THE SMALLEST TREES IN THE WORLD.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 April 1926, Page 1

THE SMALLEST TREES IN THE WORLD.

BRITISH COLUMBIA. Dec. 2D. In tlit birthplace, of the clouds, on t!|:i summit of SuddlolmeK. -in the Rockies, are forests of the smallest trees in the world. You may crush a whole woodland in your tread or pluck a, cluster so that a grove lies in your hand. Tho dwarf trees are willows, and so rare that learned botanists travel far to find them. The famous professor who showed me the elfin things assured me that here, in -a. world of glaciers and everlasting snows., a forest of the salie order was growing: at my feet! None but the botanist could know that the cool, green carpet is made of trees 1 had thought I stood on clumps of some Alpine rock plant, or a kind of moss indigenous to the mountains of British Columbia. Imaging a. 'tree perfect in form and true to type and yet- so tiny that it would Ik- overshadowed by a violet. with its bole no thicker than a primrose stem, and leaves no longer than the petals of.a daisy. How does this forest of marvels in miniature keep its grasp on life? How survive on this eyrie of a plateau, hare of all other trees lmt the beautiful (Lvall’s larch. The summit of Saddleback is 7,993 ft. high. To the willow water in abundance has" ever been essential. And tho Alpine willow provides for a supply of the necessity by the nicety with which it oliooscs its situation. Not on the e.nsst of Saddleback does it find a hold on almost barren rock or in some sprinkling of earth, but on the slopes a little lower. Here, trailing with hair-fine roots at every bend. And the mantle of snow that settles on and drapes the summit can give moisture to the soil from which it draw? it-, sustenance. Sunlieams* falling athwart the snow, cause trickling water to flow towards the forests. The growing days of this smallest tree are but a brief summer’s span—a summer that has in it the chill of winter after the setting of the sun. In the hours when the sky is blue the bee draws nigh to a banquet of nectar. The student who has come from far to Lake Louise and climbed the trail to the fairy forests leaves them with regret and wonder in his heart.