Part 10

On dry stony ground and slopes throughout the Rockies.

A tree frequently 200 feet high with a broad, gradually tapering buttressed base sometimes 15 feet in diameter; branches short, horizontal, usually pendulous at the ends, bright yellow-green during the first year, becoming reddish-brown and lustrous; bark thin, cinnamon-red, divided into broad rounded ridges by shallow fissures; leaves ovate, long pointed, ¼ of an inch long or less; cones purplish-brown, much reflexed, clustered at the ends of the branches, ½ inch long with 6 oblong thin leathery scales with thickened spine-bearing tips.

Occasionally met with in the lower valleys on the western slope of the Rockies; becoming an immense forest tree in the moist valleys of the Selkirks where it forms a striking feature of the landscape.

TAXACEÆ

Yew Family

Trees or shrubs with narrow flat evergreen or deciduous leaves and a drupe-like fruit.

A small straggling tree or shrub seldom over 20 feet high and up to 12 inches in diameter; bark thin, covered with greenish-purple scales; leaves about ½ an inch long, linear-lanceolate, flat, dark yellowish-green above, paler below with stout midribs and rigid points; fruit a fleshy crimson disc ⅓ of an inch long and as broad, surrounding the hard, nearly black, depressed seed.

Occurs locally in the Selkirks, forming much of the underwood on Beaver Creek.

ARACEÆ

Arum Family

Smooth perennial herbs with tuberous or corn-like rootstocks and mostly basal, large showy leaves; flowers small and numerously crowded on a spadix which is generally surrounded or subtended by a simple showy leaf-like organ called a spathe.

A very numerous family found mostly in the tropics and represented in our region by but a single species.

A stemless marsh plant with large leaves 1—4 feet long, 3—18 inches wide, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, acute, narrowed below into a short petiole. Flowers appearing before the leaves; spathe yellow with a broad acute blade 2—6 inches long, narrowed below to a sheathing petiole 3—10 inches long; spadix 2—4 inches long, densely flowered, on a stout peduncle 8 inches or more long.

In wet and marshy spots through the Selkirks. Very abundant near Bear Creek Station on the railway, flowering in early spring.

MELANTHACEÆ

Bunch-Flower Family

Lily-like plants with leafy stems, usually with tufts of grass-like leaves at the base and rootstocks or occasionally bulbs.

The flowers small and distinctly 6-parted, with the same number of stamens and three styles; the flowers grow in close heads at the top of the stems.

Anthers, 1-celled. Leaves broad, petioles sheathing. =Veratrum.= Leaves grass-like. Flowers erect with a gland at the base of each petal. =Zygadenus.= Flowers nodding, petals without glands. =Stenanthella.= Anthers, 2-celled. =Tofieldia.=

Stem 2—8 feet high, very leafy, softly hairy especially above. Leaves dark green above, paler and hairy beneath, prominently veiny and sheathing at the base, oval or elliptic, acute, 6—12 inches long, 3—6 inches broad, the upper becoming successively narrower. Flowers yellowish-green, numerous in a spreading head often 2 feet long, with drooping branches; perianth segments oblong or oblanceolate, acute, ¼—½ an inch long, twice as long as the stamens.

In swamps and on moist slopes and stream borders throughout the region, frequently growing in great masses. In the Rockies it seldom grows below 6000 feet elevation, but is found much lower in the moist valley of the Selkirks.

Very glaucous throughout, with a cluster of narrow, grass-like leaves 5—10 inches long and ¼ inch broad, from a chaffy bulbous root; stem whitish-green or purplish, 1—2 feet high, with scattered, purple, leaf-like bracts and an open head of flowers 4—12 inches long; flowers greenish-white, open, ½ an inch or more across the six petals and sepals with a large, bright green gland at the base; stamens 6, erect, forming a central column, anthers scarlet on the opening of the bud, changing to yellow; styles 3.

Throughout the Rockies up to 6000 or 7000 feet elevation, in all kinds of situations and soils, a most attractive plant worthy, of a place in the flower-garden, blossoming during midsummer.

A slender, yellowish-green plant 8—12 inches high, from an elongated ovoid bulb. Leaves narrow and grass-like, rough on the margins and midribs, all with sheaths around the stem. Flowers light yellow, ¼ of an inch broad in a compact head 2—3 inches long; stamens exserted, anthers yellow.

On open grassy hillsides in the Rockies from Banff to Castle Mountain, flowering in June.

Smooth 12—18 inches high from a bulbous base. Leaves 2—3 from the same root, 8—10 inches long, ½ an inch broad, spreading. Flowers 6—20, greenish-purple, ½ an inch long, open, drooping, in a simple slender head; sepals and petals 3 each, with recurved tips; stamens 6, included.

In moist woods throughout the Rockies, growing in moss; the dark green, widely spreading leaves and wand-like stem of drooping bell-like flowers, making a graceful and attractive plant during early summer.

Low with numerous tufted grass-like leaves 1—2 inches long. Flowers 6-parted, minute, greenish-white in a compact oblong head ¼ of an inch long, elongated in fruiting; stamens 6; anthers yellow not exceeding the perianth; head of flowers borne on a slender, smooth stem 3—7 inches high.