CHAPTER IX.
A NOTE ON THE VEGETATION OF THE SELKIRKS
(Drawn chiefly from the Monograph by Prof. John Macoun, M. A. "F. R. S. C, in "The Selkirk Range.")
We do not really know trees, says Ruskin, until we see them growing in multitudes in the contracted valleys of high mountains, climbing up the steep slopes, gathering into pleasant companies on the high meadows or "gliding in grave processions over the heavenward ridges." For it is here that their resources are developed, "rooting themselves in inhospitable rocks, stooping to look into the ravines, hiding from the search of glacier-winds, reaching forth to the rays of rare sunshine, crowding down together to drink at sweetest streams." Then he shows to every lover of forest landscape how great is the advantage of mountain over plain. And who that watches the mountain, has not been conscious of it. "Add to this charm of redundance that of clearer visibility,—tree after tree being constantly shown in successive height, one behind another, instead of mere tops and flanks of masses, as in the plains; and the forms of multitudes of them continually defined against the clear sky, near and above or against white clouds entangled among their branches, instead of being confused in dimness of distance."
These forests of the Selkirks grow with a tropical compactness in the valleys; and, unafraid of glacier winds, crowd upward in serried ranks to meet perpetual shows. Here grows the Giant Cedar (Thuya gigantea) often ten feet in diameter; the Cottonwood (Populus balsamea) also a large tree; Englemann's Spruce (Picea Englemannii) and other of the same species; two species of Hemlock, (Tsuya Mertensiana) common on the west coast and known by its small cones, and (Tsyga Paltoniana) a rare and beautiful tree "more graceful in habit than the other and with larger cones;" also, Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) the familiar tree growing throughout the whole mountain system. Other trees are two firs, Abies subal pina and amabilis, beautiful trees, the last growing with the Tsuga Pattouiana and Pinus albicaulis' to altitudes over 6000 feet. Also, at timber-line in the Columbia Valley, grow splendid specimens of Lyall's Larch (Larix Lyallii) the most interesting tree of the mountain forests, and the most lovable.
The shrubbery and undergrowth are exceedingly rank in the valleys and on the lower slopes. Devil's Club (Panax horridus) or prickly aralia, is the lion in the way of every man who would blaze a trail through Selkirk valley's. "Imagine," say's Mr. Wheeler, "a bare stick an inch thick and from five to eight feet high with a spread of tropical-looking palmated leaves at the top, set off by a bunch of bright red berries. The entire surface of the stick is covered by sharp, fine spines and the canes grow so close together that sometimes it a impossible to force a way through them without using an axe. The points of the spines break off in the flesh, causing it to fester and become very painful." Surveyors and prospectors reserved their most picturesque maledictions for this beautiful evil shrub. The unknowing tenderfoot, grasping its so apparent friendly aid to steady his steps on fallen trees, does not ever forget his surprise. Skunk Cabbage (Lysichilon Kamlschalcense) is another tropical-looking plant with large
