225 



Of trees, tbe followiiiji' were noted in the Ciiufirron Cafion: hack- 

 berry, red cedar, cottnnwood, and soapwood {Supiiuiufi marijiiwtm 

 WiUd.); also a species of willow {uni'e('o<;tii/ed), and among the mesas 

 a small sensitive plant {Mimosa boreal i.s (iray). 



A very troublesome weed in tlie Oiniarron canons is TrlbuluN maxl- 

 mus L. Even within the recent bi^giiininjuof settlement of tlie Neutral 

 Strip this plant lias spread quite rapidly over the few cultivated fields. 

 I found it growing- on the farm of J. J. Burnett, at Clarrett. lie told 

 nKi it was already quite an annoyance. 



[n some places in the canons very fair crops can be raised by irriga- 

 tion from springs flowing out of the mesas. 



TKXAS PANHANDLE. 



Although this is a large district, still I can give only a few notes in 

 regard to its flora, as T have made but one trip through it. passing Irom 

 Clayton, N. Mex., along the Denvt^r, Texas and Fort VV^orth llailroad to 

 Tascosa; thence down the canons of the South Canadian Kiver to Cana- 

 dian City, and thence northward along the Santa Fe Kailroad into the 

 Indian Territory. 



Great ]iortions of this district are vast plains of sand, but which 

 during the season of ISiH were clothed with a very good growth of 

 grasses, including the blue stems and a few species of the genera 

 SporoholK,^, Bouteloua^ Tr'iodin, and Vanicum. These plains, on reaching 

 the river, are broken up into rocky mesas, and here the flora is rather 



different. 



Nearly all the characteristic specit^s of the western Great Plains, 

 already mentioned as occurring in the other districts, are also found 

 everywhere in this district. J fence i shall note only a few of the 

 species not already menti(nie<l. 



Th<' following species are found on the sandy plains of the western 

 and northern portions: ErUxjonum alatinn Torr., a giant Friogonum, 

 moi'e than 4 feet tall, common in the sand and on rocky bluffs in 

 Dallam County; Gilia rUjldula Benth., a small blue-flowered(iilia, found 

 in Dallam and ^foore counties; rvnistcmon ambiguns Torr., white flow- 

 ered, small, in Hartley County; Ili'llanthus ciliaris DC, collected on 

 liigh prairies in Moore County, and Cuncuia empUlata En g., parasitic on 

 Artemisia filifolialorv . and Ambrosia psilosrtachyaU<J., also in Moore 



County. 



Along the Canadian CaTion a number of interesting species were also 

 noted. At Tascosa were found liigcJovia Wrightii Gray, Baccharis 

 salieina Torr. cV' Gray, and the mestput, ProsopisJuliJfora1)C, the beans 

 of which are used by Mexicans and Indians for food. A grove of this 

 last si>ecies was also noted in the Cheyenne and Arrapahoe reservation, 

 about 12 miles nortlieast of Cantonment. It is also called scrcn-^ 

 bean, and is quite common over the Southwest. A cactus {Opuntia 

 leptocaulis DC), with very fitie looking fruit, was also collected at 



