Wild Flowers and Trees of Colorado

Abstract

THIS book consists of two chapters, in the first of which the author presents a general sketch of the vegetation, and in the second he deals with the forests. Vegetation in the State of Colorado is exceedingly diverse by reason of the varied conditions of climate, and owing to the great.variation in.altitude the vertical distribution is more pronounced than the horizontal distribution, so that the author groups his associations according to the zones of elevation. There is little information regarding specific wild flowers beyond the illustrations of a dozen selected types and no systematic enumeration is supplied. The book is copiously illustrated with photographs of characteristic scenes or formations and the flowers referred to, making the text shorter than might be anticipated. The survey of the forest formations is more concrete, and twenty of the principal tree or shrubby genera are detailed with respect to the species and their diagnostic characters. The author announces the book as an introduction to Colorado botany, so that he may perhaps be subsequently induced to compile a flora of this interesting region.