FLORA OF MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK. 
37 
wet places. Several species of the aster family are also seen in this 
sorry plight. Many of the weaker plants, such as the speedwell, are 
buried several times under the snow before it becomes continuous for 
the winter. After the temporary snows melt off, these plants soon 
straighten up and continue on as though they never had been 
buried. 
Fig. 29.—Blue gentian (Gentiana calycosa ). 
Color of flower, blue; height of plant, 10 to 18 inches; blooms August and September. 
Photograph by A. H. Barnes. 
The framework of these plants which grow late is so v^ell preserved 
in the following spring after the winter snows thaw that the old 
plant is sometimes mistaken for the new. Here we find the principle 
of cold storage applied in a natural way. In this area there is a 
gradual transition to plants of a higher altitude. Many of the con¬ 
spicuous plants from the area below are also found here though in a 
more depauperated condition, hence there is a general blending 
