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Show [ 7] 154 brownish peel uncles. The other chara ·ter. agr e minutely with Mr. Bentham's admirable detail d de cription in the work quoted above. Lcptoch~o~ fdif~r mis, Ro cm and Schulls. Valley of the Gila. Scan·ely d1 sltnd 1rC>m L. rrLttCTonata of th Unit d ~tal s. c.leria! tb,ctyloidl'Si .!Yutl. U pper part of lhr Arkansas. Thi · is the celebrat ed "BuJf'o-lo grass,' so ('a\1 •d becau ·e it co nstitute the .chi f fodder of th ~ wild .bufl'al o, during th · s •ason that it JlOlLI'lShes. f ha\'C rctamed tillS plant, for th' pr ' •nt wh •re it was place(l by Mr. Nuttall, who notieecl its anoma.lou cluuaetcr~ . It differs from scsl ria, and ind e d from the Torbc Festncacea• in its habit, whiC'h is that of chondrosium. 'l'hc t m throws oil' su'·kcrs which root at th ·joints, from whcn ec leaves and ·ulms of a few inches in h<.•ight arc thrown up. The spil cs arc two or thr 'C in number,. on ~hort spreading pcdundt> ·, They arc oblong, about hal~ an mch ~n 1 'ngth, and obtuse; bearing from 6 to 8 spikcl •t , whLch arc unLlateral, and form a double row on the raehis. The sp.ikclets arc usually 2-{\owcr d, but 1 have occ..:a ionally found them w1th 3 flow ·rs, and even the nul i1~enl of a fourth. The glurnc • arc very unequal, oblong-ovate, ?onaceo-membranaceous, carinate and one-nerved, the upper one sl1gh t 1 y m ueronate. l)alca oblonglanceolatc, and somewhat keel d, membrana ·eous, nrar1y <'qual, but long ~ r. than the glumcs, n.tir ~labrou , ex ·ept on the k •cl; the ' lower .1-n('l'Y d, the .upper bL-C<~nnale. .Anther larg , lin •ar, [uh ous. In .all t~1e p •nmens of tlu , coil • ·lion, as well a in those m my herbanum I rom num rou other ]o ·alitic there ar' no fertile flower . , and only i1~ a ~cw instanc : rudimentar; ~lyle , so that the plan~ sc ms)to be t.ltu'CLOl~S or polygamol~S by abortion. A1u~do 1 hragmtt •s , L~nn. Valley oi the Del Norte <W<l along the 0 Lla. ' An~(~ropogon argentens, De_., }(1~ntl~. cn·urn. t, p. 500. Valley of the Gd~L A hands~m' specLes, w1lh th pile'S in a terminal panicle, wh1ch has a wlulc appearance from the abundant . ilky hairs of the flower . A. r_nacronru ·, Michx. With th pr< t'etling. . BcsLtles the ·c gra ·ses, th ' rc were a f 'W others mostly collected m th.e valley of the Gila, but which I have not lctermined, as the speCim ns a~e not so complete as could be desired. Among them arc a gty~ena,. two ag?'ostides, five :peci s of parncuin and a poa, (eragTostu·,) wtth large elongated spil c]·ts. In ome parts of the valley of the Del N orl , sorgl~um vuLgaTe is cultivated, and was found partly naturalized. EQUISETA 1 EJ1~. Equisctum hyemale, Linn. Lower part of the Colorado. FILICES. Adiantum ten rum, Swartz. Valley of the Gila. This species is widely spread over the southern part of North Ameri ca, and yet 155 [ 7] has not hith rto obtained a pl ace in onr Flora. Wr have il from Alabama Florida, 'I' ' as, ;-mel variou. parts of California. Lyr op~dium. A~· :mall , 1~r~·ies .all.i ·d. to L. I'IIJJl' :dN, wa~ founcl in dc•sccnding the (~tla . ll ddlcrH 111 1ls tllc:urved lcaveH, whtrh arc mucronate, bul without a bristle a.l the tip. 1 o fru ·tifi cation e'l{ist' in the specimen. T. LouTs, F'cbnwry 1:3, JSJ . MY D EAR S1H: Your lrttcr, together with the pad age conta.inin~ the drawings of a numb ·r of most interesting carlat'C<I' , arrived safely h ere about two weeks ago. 0 1 the occasion of my report on the botany of Dr. Wi:lizcnns's voyage, I h;ne made a ('arcful investigation of the cadact'<l', of which h · brought home with him more than 20 spcries, an<l have been enabled to elu('idatc several points whit'h had been unknown, or obs ure b ·fore ; no doubt b •cause in tl~t• hot-houses of l~:urop<'all gardens, these curious pl ants, though th<·y thrive pretty well, rar ·ly produce flowers and fruit; so that from 800 species of car.ltH·ca· at present C\11li' atcd in t~~uropc, perhaps not one fourth is I nown as to its flown, and a mueh smaller proportion in fruit. I am now abl ·to distingltish all the cliff·rcnt genera of cactarca! by th •ir seed, and somctim ·~even the different sections of one (1 nu s. Th • small ble1ck . hining c<>d sent m<·, belongs to a true cercns, probably the plant which you mention und r the tHlllH' of pitahaya, the larger opaqu' bla ·k ecd is that or an cch,inocactus, and the lar~c st white seed is th' seed of an opuntia of the ~c('t"ton cylin-drace{('. . l have ventured to describe some of your spcrics from the draw- Jng; .my dcsniption s, howevcr, and the nam •s given by me, mu ·t rema111 doubtful till we arc able to obtain some more data to rharactcrizc th.c 8J~ erics . I have wrill<'n it more for your information than for pub1t ·alton, but if you ·boo. t' to app •tul it to your published r •port, [.have no obje ·tion to it, but must request y ou to mak ~uch cor r c l10 .n s o r a l t c r a t i o n s a s y o u r n o tt• s o r y o u r r c c o ll <' < • t i o n of t h plant· w~ll •nable you to do; for •xampl ·,as to size, as in som of the draw1ngs no • ize i, mention<>d) in which cas<' I have assumed th m to r ' JHCS nt the natural size. I have, for convcnienc' sal c, numbered the different figures , and shall nov proceed lo copy for you the descriptions an1l remarks f'o11owing my n umbers. 1. ~ammilaria, Octohcr 1 , l 46. Prol1fcrous. in th highest d gr 'e , formi ng hcmisphcrit'al maRs s o~ten of a dtau~ct r of 3~ f' t; whi ·h arc compo. eel of J00-200 ddf rent .head or st m . ingle hcacls oni <'al, appar ·ntly ah?ut 4 or 5 •.n c he high, and 2 ~-3 inch · s in d i am cl e r; {' o lor, b l u L h green; spmes white or reddi ·h. • Wharo tho sizo is not montionocl tho ori.rinal dmwiucr8 aro the size of no.turo. W. H. E. ' n n |