Part 14

d Lysiella obtusata (Pursh) Rydb. Small Northern Bog-Orchid.

e Ophrys nephrophylla Rydb. Heart-Shaped Twayblade.

(⅔ Nat.)]

Stem 8—18 inches high, strict and leafy. Lower leaves oblanceolate, obtuse, 2—4 inches long, upper lanceolate and acute; spike of flowers short and dense, the bracts linear-lanceolate, the lower slightly exceeding the flowers. Flowers ½ an inch long or less, yellowish-green; upper sepals broadly ovate, erect; lateral ones ¼ of an inch long, acute, spreading; petals erect, lanceolate, acute; lip lanceolate, obtuse, less than ¼ of an inch long; spur club-shaped, curved, about as long as the lip. Differs from the last species in the bright green colour, slightly smaller flowers with broader based lip and the longer, club-shaped curved spur.

In bogs throughout the region; flowering in June.

Stem 18 inches to 2 feet high, slender and leafy. Leaves, the lower oblanceolate and obtuse, the upper lanceolate, acute. Spike of flowers often rather dense, 4—8 inches long; bracts lanceolate, the lower often much exceeding the flowers; flowers ½ an inch or more long, white or sometimes yellowish or greenish-white; upper sepals ovate, obtuse, ¼ of an inch long, lateral ones oblong-lanceolate, spreading; petals lanceolate, slightly shorter than the sepals; lip rhombic-lanceolate, obtuse, about ¼ of an inch long; spur club-shaped about the length of or shorter than the lip.

Throughout the region in open boggy places and wet meadows; flowering in June.

Stem slender, 8—12 inches high, from a narrow fusiform tuberous root. Leaves linear, acute, 2—4 inches long, about ½ an inch wide. Spike of flowers slender, lax; bracts, lanceolate, acuminate, the lower slightly longer than the flowers; flowers pure white with a spicy fragrance; upper sepal ovate-lanceolate, obtuse, the lateral ones linear-lanceolate, acute, and strongly veined; petals narrowly linear-lanceolate equalling the sepals; lip lanceolate with an ovate rhomboid base about ¼ of an inch long; spur slender and curved, slightly exceeding the lip.

In more or less shaded bogs through the Rockies, flowering during July.

Stem smooth, 6—18 inches high, leafy below, bracted above; the lower leaves 3—8 inches long, linear or linear-oblanceolate. Head of flowers more or less glandular, hairy, 2—4 inches long, half an inch or more thick, bracts shorter than the flowers; flowers waxy white or greenish, nearly half an inch long with an open mouth, spreading horizontally and very fragrant; upper sepals broad and obtuse; lip oblong, broad at the base, and contracted below to the crisped apex, thin, transparent, and veined, callosities merely thickenings of the basal margins of the lip.

Throughout the region in springy places and wet alpine meadows; flowering toward the end of July.

SALICACEÆ

Willow Family

Trees or shrubs with light wood, brittle twigs, and simple alternate leaves; flowers borne in catkins; the staminate and pistillate on separate plants, the seed provided with a covering of long, white, silky, hairs.

A large tree with nearly smooth gray bark, reaching a maximum height of 80 feet; branches stout, ascending, the larger buds very resinous. Leaves smooth, broadly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, entire, dark green and shining above, pale beneath, acute or acuminate at the apex, rounded or acute at the base, petioles round. Flowers in slender catkins, the staminate and pistillate on separate trees.

Throughout the region in the river valleys and on the surrounding slopes, usually a tree not over 20—30 feet high but sometimes attaining an immense size.

A slender tree with smooth, light green bark, seldom more than 40—50 feet high, and less than half that in our region. Leaves smooth when young except on the margins, ovate, short-acuminate at the apex, rounded at the base, finely crenulate all around; petioles flattened laterally, very slender, causing the leaves to quiver with the slightest breeze. Flowers in rather stout catkins.

Frequent in the low valleys and slopes through the Rockies, forming groves, or singly.

The willows which are very largely represented throughout the region, in the low or moist ground and banks of streams, as shrubs or small trees; or on the drier slopes, and in alpine meadows and summits, frequently as very diminutive shrubs with stems less than an inch high, have been omitted entirely, owing to the extreme difficulty of distinguishing between them in a work of this kind.

BETULACEÆ

Birch Family

Trees or shrubs with alternate simple leaves; staminate and pistillate flowers borne in separate catkins on the same plant; the staminate usually long, slender, and drooping; the pistillate short and erect; fruit cone-like.

Becoming a large forest tree; bark chalky white, peeling in thin layers. Leaves ovate, acute, or acuminate, dentate and denticulate, smooth above, glandular and hairy on the veins beneath, slender-petioled 1½—4 inches long. Staminate catkins 2—4 inches long; pistillate catkins ¾ of an inch or more long.

Sparingly on the slopes in the vicinity of Field, British Columbia; not a common tree.

A tree sometimes 100 feet high but much smaller in our region; the bark smooth dark bronze; twigs gray-brown, warty. Leaves broadly ovate or nearly orbicular, sharply serrate, short-petioled, smooth on both sides or sparingly hairy beneath ¾—2 inches long.

On river shores throughout the region, sparingly from Field west.

A shrub 1—8 feet with brown, glandular, warty twigs. Leaves orbicular, oval or ovate, smooth, rounded at the apex, crenate-dentate, bright green above, pale and sticky, glandular-dotted beneath, short petioled, ¼—1 inch long. Staminate catkins, commonly solitary, about ½ an inch long; cones when ripe ½—1 inch long.

In moist ground and thickets in the lower valleys through the Rockies, frequent.