Page:The Selkirk mountains (1912).djvu/196

170 A LIST OF THE MOST CONSPICUOUS PLANTS FOUND AMONGST THE SELKIRK MOUNTAINS

"Very beautiful are the flowers that bloom on the hill-slopes and in the valleys of the Selkirk Range. Wet-loving plants, such as the large yellow Musk (Mimulus Langsdorfli), the magenta Vater Willow-herb (Epilobium latifolium), the bright Snow Buttercup (Ranunculus Eschscholtzii) are among the most noticeable flowers bordering the mountain brooks, and are found in company with the largest of the white Globe-flowers (Trollius laxus'), the tall, scarlet and yellow Columbines (Aquilegia formosa), and clumps of Grass of Parnassiis (Parnasia montanensis, P. fimbriata).

Beside the trails which thread the forests grow many kinds of Arnica (Arnica cordifolia, A. Chamissonis, A. alpina), their splendid golden rays sowing sunshine on the ground; intergreens (Pryola asarifolia, P. chlorantha, P. secunda, P. minor), Spring Beauties (Claytonia sessilifolia, C. parviflora) peep out at the edge of the melting snows, and Leptarrhena pyrolifolia rears its starry blossoms and later its handsome red seed-vessels on many a bank carpeted with Bunchberry (Cornus Canadensis), Wild Parsley (Ligusticum apiifolium), Alpine Spiraea (Spiraea pectinata). True Mitre-wort ('Mitella Breweri, False Mitre-wort (Tiarella unifoliata) and Tellima (Tellima grandiflora).

Tall wands of Twisted-stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius) and False Solomon's Seal (Smilacina amplexicaulis) are mingled with the sweet-Smelling White Heliotrope (Valeriana sitchensis), and the magnificent pleated leaves of the False Hellebore (Veralrum viride); while flowering bushes of Goat's Beard (Spiraea Aruncus), Western Mountain Ash (Pyrus sambucifolia), Red-berried Elder (Samhucus racemosa), Woolly Labrador Tea (Ledum latifolium), Red-stemmed Dogwood (Cornus stolonifera), Devil's Club (Fatsia horrida), Bristly Gooseberry (Rides setosum), Red Currant (Rides rubrum), Smooth Menziesia (Menzicsia slabella), and that exquisite Waxen-belled shrub, Rhododendron albigorum, flourish beneath the shade of pine and hemlock. Blueberries are abundant, both Vaccinium Ovalifolium, a species having sweet berries covered with a rich purplish bloom, and Vaccinium membranaceum, whose berries have no bloom, being found in great quantities on the beds of snow-slides.

As one climbs to higher altitudes, the flowers grow more rare, but infinitely more precious. Here the large Beard-tongue, (Penstemon Menziesii), fresh-dipped in the purple vats of Tyre, is found in masses on the ledges of the cliffs; frail Saxifrages (Saxifrngia Lyallii, S. Nutkana), nestle in the nooks between the stones; blue-eyed Speedwells (Veronica alpina, V. serpylllifolia) are set like jewels on the barren breast of the moraines, and Heath (Cassiope Merlensiana) and False Heathers (Bryanthus enpetrifornia, B. glanduliflorus) creep over and cover the rocks with their white and red bells, being found in abundance near tree-line. The lovely rose-pink False Heather (Bryanlfuis intermedius) first discovered in the Selkirks in 1901 by Mrs. Henshaw, is a more rare species. Among the last blossoms seen as one approaches the line of perpetual snow are the Dwarf Blue-bells (Campanida arctica), a large species growing singly on slender stems, yellow Aplopappus Brandegei, and the mats of the purple flower-starred Moss Campion Silene Acaulis), which is found at the immense elevation of 10,000 feet.