Part 19

In moist ground on slopes, throughout the Rockies; flowering in June.

Stems hairy, 6—10 inches high, branching. Leaves few, basal, rounded in outline, ternately lobed, sometimes deeply so, on slender petioles; stem leaves sessile or nearly so, cut into narrowly linear or linear-lanceolate lobes. Flowers ¾ of an inch or more broad, petals spreading, bright yellow and shining on the upper surface; sepals not reflexed.

A showy low buttercup in the dry open valleys in the Rockies; flowering in June.

Stem stout, 1—2 feet high, branching with long rough hairs. Basal leaves long, hairy all over, 3-parted, the divisions again divided or cut into linear or lanceolate segments; petioles 3 or 4 inches long; stem-leaves similar but short petioled. Flowers few, large; sepals broadly ovate with silky hairs; petals broadly ovate, nearly half an inch long, bright yellow; head of achenes, globose; style long, slender, and much curved.

Frequent in the Rockies at the lower altitudes in more or less shaded grassy situations; flowering in June and July.

Stems creeping and rooting at the joints, 1—7-flowered. Leaves broadly ovate, coarsely crenate, clustered at the base and joints of the long slender runners. Flowers ¼ of an inch across; petals light yellow, longer than the sepals; fruit in oblong heads.

A common species throughout the Rockies in damp ground, frequently forming mats several feet across; flowering continuously throughout the summer.

Stems erect, 2—12 inches high, 1—2-flowered. Leaves roundish or oblong-cordate, longer than broad, irregularly crenate-toothed; sepals 6—8, lanceolate, ¾ of an inch long, white, strongly suffused with blue on the outside; stamens numerous; pistils 5—15.

In springy ground and wet alpine meadows throughout the region, often growing in such abundance as to make the meadows brilliant with the blue and white flowers, which appear soon after the snow has left the ground in June and July.

Stem erect, 6—12 inches high, more or less branching. Leaves palmately divided, the segments many cleft. Flowers solitary, 1—1½ inches broad, subtended by a whorl of leaves; sepals broadly obovate 5—6, pure white tinged on the back with greenish rose; petals 15—20, less than ¼ of an inch long, narrowly truncate, bright yellow, nearly concealed by the numerous stamens.

One of the most abundant and conspicuous of the spring flowers of the alpine meadows, and marshy borders of alpine streams and lakes, commencing to flower when but a few inches high on the edges of the melting snow in May and June.

b Trollius albiflorus (A. Gray) Rydb. Western Globe-Flower. (⅔ Nat.)]

One to two feet high, slender, sparingly branched. Leaves, the basal long-petioled, biternate, lobed and crenate, the stem leaves few, nearly sessile and lobed. Flowers ½ an inch or more long, nodding, sepals blue, petals creamy-white with a short blue spur not more than ¼ of an inch long; styles and stamens hardly exceeding the petals.

In open rocky situations, rather local, common in the region around Banff, flowering in May and June.

Stems smooth, 1—3 feet high, branched. Leaves ternate, leaflets round-cordate, 3-parted, the segments coarsely toothed, 2—3-cleft. Flowers yellow, an inch or more long, nodding; sepals reflexed, oblong-ovate, acute, longer than the spurs; petals spreading with a spur half an inch long; styles and stamens nearly equal, much exserted.

The commonest columbine throughout the region, growing in woods and on slopes up to 8000 feet, varying greatly in colour; flowering in June and July according to the elevation.

Stem 2—4 feet high, branching, sparingly pubescent with spreading hairs. Leaves, the lower triternately parted on long petioles, the upper sessile and ternate or reduced to simple bracts, leaflets broadly wedge-shaped, 3-cleft. Flowers scarlet, drooping, more than an inch long; sepals scarlet varying to orange, spreading or reflexed, an inch long, lanceolate, acute; petals yellow, more or less spreading, with a scarlet spur about the length of the sepals; styles and stamens exserted.

Throughout the Selkirks, in moist ground, on slopes and borders of rocky alpine streams, flowering during July and late June.

b Aquilegia formosa Fisch. Western Columbine. (⅔ Nat.)]

Stem tall, 2—5 feet high, leafy. Leaves mostly orbicular in outline, 5—7-parted, the upper into narrow-cleft, laciniate divisions, petioled. Flowers nodding, less than an inch long, dull purple, bluish or occasionally white, numerous in an elongated spike; sepals 5, blue, ⅓ of an inch long, not spreading, the upper one prolonged into a spur, half an inch long; petals white, nearly as long as the sepals.

Frequent in the region around Banff in open woods at the lower altitudes, flowering in July.

Sparingly leafy, 10—18 inches tall, from a tuberous rootstock. Leaves, the lowest round reniform, cut into irregular, oblong, obtuse lobes, the upper with linear, acute lobes. Flowers few in a simple panicle, sepals lanceolate, obtuse, ¾ of an inch or more long, spreading, brilliant blue, about as long as the short curved spur; petals exserted, white with purple veins.

Throughout the region in open ground and on grassy slopes; flowering in early June or later according to the altitude.

Stems erect, 2—3 feet high, smooth except the inflorescence. Leaves large, ternately compound, the basal leaf long-petioled, the divisions long petioled and pinnate, leaflets ovate, 1½—5 inches long, cut with sharp teeth. Raceme ovoid, 1—2 inches long; flowers small, white, with petal-like sepals; petals, 4—10 spatulate and minute; stamens numerous; berries in a spreading raceme, small, spherical, and purplish red.

Frequent in the rich woods throughout the region, at the lower altitudes; flowering in late May and early June.

Similar to the preceding species and often growing with it and difficult to distinguish from it when in flower: in fruit, however, they are quite distinct. In A. eburnea the berries are fully twice as large, nearly half an inch long and a quarter of an inch in diameter and pure waxy white.

In rich moist woods throughout the Rockies; flowering with the other species in May and early June; fruiting in late July.

BERBERIDACEÆ