The Front Range of Colorado is one of America's most famous and spectacular summer playgrounds. Not among the least of the scenic attractions to be found here are the lavish displays of wild flowers in the mountain meadows and alpine heights, the vast expanses of cool, green forested lands, the brilliant splashes of autumn colour of our aspens and sumacs, and the endless rolling grasslands of the eastern plains. There are very few places in the United States where so many types of vegetation are crowded into such a relatively small area, and where in the space of a few minutes time one may alternately bake in the climate of the desert, and shiver in the climate of the far north. Learning to recognise the plants is a first step toward understanding a flora. The species descriptions, delicate line drawings, colour photographs, plant keys, reference materials, and glossary in Rocky Mountain Flora offer an outstanding starting point for the pursuit of botany in the Rockies.
