302 BOTANICAL. IN FORMATION. 



Espeletia helianthoides, Potentillee, Geum, 296 ; and again, 

 Gamassia, Veratrum, Polygonum, &c. On dry shady hill 

 sides I found the two Carices, 332 and 333; the former 

 quite remarkable for its very large tufts, woody root, and 

 long perennial hard leaves. Here, also, on some dry sunny 

 gneiss rock, did I meet again with the Draba Caroliniana I 

 which I have found before on the saline loamy plains of 

 Upper Platte River ; as ought to have been noticed in the 

 description of that region. 



This closes the description of the interesting Gamass 

 plains, poor as they are in select plants, for the purposes of 

 a botanist. We now change our course eastward ; traverse 

 a spur of the Kallispell ; a part of the Green Mountains, to 

 arrive in the : 



2nd. or Arid basaltic plains of Upper Oregon, including 

 great part of the territories of the Spokan, Sayelpi, Oka- 

 nagan, Kallispell, Saptona, and Wallawalla Indians, as well 

 as the rivers of the same names; besides great part of 

 the Columbia, and other rivers. General elevation, about 

 2000 feet. 



These plains comprise so great a part of Upper Oregon, 

 that it will be necessary to treat the same as one vast region. 

 Moreover, as they are of the greatest interest to the botanist, 

 and possess a flora of the first order, we shall give the 

 general character of the vegetation, after describing its sur- 

 face, and consider the same under different subdivisions. 



Surface and geological features. —This extensive region is 

 generally characterised by an uneven, broken, stony, rocky, or 

 sandy surface. Level, heavy, clayey, stony plains are sur- 

 rounded and intersected by high precipitous piles of broken, or 

 entire shapeless basaltic masses, alternating with sloping piles 

 of gneiss, rarely granite. The basaltic masses are surrounded 

 with deep sandy elevations, or separated by such ravines 



instantaneous, it produces trembling ; the animal springs up, and is led to 

 the water to refresh its limbs. I have been told that it never failed, nor 

 produced bad consequences. The scraped root leaves a burning sensation 

 for half a day, if touched with the tongue. 



