History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clark, to the sources of the Missouri, thence across the Rocky mountains and down the River Columbia to the Pacific Ocean : performed during the years 1804-5-6 by order of the government of the United States; Volume 2

Page 97

:tGZ rianth is propea·, erect, iufel'ior in both petals, aml i;ermeu the corolla consists of fhe acute, palo smu·lct petals, insert­ed in the receptacle with a short amluart·ow cleft: tho co­rolla is smooth, mode~·atcly long, situated at the base ofthr germ en, permanent, and in shape resembling a cup: the sta. mens and filaments arc subulate, inserted into the receptacle, unequal and bent inwards, concealing the pystilium; the anther is two lobed and influtcd, !Situated on the top of the fl. lament of the pystilium: the germ is conical, imbricated, superior, sessile and short: the styles are short, compared with ths stamen, capillary smooth and obtuse: they are distributed over the sm·facc of the germ, and deciduou~ \Vithout m1y pcrcctJtible stamen. 7. The g•·ecn briat· gt•ows most abundantly in rich drJ Jands, in the "Yicinity of a wal.ct· course, and is found in !')mall <1uantitics in piny lands at a distance from the wa­ter. .In the fonnct• situation the stem is frequently of the si:t:c of a man's finger, ami rises llcrpcndicularly four ot· five feet: it. then descends in an al'ch, becomes pt·ocumbent. or rests on some neighbouring plants: it is simple, unbranch. ell, aml cylindric: in the lattct• situation it grows much smaller, and usually procumbent: the stem is armed witlt sharped aud forked briat•s: the leaf is petiolate, tcrnate and resembles in shape and appearance that ol' the 1mrple rasp­berry, so common to the Atlantic states: the lhtit is a beny resembling tlac blackberry in all point~4 and is eaten when t·ipc by tho natives, which they hold in much esteem, al· though it is not lh·icd for wintct• cowmm11tion. This shrub 'vas first tliscovrrcd at the entrance of Quicksanrt •·.ivct•: it grows so abundantly in the fm·tiJe valley of Columbia, and the i~Iands, that the counta·y is almost impenetrable: it rc tains Hs vm·durc late in summer·. 8. Besides the fern ah•cady described, a~; furnishing a nuh·itious root, there a•·e two othc1· plants of the same spe­cies, lVbich may be divillcd into the large and the small: the large fern rises three or four feet: tho stem is a common l!p the Jflissotwi. 16$ footstalk, proceeding immediately from the radix, somewhat Jlat, about the si:t:e of a man's arm, anct (~ovorcd with innu­merable black coarse capillary radiclcs, i~suing ft·om ever) part of its surface: one of these roots will send forth from twenty to forty of these common footslalks, bending out­wards fl·om the common centre: the l'il»s arc C)•Hmh·ic an1l ma•·ked IongitmJinaJJy their whole length, with a. ga·oovc on the upper side: on cithet· sitJo of this ga·oovc, and a little be­low its edge the leaflets arc inserted: these at·e shortly pr.tio­Jate fot• about two Otil·ds the length of the middle rib, com mencing from the bottom, and from them~e to the oxt.t·cmity sessile: the rill is ter·minatcd by a single undivided lanceo­latc loaUct: those ~u·e ft·om two to foua· inches in length, and have a small ~t.oute angular projection, and ot.lhjuoly cut at the base: the upper sut·facc is smoCith, and of a deep gt·ecn: the under surface of a pale gt·een and covered with a bt·own protuberance of a woolly appeat•ancc, pat·ticularly neat• the eentral fibre: the lcaftets are alternately pinnate, and in num· her, from one hundred and ten to one hundt•ed and forty: they are shortest at the two extremities of the common footstalk, largest in the centre, gradually lengthening, ar.ul diminishing as they succeed each other. rrhe small fet•n rises likewise with a common footstalk ft·om the radix, from four to eight in number: from four to eight inches long: the central rib is mat•ked with a slight longitudinal groove throughout its whole length: the leaflets are OJl­positcly pinnate, about one third of the length of the com· mon foots talk, from the bottom, and thence altm·natcly pin­nate: the footstalk t01·minates in a simJ>l6 undivided Jancco­late leaflet: thet~e arc oblong, obtuse, convex, absolutely en­tire, and the upper disk is marked with a slight longitudinal gt·oovc: near the np11er cxtt·cmity these leaflets arc declll·· sively pinnate, as are all those of the lat·ge fern. Both ol' these SJlccics preserve green during tho winter. Tl1e quadt·upcds of this country ft·om the Rocky motlll• tains to the Pacific ocean, may Lw C'OnYeniently divided intu