REPORT ON A COLLECTION OF PLANT S MADE BY C. TL 
THOMPSON IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS IN 1893, 
By A. S. Hircucocr. 
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. 
The plants of which a catalogue is here presented were collected by 
Mr. Thompson between June 25 and August 23, 1893, along the follow- 
ing route: Garden City south to Ivanhoe, west to Ulysses and John- 
son, north to Syracuse, in various directions over Hamilton County, 
south along the west line of Stanton County to Richfield, southwest 
to Point of Rocks on the Cimarron, back to Richfield, east through 
Moonlight and Hugoton to Liberal, north through Springfield and 
Santa Fe to Garden City. Collections were made as follows: Ulysses, 
Grant County, numbers 1 to 66; Johnson, Stanton County, 67 to 73; 
southern part of Hamilton County, 74 and 75; Syracuse, Hamilton 
County, 76 to 121, and 123 to 165; Shiloh, Hamilton County, 122; Point 
of Rocks, Morton County, 164 to 170; Richfield, Morton County, 172 and 
173; Moonlight, Stevens County, 174 to 183; Liberal, Seward County, 
184; Springfield, Seward County, 185 and 186. 
The number of species of plants found upon the high prairie is small 
under favorable conditions. The season of 1893 was exceptionally dry 
for this normally dry country, thus placing many difficulties in the way 
of the-collector. | 
In the summer of 1895 the writer had the pleasure of making a 
wagon trip through the same counties in which Mr. Thompson collected. — 
The country for the most part consists of nearly level upland prairie, 
varying in altitude from 2,500 feet at Liberal to 3,500 feet at Syracuse 
and 3,750 feet at Johnson. The species of plants are few in number 
and quite widely and evenly distributed. The great bulk of the vege- 
tation consists of buffalo grass (Bulbilis dactyloides) and grama grass 
(Bouteloua oligostachya), These grow closely intermingled, forming a 
dense, soft mat a few inches in height. The latter species shows an 
interesting adaptation for cross pollination. The flowers are arranged 
in one-sided spikes, of which there are usually two or three. The two 
stigmas protrude from the base of the partially opened glumes and 
recurve toward the main rachis, The anthers, as is usual in grasses, 
537 
