Page:Canadian Alpine Journal I, 1.djvu/197

132 eye of the traveller. Just where the road ends and the trail, which leads to the crest of Sulphur mountain surmounted by the Government Observatory, begins, you will find vast beds of the White Dryas (Dryas octopetala) growing in dry soil and exposed to the full glare of the sun, its silver-backed foliage carpeting the earth, and each large white corolla holding up a heart of gold.

Then, should you leave the open road and seek to follow the narrow trail as it winds upward towards the eternal snows, what a wealth of bloom you will encounter on every side. Great orange lilies flaming out from a bank of ferns, the yellow-flecked magenta Calypso (Calypso borealis) growing in its solitary beauty from a single bulb with a single leaf at the base of its slender stem, Columbines, Garlics, Monks-hoods, Anemones—there is no end to the floral treasures that spring to life at every step. Or should a happy inspiration seize you to visit the Cave and Basin, where one of the hot sulphur springs has been utilized to supply the magnificent swimming baths, and an ancient geyser, now extinct, has hollowed out a marvelous cave of eccentric formation, you will be rewarded by the sight of quite a different set of plants; for there the warm overflow of the water gushing down the hillside, nourishes wonderful clumps of bright blue Lobelia, huge azure Gentians, Asters, Sunflowers, purple Mints, Butterworts, and sweetest and most fascinating of all, the large showy spikes of the Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes Romanzoffiana), and the pale pink clusters of the Fly-spotted Orchis (Orchis rotundifolia).

Banff is by no means the only locality in the Rocky mountains where flowers abound. In the vicinity of Lake Louise the Western Anemone (Anemone occidentalis), with its white translucent cups, veined and tinged with purple, covers the higher slopes of the