Part 17

Erect or ascending, weak, much branched, smooth, or hairy above, 6—18 inches long. Leaves thin, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, ½—1½ inches long, acute, sessile, thin, margins slightly hairy or naked. Flowers small and inconspicuous in a leafy terminal compound head, ascending or spreading on slender pedicels; sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute; petals shorter than the sepals or none.

In wet places at the lower altitudes throughout the Rockies; flowering throughout the summer from early June.

b Mœhringia lateriflora (L.) Fenzl. Blunt-Leaved Sandwort. (½ Nat.)]

Smooth, stems very slender and tufted, 1—4 inches high. Leaves 1⅛ to nearly ½ an inch long with a spiny tip. Flowers small, solitary or few together, at the end of the slender stem, about ⅛ of an inch broad; petals white minute, hardly exceeding the calyx.

On rocks and moist sandy ground throughout the region; flowering in June.

Stems erect or ascending, simple or at length, sparingly branched, finely hairy throughout, 4—12 inches high. Leaves thin, oval, or oblong, ½—1 inch long, obtuse, spreading, the margins and nerves fringed with hairs. Flowers few in lateral and terminal clusters or sometimes solitary; ¼ of an inch or more broad, their parts in 4’s or 5’s; sepals oblong, obtuse or acute, half as long as the nearly entire white petals.

In moist places growing among grass, throughout the Rockies; flowering in June.

Smooth throughout except the tops of the stems and sepals, which are glandular; stems slender, 4—8 inches high, numerous from a tufted, leafy base. Leaves mostly in bundles ½—1½ inches long, smooth, very slender and curved, with a spiny tip, those of the stem few and much reduced. Flowers white, ½ an inch broad in a loose branching head.

A rather striking plant on grassy slopes throughout the region; flowering in June.

Very slender, much branched and finely, sticky-hairy throughout; stems thread-like, numerous, nearly of a uniform length in the same plant, 2—3 inches long. Leaves crowded at the base, few and much reduced above, linear, awl-shaped, thick, semi-cylindric, nearly smooth. Flowers small, little more than ⅛ of an inch across; sepals ovate-oblong, acute, strongly 3-nerved; petals white, acute, not exceeding the sepals.

A small tufted plant with wiry stems and minute white star-like flowers, in moist or dry, sandy places throughout the region from the low valleys to the alpine summits; flowering in May and June.

Closely tufted, stems densely glandular-hairy, decumbent, very leafy below, ½—2½ inches long with 2 or 3 pairs of short, rather distant leaves and terminating in 1—3 flowers. Lower leaves, linear-obtuse, stiff, ⅛ of an inch or more long, smooth or slightly hairy; calyx lobes linear-oblong, 1—3 ribbed, glandular, hairy, ⅛ of an inch long; petals white, broad, equalling or exceeding the sepals.

On high alpine slopes and summits, throughout the Rockies; flowering in June and July.

RANUNCULACEÆ

Crowfoot Family

Herbs or rarely climbing shrubs with acrid sap; leaves usually alternate without stipules; flowers usually showy, blue, white, yellow, or scarlet; sepals 3—15, generally soon falling away, often petal-like; petals about the same number or occasionally wanting; stamens many; carpels many or rarely solitary.

Carpels with solitary ovules; fruit an achene. Sepals valvate in the bud; leaves opposite. =Atragene.= Sepals folded on each other in the bud; leaves not opposite. Stem leaves three in a whorl. Styles short, smooth or hairy. =Anemone.= Styles long, plumose. =Pulsatilla.= Stem leaves alternate or basal. Petals none, flowers small; leaves compound. =Thalictrum.= Petals present. Flowers white. =Batrachium.= Flowers yellow. Achenes papillose or spiny. =Ranunculus.= Achenes longitudinally nerved. =Halerpestes.= Carpels with several ovules; fruit, follicles or berries. Flowers regular. Leaves simple. Petals none; leaves cordate-orbicular. =Caltha.= Petals linear-spatulate; leaves palmately parted. =Trollius.= Leaves compound. Sepals spurred; carpels becoming follicles. =Aquilegia.= Sepals not spurred; carpels becoming berries. =Actæa.= Flowers irregular; upper sepals spurred. =Delphinium.=

A climbing or trailing vine with somewhat woody stems. Leaves trifoliate, the leaflets thin, on slender petioles, ovate, attenuate, acute, and entire, 2—3 inches long. Flowers purple, 1½—2 inches broad, on long peduncles, solitary in the axils of the leaves; sepals 4—6, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, more than twice the length of the stamens; styles persistent, forming a plumose head of fruit.

In rocky woods and on shaded mountain sides up to 6000 feet elevation, throughout the Rockies, trailing over the ground, or festooning the shrubs or lower branches of the trees; flowering in early June.

Stem simple, sparingly hairy, 4—8 inches high. Basal leaves long-petioled, 3-parted, the broadly wedge-shaped divisions obtusely-lobed or crenate, those of the involucre nearly sessile, similarly lobed. Flower an inch or less in diameter, sepals, oblong, very obtuse, white, blue on the outside near the base; stamens numerous; head of fruit globose.

Common throughout the Rockies in moist ground and rich woods; flowering early in June.

b Anemone parviflora Michx. Northern Anemone. (⅔ Nat.)]

Sparingly pubescent, with long whitish hairs, especially at the involucre, 4—6 inches high. Root leaves, slender-petioled, 3-parted, the divisions cut into linear, oblong obtuse lobes; leaves of the involucre similar on short petioles, their lobes slightly broader. Flowers usually solitary, half an inch or more broad on long peduncles; sepals 5, ovate or oval, obtuse, white, finely appressed-hairy and blue outside.

Throughout the region in alpine meadows and slopes near the snow, flowering in June and July as the snows disappear.

Stems 3—15 inches high, close, silky-hairy. Root leaves long-petioled, nearly semicircular in outline, 3-parted, the sessile divisions deeply lobed, with cleft, linear segments, involucral leaves similar, short petioled. Sepals 5—8, red, bluish or nearly pure white, half an inch or less long, soft, hairy outside, receptacle oblong, in fruit densely woolly.

The most abundant anemone through the Rockies in the low open valleys, and, occasionally on the slopes, presenting the greatest variety of colouring from deep rosy pink to pure white and occasionally blue; flowering in early June.

Villous, 6—18 inches high. Leaves much divided into narrow, linear, acute lobes, the basal on slender petioles, those of the involucre sessile and erect or ascending. Flowers bluish-purple, sometimes nearly white inside; sepals 5—7 ovate-oblong 1—1½ inches long, forming a cup; fruit a head of long silky achenes 2 inches or more in diameter.

This is one of the earliest and most beautiful of all the spring flowers, in the open meadows and mountain sides, blossoming through May and June according to the situation. Probably its most common local name, in the Rockies where it is very abundant, is that of crocus, to which flower it does bear a superficial resemblance, in size, shape, and colour, and in the habit of the flower appearing as soon as the snow has left the ground, and before the leaves.