Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1882-01-05
Helena, Montana Thursday January s. 1S82Hoday Number

its snowy blanket, and II one ScrapeS away
the snow in the middle Of March little green
leaves and fresh shoots will be found under
than flowers appear. The lover Of flowers is
almost repaid for the dreariness of five
months winter by the delight with which he
watches the wonderful growth OF early spring.
The earliest spring flowers are little yellow
buttercup, reddish synthyris and the large
purple anemOne. / have gathered those as
early as the 21st of March even here near
Bozeman, at an altitude of 5000 feet, and
they may probably be found several days
earlier in more favored localities. These are
soon followed by others-the rOse-colored
cowslip, nodding gracefully on its slender
stalk and found from Florida to Alaska; the
delicate little white spring beauty, with its
pink veins, hiding away in thickets and high
up in the mountains, forming whole beds in
full bloom before the snow has been melted
long enough for any other seeds to start: nu-
merous species of violets, the yellow one on
the dry hill-sides, the blue, purple and white
ones in the moist, shady bottoms; the dark
blue larkspurs; the numerous phloxes, from
the little. tufted, mOss-like masses, covered
with white flowers, on the driest ridges, to
the large, showy purple ones on the damp
mountain side; the many leguminOus plants,
beginning with little purple vetches in the
early spring and ending with the different
kinds of blue lupins later in the summer.
But they are crowding on too rapidly for
mention even. Damp thickets become filled
with short and tall torget-me-nots and their
becomes soon very prominent with its many
snowy species; the large purple and white
snapdragons; the numberless pentstemons,
shading from a reddish purple into the most
intense blue and seeming to delight in the
driest soil ard fercest sunshine; the yellow
mimulus, retreating into the mOistest, sha-
diest nook along the edge of the pond or
brooklet, where grows also the delicate sky
blue veronica: the endless variety Of paint
ed-cups ranging from those little modest ones,
barely tipped with tinge of yellow and pur-
pie, to the stately species of the mountains,
blazing in their fierce scarlet. OF the many
others can but mention few of the most
noticeable: The blue and purple lungworts,
the large yellow and white primroses, the
white wake-robin, spotted lilies and nume-
rous other representatives OF this family, the
graceful, pale blue flax, the nodding blue
bells, the large but rather coarse red and
white cranebills, the strawberry and varie-
ty of potentillas, the saxifrages, the climbing
clematis, the beautiful yellow columbinc, the
little pink stars of the Douglassia Montana
the bright red of the gaura and the malvas-
trum, the fragrant mints and other labiates,
the low-fowered prickly pears, growing
in large colonies on the driest prairie and
dreaded by the moccasin-clad traveller on the
plains, the little, round cactus, with its beau
tiful rose-colored blossoms, the tall spikes of
the bear-grass looking like an emigrant from
Mexico, and last though not least the nume-
rous tribe of sunfower, asters, goldenrod,
tansies and their kindred This family pro-
longs the season for flowers until the snow
resumes sway in October, and their bright
yellows and and pale purples are almost the
only colors seen in the valleys and on the
lower mountain slopes after July. BY as
cending the mountains we can find through
out the summer perpetual garden Of spring
flowers until we reach the snow line. Here
bloom also in August and September many
beautiful gentians of the deepest blue. Ferns
are mostly conspicuous by their absence. On
ly in the deepest recesses of the narrowest
cafions do one or two species of them -four
ish
It will be seen from the foregoing that al
though the flora of Montana has been treated
as whole, yet the different sections have
very different character. The vegetation OF
the plains is very monotonous. A few pre-
vailing species give character to hundred
thousand square miles. In the few river val
leys there is a somewhat greater variety, but
throughout the entire extent OF the rolling
or broken prairie the buffalo grasses, the sage
and greasewood, the cactus and the compo-
site order of plants have full possession.
There are of course many other plants, but
those enumerated predominant so largely that
hardly any others enter into the general fea-
lures of the landscape. Approaching the
mountains the variety becomes greater. Al
though the species of the trees In the forests
are but few, the underground is generally
abundant and varied. There is such con-
slant succession of hills and valleys, noun
tain ranges and deep gorges, dense thlckets
and open, sunny glades, all with different
characteristics, that the eye never weafes
and the botanist finds continually ieW
ground. The trees themselves assume new
features. as we rise from the foothills to the
snow line. and the contrast is wonderful be-
tween the almost tropical luxuriance OF the
growth in the deep, shady, damp canons and
the scant arctic vegetation on the storm
swept ridges above the tree line.
1t is often said that our mountains are not
half prospected for gold and silver. That IS
true, and yet the prospector has penetrated
MANY a gorge and scaled many a ridge never
trodden by any one else. To the botanist, to
the lover of flowers, our hills hold yet many
secrets, and their hidden floral treasures are
we'll worthy an effort to gain.