| OCR Text |
Show 231 abont two feet high, with small, somewhat sharply- lobed, leaves. The forms so common in the Greenhorn range, bearingsmall, nearly evergreen leaves, do not grow in Southwestern Colorado. The subalpine Coniferce of the southwestern slope are mainly Abies Engelmanni and grandis. These two species, either together or in, forests of one alone, cover the western slope down to the altitude of Pinus ponderosa, 9,000 feet. Both species become large, magnificent trees. Abies Engelmanni is the only conifer found at timber- line, but A. grandis reaches very nearly to as high an altitude. Abies Menziesii is confined mainly to the vicinity of the watercourses between altitudes of 10,000 and 8,000 feet Abies Douglasii is not very common, and grows between altitudes of 9,000 and 7,000 feet, descending into the region of Pinus edulis and Juniperus occidmtalis. Abies concolor was not seen upon the western slope, and not a tree of A. grandis could be found upon the eastern slope. The range of Abies concolor in Colorado is southward from the Ute Pass and Manitou ( 6,000 to 7,000 feet altitude); in the canons of the Greenhorn range, to the summit of Lucille Hill, Eosita, 1,000 feet, along the Sangre de Cristo and Baton Mountains to New Mexico. Pinus ponderosa in Southwestern Colorado is abundant at 8,000 feet altitude, and its large trees will famish a great amount of lumber. Pinus flexilis is not common; it grows at an altitude of 8,500 feet with Pinus ponderosa, Abies grandis, Menziesii, Engelmanni, and Douglasii) all associated at this altitude. Pinus edulis and Juniperus ocoidentalis cover the mesas and mountains below 7,500 feet altitude. The pifion often grows in company with Pinus ponderosa and Abies Douglasii, and in the Arkansas Valley grows above the lower altitudes of Abies concolor and Menziesii. Last year Juniperus occidentalis and Virginiana, Abies concolor, and Pinus ponderosa matured quantities of fruit, and probably the other Coniferas also did; but this year, wishing to collect seeds, I was unable to find any, and am sure that the Coniferce of Southern Colorado matured no fruit. Pinus edulis is said to fruit once in seven years, and it certainly sometimes fruits in such abundance that the nuts are collected by the Mexicans in quantity. Southwestern Colorado having never been the residence of the white man, those plants which become introduced with eastern seeds have not yet made their appearance. Xanthium strumarium has been probably introduced upon both eastern and western slopes. Upon the eastern slope it is said to have come from Texas with the importation of cattle, the burrs clinging to their hair and becoming everywhere distributed. Upon the western slope it perhaps was introduced from the south by the cattle, sheep, and goats of the Indians. It is not as common as upon the eastern slope, but will become so when farmers, like those of the eastern slope, begin to irrigate the land. Xanthium must have a location where its roots can reach wet grouud, and prefers the banks of irrigation- ditches, where, in company with other troublesome plants, it is permitted to grow to perfection, and its seeds spread over the cultivated fields. The corn- fields of the band of Utes about £ 1 Late are not irrigated and are free from introduced weeds, having very few. of any sort. The corn is planted in hills without any regularity; the roots striking down to moisture soon, they are but slightly dependent upon showers from El Late. The most noticeable plants growing among the corn were Nicotiana attenuata and Convolvulus septum. The edges of the field produced a fine growth of those species of Helianthus which so rapidly increase in number with the irrigation and cultivation of the soil. Helianthus petiolaris and lenticularis are now sparingly found in Southwestern |
