It is a harsh environment. Its shallow soil and rocks, its wind and prolonged snow and cold exclude all but the hardiest perennials. Annuals cannot live there. One growing season is too short for a plant to start from seed, complete its vegetative growth, flower, and ripen its seeds. Many of the plants are surface plants, such as mosses and lichens, which do not produce flowers. But even the flowering plants hug the ground. Their over-wintering buds are at or below the ground surface. It is a struggle for moisture and against time. Only low perennials, having small, tough leaves covered with hairs or wax, are able to survive. These properties help protect the plants against loss of water.
There are 8 kinds of mountain plants in the Olympics that are not known to grow anywhere else. It appears that these plants grew in the Olympic Mountains before the ice came and were able to survive on ridgetops that remained free of glacial ice during the long cold periods. They are thus relicts from preglacier time. None of them are trees and only two are shrubs. All the rest are herbs. Several of these, among which piper bellflower and Flett violet are especially attractive, may be found on Hurricane Ridge and on the upper slopes of Mount Angeles.
Snow is vital to mountain flowers. It provides most of the moisture for their growth and governs the length of the growing season. Spring flowers appear earliest where the snow melts first. Where snow piles up deeply, it may not melt completely till midsummer or may melt too late for plants to complete a season’s growth. On northern slopes the snow may remain all summer, and there can be no growing season.
The high country has many floral patterns, which change as the seasons progress. The flower displays are usually best around the middle of July. Flowers of spring, summer, and autumn are blooming then, according to the progress of the seasons in different elevations and habitats.
ALPINE FIR GROWS NEAR TIMBERLINE.
WESTERN REDCEDAR BARK HAS FAIRLY REGULAR NARROW GROOVES AND RIDGES.
NEXT TO THE SEQUOIAS OF CALIFORNIA, DOUGLAS-FIR IS THE GREATEST TREE IN THE FORESTS OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.