alpicola (6, 7, 8) 
Deschampsia caespitosa (7, 8) 
Koeleria gracilis (5,6) 
Phippsia algida (7) 
Phleum alpinum (7) 
Pea alpina (7, 8) 
Poa subpurpurea (5) 
Sporoholus brevifolius (6) 
Muhlenbergia filiformis (6, 7) 
