FLORA OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 25 
come and go, changing as by magic; in flower one week and in seed 
the next. r lhe most conspicuous of the later plants is the valerian, 
Valeriana sitchensis (fig. 22). This is also wrongly called the moun¬ 
tain heliotrope on account of its small pinkish white flowers in cymes, 
resembling the common garden heliotrope though having no rela¬ 
tionship. It is a tall plant with a strong characteristic odor; the 
leaves are pinnate, the upper leaflet being by far the largest. It is 
usually one of the tallest plants in these flower beds in the neighbor¬ 
hood of 5,500 feet and grows abundantly, beginning to bloom in 
Fig. 18.—Suksdorf’s buttercup (Ranunculus suksdorfii). 
Color of flower, yellow; height of plant, 5 to 12 inches; blooms July and August. 
Photograph by A. H. Barnes. 
the early part of July. It continues to bloom until the middle of 
August or the first of September. 
Mertensia laevigata (fig. 23) is another plant between 2 and 3 feet 
high with raceme of blue-purple flowers and thin ovate leaves. The 
Arctic lupine, Lupinus subalpinus (fig. 24), grows with the above, 
though it is not so tall, but is really more conspicuous because of 
its many radiate flower stalks with long racemes of pealike purple 
flowers and palmately compound leaves. Polemonium pulchellum 
(fig. 25) is another handsome plant with pinnate leaves and blue 
flowers in cymulose clusters. Cusick’s speedwell, Veronica cusickii , 
