FLORA OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 
23 
the spring crop. Later the grass of Parnassus, Parnassia fimbriata, 
a beautiful plant with reniform leaves and white fringed petals 
adorn these moist areas, coming up here and there among the asters, 
erigerons, and arnicas about the latter part of August in time to 
salute the last visitors of the season. 
Above these moist meadows are more extensive grassy areas with 
better soil and well drained. Here are found the real natural flower 
gardens of the mountain, surpassing perhaps in beauty of color, 
number of species, and luxuriance of growth any other alpine region 
of the world. 
On passing through a dense cluster of alpine trees and emerging 
for the first time into one of these “gardens” one of the most noted 
of the botanical visitors to the park last summer stopped and re¬ 
peated the word “wonderful! wonderful! wonderful!” This was 
the verdict of a man whose long and successful life has been devoted 
to botanical research not only in his own fatherland but in nearly 
every country of the world. He stood until his companions were 
nearly out of sight, hastening on to reach the hotel in time for 
lunch, but he breathed in the fragrance of the flowers and scanned 
the delightful vista before him unmindful of mere bodily wants. 
A satisfactory description of a natural flower bed has not come to 
the writer’s observation nor does he expect to write one now. If 
by means of this article more people shall be brought in touch with 
the mountain and its wonderful flora he will be satisfied. These 
flower beds must he seen and their fragrance inhaled before a full 
comprehension of them can be realized. The more one sees them, the 
more does he realize their infinite beauty and the full significance of 
the spiritual lessons which these floral emblems teach. 
By numerous photographs and brief descriptions some idea of 
these natural flower beds may be obtained. In the early spring the 
white mountain deertongue, Erythronium montanum (fig. 17), is 
by far the most abundant and conspicuous, thrusting its leaves and 
flowers up through the snow. Avalanche lily, adder’s-tongue and 
dog’s-tooth violet are other popular names for this plant. It has 
two lanceolate leaves with sinuous edges without dark blotches and 
several flowers in the form of a raceme. 
Suksdorf’s buttercup, Ranunculus suksdorjii (fig. 18), is an almost 
constant companion of the deertongue. Though not as successful 
in making its way through the snow, it is in bloom near the snowbank 
soon after the snow has melted from it. This is the only buttercup 
occurring with the mountain deertongue so there can be no confusion, 
though it is often confused with Potentilla flabellifolia (fig. 19), which 
belongs to the rose family. The latter can be identified by its small 
bracts between the sepals while the sepals of the buttercup are rolled 
