298 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



the borders of the woods, and the delicate rare Ferula, 302, 

 with Arabis ? 305, on or between the tufts of the Carices. 

 With the intention to return once more in July, we close 

 this description of the Green mountain, or Grassy region 

 of Upper Oregon. Passing down a northerly defile, through 

 a shrubbery of Prunus, Sorbus, Cornus, Myginda, Lonicera, 

 304, and others, we arrive at last below, to overlook the 



II. — Sub-region; Level Region of Upper Oregon: having 

 before us, 



\stly. The fertile grassy and Gamass prairies, of about 

 3000 feet general elevation. 



2ndly. The arid basaltic plains, mostly to our right, of 

 about 2000, and 



3rdly. The high, cold, grassy Ferula prairies, of about 4000, 

 to our extreme left. 



All these plains incline eastward on the Green Mountains ; 

 the first and last on the Blue Mountains, westward; the second 

 bordering both the latter, and preceding, by following and in- 

 cluding the Columbia River, down to the Cascade Mountains. 



1st- Fertile grassy, or Gamass plains, of about 3000 feet 

 general elevation ; 



They are traversed by rivulets of secondary size in every 

 direction, running swiftly along on a bottom of gneiss rock ; 

 overflowing, during the spring, the vast rich prairies, and 

 leaving behind pools and ponds, drying up about July- They 

 are further characterized by naked barren hills, ridges, or even 

 mountains, to more than 1000 feet elevation above the 



tifid leaves. The root is somewhat parsnip-shaped, thick and firm, brown 

 and with a bright orange under epidermis. Raw, it has a somewhat 

 pungent and>picy taste ; but properly prepared, I am told by Sir Wm. 

 Stewart, of Murthly Castle, Scotland, it is a very agreeable and whole- 

 some dish. Sir Wm. Stewart cultivates this plant already for many 

 years, and with great success, in his kitchen garden, where I saw it in 

 the greatest perfection. The Indians dig it throughout the year, and boil 

 it in the same manner as Gamass ; by that process the root assumes a 

 texture like that of boiled beet, a brown colour, and an odour with some- 

 what of the taste of chewing tobacco. Hence the Canadian name, 

 "Tobacco root." The flowering panicle is a glomerulus, but the seed 

 bearing elongated and 2-3 feet long. 



